|
|
|
Ted Lindsay |
|
|
|
Born: July 29, 1925
Birth Place: Renfrew, Ontario
Position: Left Wing
First Season: 1944-1945
Last Season: 1964-1965
Jersey Number: 7
Jersey Retired: November 10, 1991
|
| Biography |
|
|
|
Robert Blake Theodore "Ted" Lindsay was born in Renfrew, Ontario on July 29,1925. Ted rose to prominence early, playing for teams in Kirkland Lake and Toronto, Ontario. He was a member of Toronto's St. Michael's team that lost the Ontario Junior final to Oshawa. Later he was acquired by Oshawa and helped win the 1944 Memorial Cup.
Ted joined the Detroit Red Wings later that year and at the age of 19 quickly established himself as a leader. He earned the nicknames "Terrible-Tempered Ted" and "Scarface" and a reputation as one of the greatest left wingers of all time. The scars (he lost count after 400 stitches) that Ted displayed on his face represented his fearless courage on the ice. At 5'8" and 160, Ibs he appeared small but anyone who saw him play knew that there was no one too large for him to take on and that included his future Red Wing coach Jack Adams. The first time that Adams met the 19-year-old Lindsay was after his impressive tryout for the Wings in 1944. Adams wanted Ted to sign a contract with the Wings. Most 19-year-olds would have jumped at the chance but Ted was looking for more. Lindsay loved the game of hockey and didn't want to sit on the bench or be sent to a farm team so he told Adams that the only way he would play for the team was with a guarantee of not sitting the bench or being sent to the minors. Even though Adams was tough to deal with, he was smart enough to know what he had in Ted and signed the left winger to a two-year contract with a clause that stated that he wouldn't be sent to the minors and that he would receive a regular shift.
Along with Sid Abel and Gordie Howe, Ted played on the famed Production Line, a key factor in the success of the Red Wings from 1948 to 1955. During that period, the Wings won seven straight league titles and four Stanley Cups. Three seasons following, Wings coach Tommy Ivan, who had assembled the production line, led the Wings to the Stanley Cup. During that regular season, the line finished 1-2-3 in the league in scoring and Ted won the scoring title.
In 1950, after the team won the Stanley Cup, Lindsay started a tradition that is still practiced by Cup champions today. When the Cup was awarded to team captain, Sid Abel, he placed it on a table and pushed it around the ice for all the fans to see. Lindsay promptly grabbed the Cup, raised it above his head and skated around the rink. Lindsay would go on to write another chapter of Stanley Cup history during a series between the Red Wings and the Toronto Maple Leafs several years later. Prior to the third game of the series in Toronto, the local paper reported that several fans had issued death threats toward both Lindsay and Howe for an alleged injury to the Leaf's Tod Sloan. The game went on as planned despite the threat of a shooting. After Lindsay scored the game winning goal in overtime, he held his stick like a rifle and pointed it at the crowd taunting the Maple Leaf faithful.
After 13 seasons with Detroit, Ted was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks just before the 1957-58 season. He retired at the end of the 1959-60 season, and again in 1965 following a comeback with the Wings stating, "I just had the desire to wind up my career with the Red Wings". During that comeback year, Lindsay led the team to a first-place divisional finish, the first since his departure seven years earlier.
Although his on-ice prowess was legendary, he will always be remembered for his off-ice achievements. Lindsay organized a number of courageous players that would stand up to team ownership and try to create the first NHL players union. The first few years were difficult for the fledgling players union. General managers around the league wanted to break up the organization. Often, players loyal to the union were benched or sent to the minors never to be called up again. In 1957, after having his best season and only two seasons after winning his first Stanley Cup, Ted was traded to the pitiful Chicago Blackhawks. The team's general managers feared the players association. They knew that placing Ted in Chicago would take away much of his pull with the other teams. The ploy worked. Shortly after the move to Chicago, the players association folded. Today's incarnation of the players association began but it wouldn't have been possible without the bold work and persistence of Ted Lindsay.
In his 17 NHL seasons, Ted netted 379 goals and was named eight times to the First All-Star team and once to the second. He was awarded the Art Ross Trophy during the 1949-50 season in which he tallied 78 points, including 23 goals.
Ted returned to the Red Wings as General Manager in 1977. He quickly made changes to the team involving more than 40 players through acquisitions, drafts, and releases. The following year, the Red Wings went from worst in the NHL to second in the division and Lindsay was named the NHL's executive of the year.
These days, Ted lives in Rochester Hills, MI and works as a manufacturer's representative in the auto industry.
Ted was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1966.
|
| Games and Awards |
|
|
|
1947-48 All-Star Selection - First Team
1948-49 All-Star Selection - Second Team
1949-50 All-Star Selection - First Team - Art Ross Trophy
1950-51 All-Star Selection - First Team
1951-52 All-Star Selection - First Team
1952-53 All-Star Selection - First Team
1953-54 All-Star Selection - First Team
1955-56 All-Star Selection - First Team
1956-57 All-Star Selection - First Team
|
| Seasonal Statistics |
|
|
|
|
|
|
