James Dickinson "Dick" Irvin
(Sr.) (July 19, 1892 – May 15, 1957) was a
Canadian
ice hockey player and coach
in the National Hockey
League.
Born in
Hamilton
, Ontario
, Irvin was
one of the greatest players of his day, balancing a torrid slapshot
and tough style with gentlemanly play. He played junior and
senior amateur hockey in Winnipeg, Manitoba
, winning the Allan Cup in
1915 with the Winnipeg Monarchs. He began his professional
career in 1916 with the
Portland
Rosebuds of the
Pacific Coast Hockey
Association and was the fourth leading scoring rookie tallying
35 goals. Following a brief stint in the Canadian Army, he was
reinstated as an amateur, but turned professional again in 1921
with the
Regina Capitals of the
Western Canada Hockey
League. In 1926, at age 34, he entered the
NHL, signed by the newly formed
Chicago Black Hawks. Irvin was
made the team's first captain, and had an impressive campaign,
finishing second in the league in scoring. In their first season,
the Black Hawks led all NHL teams in scoring, led by Irvin and
Babe Dye. Irvin's second season turned to
tragedy as he fractured his skull, which led to retirement after
the 1928–29 season. The Hawks had finished with the worst record in
the NHL in both of his last two seasons as a player.
Irvin was hired as head coach of the Black Hawks in 1930, and in
his first season behind the bench led the team to 24 wins, 17
losses and 3 ties. Upon seeing his success as a coach,
Toronto Maple Leafs owner
Conn Smythe convinced Irvin to coach the Leafs.
In his
first season coaching the Leafs (the first in the brand-new
Maple Leaf
Gardens
), he achieved immediate success by winning the
Stanley Cup. However, Irvin was
unable to deliver another Cup for the Leafs, despite taking them to
the finals six more times.
By the end of the
1939-40
season, Smythe felt that Irvin had taken the Leafs as far as he
could and forced him to resign. Soon afterward,
Tommy Gorman went and picked him up and drove
him to Montreal to become coach of the then-moribund
Montreal Canadiens. Irvin's hiring was
actually engineered by Smythe, who was concerned about the Habs'
future after they only won 10 games during the 1939-40
season--still the worst record in the franchise's storied history.
Smythe feared that the league wouldn't survive the loss of the
Canadiens, and suggested that Gorman hire Irvin as coach.
Irvin found his greatest success in Montreal, leading the Habs to
six finals and three Cups. Helped by star players
Elmer Lach,
Doug
Harvey, goalie
Bill Durnan and a
young
Maurice Richard, the Canadiens
were just beginning to blossom as an NHL dynasty. Irvin, however,
came under fire for encouraging "goon" tactics, especially after
Montreal fans
rioted in protest of
Richard's suspension for the 1955 playoffs. He was already well
known for looking the other way when stick-swinging duels broke out
in practices. Although they made it to the finals (losing to the
Detroit Red Wings), internal
pressure forced Irvin to step down.
He returned to the Black Hawks as head coach for the 1955–56
season, taking the reins of a moribund team that had only made the
playoffs once in the past 10 years and finished last in the past
two seasons. Irvin was unable to turn the team's fortunes around,
and the Black Hawks again ended the year in last place, despite the
emergence of
Ed Litzenberger as a
scoring star. Irvin was to coach the Black Hawks again in 1956–57,
but he became so ill with bone cancer that he had to retire before
the season began. He died a few months later at age 64.
A year
later, Irvin was elected into the Hockey Hall of Fame
. His coaching career included four
Stanley Cups with 692 regular season wins,
results surpassed only by
Al Arbour and
Scotty Bowman.
His son,
Dick Irvin, Jr., is a noted
Canadian television sports announcer.
Awards and achievements
- Allan Cup Championship (1915)
- Stanley Cup Championships (1932 -
Toronto, 1944, 1946, and 1953 - Montreal)
- Lost in the finals a record 12 times as a Coach (1931 -
Chicago, 1933-35-36-38-39-40 - Toronto, 1947-51-52-54-55 -
Montreal)
- NHL First All-Star Team Coach (1944, 1945,
& 1946)
- NHL Second All-Star Team Coach (1931, 1932,
1933, 1934, 1935, & 1941)
- Inducted into the Manitoba
Sports Hall of Fame and Museum
in 1983
- Selected to Manitoba
's
All-Century First All-Star Team and named Coach of the
Century
- “Honoured Member” of the Manitoba Hockey Hall of
Fame
Career statistics
--- Regular Season --- ---- Playoffs ----
Season Team Lge GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1922-23 Regina Capitals WCHL 25 9 4 13 121923-24 Regina Capitals WCHL 29 15 8 23 331924-25 Regina Capitals WCHL 28 13 5 18 381925-26 Portland Rosebuds WCHL 30 30 5 35 311926-27 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 44 18 18 36 34 2 2 0 2 41927-28 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 14 5 4 9 14 -- -- -- -- --1928-29 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 36 6 1 7 30 -- -- -- -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NHL Totals 94 29 23 52 78 2 2 0 2 4
Coaching record
References
- Goyens, p. 45
See also
External links
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