Bill Quackenbush

Hubert George Quackenbush (March 2, 1922 – September 12, 1999), known as Bill Quackenbush, was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who played for the Boston Bruins and Detroit Red Wings in the National Hockey League.

During his 14-year career, he was the first defenceman to win the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy.

Quackenbush was born on March 2, 1922, in Toronto, Ontario.

He was born Hubert George Quackenbush but was given the nickname Bill by his aunt who disliked his given name.

He played hockey on outdoor rinks around Toronto during the Great Depression as a youth, and was one of the top high school athletes in Canada as a teenager.

In addition to hockey, he was a renowned football and soccer player.

During the war years, he played for the famous Canadian soccer club Toronto Scottish.

Quackenbush had an opportunity to play football professionally, but he decided to pursue a career in hockey.

Quackenbush began his junior career playing for the Toronto Native Sons of the Ontario Hockey Association.

He scored 13 points in 13 games during the 1940–41 season.

The following season, he played for the Brantford Lions, scoring 34 points in 23 games, and caught the attention of the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League.

Quackenbush signed as a free-agent with the Red Wings on October 19, 1942, and played 10 games during the 1942–43 season before breaking his wrist.

After recovering from the injury, Detroit assigned him to the American Hockey League where he joined the Indianapolis Capitals.

He earned a regular position with the Red Wings during the 1943–44 season, scoring 4 goals and 18 points.

In the next two seasons he averaged 21 points while only being assessed an average of 8 penalty minutes and scored a career high 11 goals in 1945–46.

The following season he earned his first post-season honour, when he was named a Second Team NHL All-Star.

He was also named the Red Wings team MVP.

He registered a career high 17 penalty minutes in 1947–48 and was named a First Team All-Star.

The season also saw the start of a streak of 131 consecutive games where Quackenbush was not assessed a penalty.

He won the award after playing the entire 1948–49 season without recording a penalty.

The penalty-less season was part of a total of 131 consecutive games he played without being assessed a penalty.

It began with the final 5 regular season and 10 playoff games that year, continued through the entire 60 regular season and 11 playoff games during the 1948–49 season, and ended after 45 games of the 1949–50 season.

At the conclusion of the 1948–49 season, he was awarded the Lady Byng Trophy, the NHL's annual award for sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct.

He was the first defenceman to win the award, and remains one of only three in NHL history to capture the trophy.

Detroit General Manager Jack Adams detested the award and felt that any player who won it did not belong on his team, so he promptly traded Quackenbush.

He was sent to the Boston Bruins with Pete Horeck for Pete Babando, Clare Martin and Jimmy Peters, Sr.

Quackenbush became a fan favourite upon his arrival in Boston, where his offensive style of play was compared to former Bruin (and fellow Hall of Famer) Eddie Shore.

In his first season in Boston, Quackenbush scored 8 goals and 25 points.

He continued to stay out of the penalty box, registering only 4 penalty minutes.

However, it marked the first time in three seasons that he was not named to the NHL All-Star team.

The Bruins defence core was depleted by injury in 1950–51, forcing the team to use several first year players.

While this resulted in Quackenbush having to play more minutes, including a game where he played 55 minutes, it also gave him the opportunity to play with his brother Max.

It was the only time the two played professionally together.

He also set a career high in points with 29 and was again named a First Team NHL All-Star.

Over the next five seasons Quackenbush hovered around the 20 point mark and was never assessed more than 8 penalty minutes in a year.

Quackenbush retired following the 1955–56 season, having accumulated only 95 penalty minutes over 774 games.

Quackenbush, considered to be an elite offensive defenceman during his career, was named to the NHL All-Star team five times, played in eight NHL All-Star games and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1976.

Following his retirement from professional ice hockey, he spent 18 years as head coach of various teams at Princeton University.

Quackenbush coached men's golf, and both the men's and women's ice hockey teams, at various times.

He won eight Ivy League Championships with the men's golf team and three with the women's ice hockey team.