Pittsburgh Bankers

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Pittsburgh Bankers
City
Duquesne Garden
ColorsVarious
Owner(s)Various local banks
Championships
Regular season titles(2) 1902–03, 1907–08

The Pittsburgh Bankers were one of the earliest professional

Duquesne Garden
, and was involved in the first known trade of professional hockey players.

History

Origins

1908 Pittsburgh Bankers, WPHL Champions

In October of 1899, the Western Pennsylvania Hockey League, which had comprised only three teams in its previous season of

Homestead Library & Athletic Club, Keystone Bicycle Club, and the Bankers' Association of Pittsburgh.[1] The team representing the Bankers' Association won admission and on November 28, 1899 played its first league game.[2][3]

First title: 1902

In 1902, the Bankers signed

1903.[7] The Bankers claimed their first WPHL title that season and faced off against the Portage Lakes Hockey Club, located in Houghton, Michigan, for the title of top professional team in the United States. The winner of that series is unclear since Portage Lakes would win two of the four games and tie a third and the Bankers claimed the edge in total goals, 11–6.[8] Another of the era's stars, Charlie Liffiton, joined the Bankers in 1902 to help the club win its first title. Over his two seasons with the club, Liffiton reportedly scored three goals in four playoff matches.[9]

Consolidated into the IPHL

The following season, the Bankers saw their star player, Hod Stuart, leave the team to join the Portage Lakes Hockey Club.[7] In fact as Portage Lakes continued to play professional exhibition games, the team raided all of the WPHL teams for their key players.[10] The Bankers' Charlie Liffiton was offered $1350 to play for the Portage Lakes club for the remainder of the season, making him the era's highest paid player.[9] The WPHL and the Bankers disappeared for the following season so that the WPHL could consolidate into the Pittsburgh Professionals and begin playing in the International Professional Hockey League. The idea for the new league was the idea of James R. Dee, a Houghton businessman, who came up with the idea after watching the Bankers and Portage Lakes play in 1904.[8] Several Bankers' players, such as Lorne Campbell and Hod Stuart, played for the Pittsburgh Professionals. Meanwhile, other Bankers players, like Charlie Liffiton, played for Portage Lakes.

Revival and quick demise

Bert Bennett.

The WPHL, along with the Pittsburgh Bankers was revived for the

Jim MacKay, Edgar Dey and Dunc Taylor.[10][13] On January 31 the Pirates would also acquire Gordon McGuire from the Bankers through a separate purchase.[14] The Bankers would go on to win their second league title in 1907–08. The Bankers then played a "World's Series" with the Montreal Wanderers. The Wanderers won the series two games to one.[15]

The following season saw future Stanley Cup winner Skene Ronan made his professional hockey debut with the Bankers, however Ronan would later break his contract to leave the team and play with the Toronto Professionals.[16] Meanwhile, future Hall of Famer Alf Smith returned to the Western Pennsylvania Hockey League and played for the Bankers and the Duquesne Athletic Club before he was suspended from the two teams for rough play.[17]

However the defection of star Bankers players such as Ronan,

final season came down to the last game between the Bankers and the Duquesne Athletic Club on February 6, 1909. The D.A.C. won the game 4–2, making them champions and preventing the Bankers from claiming a third WPHL title.[18]

Prominent players

The following members of the Bankers became enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame:

Logo and uniforms

Starting with their first season of 1899–1900, the Bankers wore sweaters marked with a yellow dollar sign.

Pittsburgh Post referred to the team at points during the next two seasons as the "blue and old gold" and "wearers of the gold and blue".[20][21] On the day of the 1903–04 season opener, it was reported that the team's new uniforms would be "all blue with the letter B in white".[22] When the WPHL was revived in late 1907 after three seasons of inactivity, the Bankers came back wearing olive green jerseys with a gold dollar sign on the chest.[23] A game report in late 1908, during the team's and the league's last season, referred to the Bankers as red and white.[24]

References

  1. ^ "Cycling and Athletics". The Pittsburg Press. October 15, 1899. p. 15 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ "The Bankers' Team". Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette. October 18, 1899. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "First Hockey Game". The Pittsburg Press. November 29, 1899. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. Pittsburgh Press
    . 1902-12-19. p. 16.
  5. ^ Mason, Daniel S. (Spring 1998). "The International Hockey League and the Professionalization of Ice Hockey, 1904-1907" (PDF). Journal of Sport History. 25 (1): 6.
  6. ISBN 978-0-7710-5771-7
  7. ^
    ISBN 1-894963-16-4
  8. ^ a b "Before the NHL: Western Pennsylvania Hockey League, International Professional Hockey League". Crashing the Net. January 28, 2010. Retrieved April 17, 2012.
  9. ^ a b "Charlie Liffiton". Liffiton Family. June 2, 2006. Retrieved April 10, 2012.
  10. ^ a b c Fitzsimmons, Ernie. "Is Pittsburgh the Birthplace of Professional Hockey?". Pittsburgh Hockey.net. Retrieved April 20, 2012.
  11. ^ "Bankers and Lyceum Make a Player Trade". The Pittsburg Press. December 21, 1907. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "General Sports". The Pittsburg Press. January 8, 1908. p. 14 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Hockey games for this week" The Pittsburgh Press, February 2, 1908.
  14. ^ "Icy Inklings" The Pittsburgh Press. Feb. 1, 1908 (pg. 8). Retrieved 2021-09-15.
  15. ISBN 1-892129-85-X
  16. ^ Coleman, Charles (1966). The Trail of the Stanley Cup, vol. 1, 1893-1926 inc. National Hockey League. pp. 645–646.
  17. ISBN 978-1-897323-46-5
    .
  18. ^ "D.A.C. Defeats Bankers, 4 to 2, Capturing Hockey Championship". The Pittsburgh Sunday Post. February 7, 1909. Sec. 3, p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ "New Yorks Too Fast for P.A.C." The Pittsburg Post. March 3, 1900. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ "Bankers Beaten by the P.A.C." The Pittsburg Post. December 12, 1900. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ "Canadians Do Better". The Pittsburg Post. January 25, 1902. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ^ "Opening Hockey Game". The Pittsburgh Gazette. December 1, 1903. p. 9 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ^ "Bankers Blank the P.A.C. Team". The Gazette Times. Pittsburgh. December 11, 1907. p. 9 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. ^ "Bankers and D.A.C. Hockey Teams Victorious in Double-Header". The Pittsburgh Sunday Post. December 20, 1908. Sec. 3, p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
Preceded by WPHL Champions
1902–03

1907–08 		Succeeded by
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