History of Green Bay Hockey
and the Bobcats, Green
Bay's first Professional Hockey Team
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| Build a new ice rink:
Brown County Arena Dedicated Nov 11, 1958 |
And add a Coach: |
Build a team:
Green Bay Bobcats, the first professional hockey team in Green Bay,
Wisconsin, featured Copper Country hockey greats, Coach Tony Bukovich and his
son, Tony Jr., and "Kenner" Ruohonen in their first year and a number
of other Copper Country players in the following years.
A brief history of Green Bay hockey as written in the Dec 20, 1958 game program is featured below:
|
Ken Ruohonen |
Game stats for Green Bay Bobcats from 1958-71: |
Player Stats for Green Bay Bobcats from 1958-71: |
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|
1971-72 |
John
Mayasich, USA
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Green Bay vs USSR Moscow Stars |
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In 1978, this team became a Junior A team.
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Donald Clark (according
to Clark's obit):
In 1959-1960, Donald Clark managed the Green Bay Bobcats.
In 1947,
Donald Clark, with Robert Ridder and Everett "Buck" Riley, founded the
Minnesota Amateur Hockey Association. He served as an officer of that
organization through 1988; as president, secretary-treasurer and registrar.
Between 1947 and 1998, the number of registered teams grew from 45 to nearly
4,000, and the number of indoor Minnesota ice arenas increased from 13 to more
than 220. In 1952, Clark organized a statewide Bantam tournament for youth
hockey in Minnesota, the first such event in the nation. Clark
was the manager of the 1958 U.S. National hockey team, the first United States
sports team ever to visit the Soviet Union. And, in 1959-60, he managed the
Green Bay Bobcats to the championship of the U.S. Hockey League. From 1958 to
1978, he served as vice president of the Amateur Hockey Association of the
United States and for many years was a member of the U.S. Olympic Hockey
committee. Until the time of his death, Clark remained active in hockey as
director emeritus of AHAUS and the Minnesota Amateur Hockey Association.
For several years after its inception in 1973, Clark served as president of the
U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in Eveleth, and with his knowledge of hockey history
and memorabilia provided substantially to its foundation. He was inducted into
the Hall of Fame in 1978. Among
his many honors was the prestigious National Hockey League Lester Patrick Award.
In recent years, he was presented with the Heritage Award of the U.S. Hockey
Hall of Fame and the Maroosh Award by the Minnesota North Stars. In 1996, he was
honored by the Minnesota State High School Coaches Association. Clark
gained national recognition as a hockey historian and was a contributor to the
Encyclopedia Britannica on the history of international hockey. He also provided
information and photographs and contributed articles to numerous publications.
According to
Murray
Williamson, "In 1969 the AHAUS designated John Mayasich's Green Bay Bobcats of the USHL to
represent the United States in the World Championships in Stockholm, Sweden. The
team lost all 10 games, were outscored 74 to 16 and the USA team was relegated
to the "B" group tournament for the 1970 World Championship for the first time."
Reunion: The Green Bay Bobcats had a Runion November 2006 and invited all former members and
friends they could find to their reunion:
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Born
May 22, 1933 in Eveleth, Minnesota, USA. Defenseman, forward. Played in
total of seven International Ice Hockey Federation World Championship
tournaments. He represented his country in 1956, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1962,
1966 and 1969 winning one silver in 1956 and one gold medal in 1960 at the Olympic Winter
Games and one IIHF bronze medal in 1962. Playing defenseman in Squaw Valley
for the U.S. 1960 Olympic team, his slap shot goal against Don Head at the opening
game in the medal round proved to be the winning goal versus Canada on the
way to the Olympic gold. John Mayasich was named All American three times
during his college ice hockey career in 1953, 1954 and 1955. Declining
professional ice hockey opportunities, Mayasich devoted his remaining ice
hockey career to the amateur Green Bay Bobcats for 12 seasons. John Mayasich then worked for KSTP Radio-TV in Minneapolis-St.Paul, Minnesota. 