Tommy Ivan
{{Short description|Canadian ice hockey coach}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=September 2016}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2017}}
{{Infobox ice hockey biography
|image =
|image_size = 230px
|caption =
| birth_name = Thomas Nanthaniel Ivanoff{{cite web|url=http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/2009/04/21/following-the-lions|title=Following the Lions|last=nurun.com|access-date=September 18, 2016}}
| birth_date = {{birth date|1911|1|31}}
| birth_place = Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| death_date = {{death date and age|1999|6|25|1911|1|31}}
| death_place = Chicago, Illinois, United States
| halloffame = 1974 (Builder)
| coached_for = Detroit Red Wings
Chicago Blackhawks
}}
Thomas Nathaniel Ivan (January 31, 1911 – June 25, 1999) was a Canadian ice hockey coach and general manager. He served as a National Hockey League (NHL) head coach for the Detroit Red Wings from 1947 to 1954 where he won the Stanley Cup three times, and was the general manager for the Chicago Black Hawks from 1954 to 1977, winning a Stanley Cup in 1961. He produced an overall record of 288–174–111.
Career
Ivan was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to Macedonian immigrant parents.{{cite book|title=Passport's Guide to Ethnic Toronto |last=Kasher |first=Robert J |date=1997 |publisher=Passport Books |isbn=9780844289939 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fq4qEjN0QX0C&q=tommy%20ivan}} He never played professional hockey, as a severe facial injury shortened his career while playing in the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association.{{cite book |last=Fischler |first=Stan |author-link=Stan Fischler |title=Who's Who in Hockey |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wpbLnSHBNHgC&q=Tommy+Ivan+injury&pg=PT216 |access-date=September 22, 2013 |year=2003 |publisher=Andrews McMeel |isbn=0740719041 |page=197}} His junior hockey days in Ontario, on up to his first pro coaching job with the Omaha Knights in the Central Hockey League, were the first steps in a distinguished Hall of Fame career. Ivan was a keen judge of talent that helped discover young prospects like Gordie Howe and several other National Hockey League players that would go on to Hall of Fame careers.{{cite web|url=http://www.legendsofhockey.net/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/LegendsMember.jsp?mem=b197402&type=Builder&page=bio&list= |title=Ivan, Tommy - Biography - Honoured Builder |publisher=Legends of Hockey |access-date=December 27, 2013}}
Ivan is one of eleven coaches to have won the Stanley Cup three times as a coach, and he did so on the strength of seven playoff appearances (second least among those coaches, with only Pete Green doing it better).{{cite web |url=https://www.hhof.com/htmlFaceOff/r&rCoach.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111027055733/http://www.hhof.com/htmlFaceOff/r&rCoach.shtml |archive-date=October 27, 2011 |title=HHOF Records and Rankings -- NHL Coaches}} He took the reins as Black Hawks coach-general manager in 1954, after winning six straight regular-season championships with Detroit. At the time the Hawks were a franchise in trouble. Ivan led a rebuilding effort, adding farm teams and stocking the Hawks' farm system with good prospects. He also made key trades that would help fortify the Hawks into a contending team for the next several seasons. Rudy Pilous was hired to coach the Hawks by Tommy Ivan and he would eventually guide the team to the 1961 Stanley Cup. The 1961 Hawks team produced the results that Ivan's rebuilding process began back in 1954. The Black Hawks also reached the Stanley Cup Finals in 1962, 1965, 1971, and 1973. Ivan served 25 years as Black Hawks GM and then served as the Black Hawks' vice-president and alternate governor (NHL Board of Governors) in the years following his GM tenure.
Death
He died of complications of a kidney ailment in 1999.{{cite web |last=Eskenazi |first=Gerald |date=June 27, 1999 |title=Tommy Ivan, 88, Executive For Two Hockey Champions |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/06/27/sports/tommy-ivan-88-executive-for-two-hockey-champions.html |access-date=September 18, 2016 |work=The New York Times}}
Honours
- Ivan was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1974.
- Starting with the 1974–75 season, the Tommy Ivan Trophy was awarded annually by the Central Hockey League to its Most Valuable Player.
- Ivan received the Lester Patrick Trophy in 1975 for "outstanding service to hockey in the United States."
- Ivan served as chairman of the United States Hockey Hall of Fame, and on the selection committee of the Hockey Hall of Fame.
- Ivan played a key role as chairman of the organizing committee for the 1979–80 Olympic Hockey Festival, helping bring more than 90 players together for Coach Herb Brooks and his staff to pick from. Eventually that team became the 1980 US men's ice hockey team ("Miracle on Ice") that won the Gold Medal at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York.
- Ivan is listed in Stan Fischler's book Hockey's 100 as one of the ten best coaches and ten best general managers in the history of the NHL.
- The Chicago Blackhawks mascot is named Tommy hawk, and some people believe it is in honor of Ivan.
Coaching record
| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%; text-align:center;" | ||||||
| rowspan="2"|Team | rowspan="2"|Year | colspan="6"|Regular season | |Post season | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | L | T | Pts | Division rank | Result |
| DET||1947–48
|60||30||18||12||72||2nd in NHL||Lost in Stanley Cup Finals | ||||||
| DET||1948–49
|60||34||19||7||75||1st in NHL||Lost in Stanley Cup Finals | ||||||
| DET||1949–50
|70||37||19||14||88||1st in NHL||Won Stanley Cup | ||||||
| DET||1950–51
|70||44||13||13||101||1st in NHL||Lost in first round | ||||||
| DET||1951–52
|70||44||14||12||100||1st in NHL||Won Stanley Cup | ||||||
| DET||1952–53
|70||36||16||18||90||1st in NHL||Lost in first round | ||||||
| DET||1953–54
|70||37||19||14||88||1st in NHL||Won Stanley Cup | ||||||
| CHI||1956–57
|70||16||39||15||47||6th in NHL||DNQ | ||||||
| CHI||1957–58
|33||10||17||6||26||5th in NHL||Resigned | ||||||
| colspan="2"|Total ||573||288||174||111||687 |
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{icehockeystats|legendsm=B197402}}
{{s-start}}
{{succession box | before = Jack Adams | title = Head coach of the Detroit Red Wings | years = 1947–54 | after = Jimmy Skinner }}
{{succession box | before = Bill Tobin | title = General manager of the Chicago Black Hawks | years = 1954–77 | after = Bob Pulford}}
{{succession box | before = Dick Irvin | title = Head coach of the Chicago Black Hawks | years = 1956–57 | after = Rudy Pilous}}
{{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ivan, Tommy}}
Category:Canadian ice hockey coaches
Category:Canadian people of Macedonian descent
Category:Chicago Blackhawks coaches
Category:Chicago Blackhawks executives
Category:Detroit Red Wings coaches
Category:Hockey Hall of Fame inductees
Category:Lester Patrick Trophy recipients
Category:Ice hockey people from Toronto
Category:Stanley Cup champions
Category:Stanley Cup championship–winning head coaches
Category:Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States