Bill Cleary (ice hockey)

Last updated
Bill Cleary
Bob Cleary Bill Cleary.JPG
Bill and Bob Cleary
Biographical details
Born (1934-08-19) August 19, 1934 (age 90)
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Playing career
1953–1955 Harvard
1956 US Olympic Team
1956–1957 US National Team
1958–1959US National Team
1960 US Olympic Team
Position(s) Center
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1968–1969 Harvard (freshman)
1969–1971Harvard (assistant)
1971–1990Harvard
Administrative career (AD unless noted)
1990–2001 Harvard
Head coaching record
Overall324–201–24
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
1973 ECAC Hockey Champion
1975 ECAC Hockey Champion
1982 ECAC Hockey Ivy Region Champion
1983 ECAC Hockey Ivy Region Champion
1983 ECAC Hockey Tournament Champion
1984 ECAC Hockey Ivy Region Champion
1986 ECAC Hockey Champion
1987 ECAC Hockey Champion
1987 ECAC Hockey Tournament Champion
1988 ECAC Hockey Champion
1989 ECAC Hockey Champion
1989 NCAA National Championship
Awards
1976 US Hockey Hall of Fame
1983 Spencer Penrose Award
1988 ECAC Coach of the Year
1989 US Olympic Hall of Fame (Team)
1993 Hobey Baker Legends of College Hockey
1997 IIHF Hall of Fame
1997 Lester Patrick Award
Medal record
Men's ice hockey
Representing the Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo Team
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1960 Squaw Valley Team

William John Cleary Jr. (born August 19, 1934) is an American former ice hockey player, coach, and athletic administrator. He is an alumnus of Belmont Hill School, played on the United States men's national ice hockey team that won the gold medal in ice hockey at the 1960 Winter Olympics, and was inducted into the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame in 1997.

Contents

Career

Playing

Cleary was an All-American hockey player at Harvard, starring for two years and setting several team records (many of which still stand) along the way, including most goals in a game (6), longest goal-scoring streak (15), most goals in a season (42) and most points in a single season (89). [1] Cleary's scoring prowess was instrumental in Harvard's invitation to the 1955 NCAA Tournament, the first in school history, and Cleary was named to the All-Tournament First Team after Harvard's third-place finish. [2]

While at Harvard, Bill and his brother Bob played collegiate summer baseball together for the now defunct Sagamore Clouters of the Cape Cod Baseball League. [3] [4] [5]

Taking a year away from college, he won a silver medal as a member of the U.S. ice hockey team at the 1956 Winter Olympics, after turning down a professional-contract offer from the National Hockey League's Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins (Cleary opted to go into the insurance business instead and made more money than he probably would have in the NHL). At the 1959 World Ice Hockey Championships, he won the IIHF directorate award for best forward. At the 1960 Winter Olympics, in Squaw Valley, California, Bill and his brother Bob teamed up to win a gold medal with the U.S., with Bill leading the team in scoring through the tournament with 14 points. [6]

Coaching

After the 1960 Olympics Cleary retired as a player and became an ice hockey official for several years before returning to Harvard in 1968 to coach the freshman squad. [1] Bill was quickly promoted to assistant coach of the varsity team and then became the head coach in 1971 when Cooney Weiland retired. [7] Cleary's teams got off to a fast start with a top two finishing in each of his first four years. Though he couldn't manage to win a tournament in the time (conference or national) Cleary had established himself enough to carry through a down period in the late 1970s.

Harvard missed the postseason each year from 1977 to 1981, ending with a losing record in four of those seasons. [8] There was a slight recovery in 1981-82 when Harvard won its division and was able to use it to propel itself into the ECAC title game and receive a subsequent invitation to the 1982 NCAA Tournament despite its rather bland record. The next season saw return to prominence for the Crimson as they won the ECAC Tournament and made the team's first National Title game, losing 6–2 to Wisconsin. [9] For the stark turnaround not only did Cleary receive the Spencer Penrose Award but Mark Fusco was awarded the Hobey Baker Award.

After a brief dip in the standings for 1983-84, Harvard was a national contender for the remainder of the 1980s, winning at least 20 games each year from '85 to '89. Cleary won four consecutive ECAC regular season titles from '86 to '89 (one shared) and reached the National Championship for a second time in 1986, losing 6–5 to Michigan State. That season Cleary coached his second Hobey Baker winner, Scott Fusco, who remains the top career scorer in the history of the program. Three years later Harvard was once again in the title tilt, this time coming out on top with a 4–3 overtime win against Minnesota, garnering not only Harvard's first (and only) National Title, but their third Hobey Baker winner in Lane MacDonald (the team's all-time goal scoring leader). [1]

Cleary coached the Crimson for one more season before moving on to become an administrator for Harvard's athletic department and formally retired on June 30, 2001. [1]

Awards and honors

AwardYear
AHCA First Team All-American 1954–55
NCAA All-Tournament First Team 1955 [2]
IIHF World Championship best forward 1959
IIHF Hall of Fame inductee1997 [10] [11]

Among many of the honors he has received include being named to the NCAA Ice Hockey 50th Anniversary team, chosen as the US Hockey Player of the Decade (1956–1966), tabbed as one of the 100 Golden Olympians by the USOC as well as being named the 33rd-best Massachusetts athlete in the 20th century by Sports Illustrated and #68 on the Boston Globe's top 100 New England athletes of the 20th century. Additionally Cleary is the only person in the history of Harvard University's athletic department to have his jersey number (4) retired. [1] Cleary's three Hobey Baker winners ties him for having coached the most players ever with Mike Sertich and Doug Woog.

Cleary was the driving force behind the structure of ECAC Hockey and a mentor to several successful college coaches, including 1987 CCHA Coach of the Year Val Belmonte. The Cleary Cup, named in his honor, is awarded to the ECAC's regular-season champion.

Cleary was Ryan O'Neal's stand-in for key ice hockey action scenes in the 1970 film, Love Story, which was about a Harvard hockey player protagonist.

Head coaching record

Statistics overview
SeasonTeamOverallConferenceStandingPostseason
Harvard Crimson (ECAC Hockey)(1971–1990)
1971-72 Harvard 17-8-116-4-12nd ECAC Third Place Game (Loss)
1972-73 Harvard 17-4-114-3-1t-1st ECAC Quarterfinals
1973-74 Harvard 17-11-115-6-02nd NCAA Consolation Game (Loss)
1974-75 Harvard 23-6-019-1-01st NCAA Consolation Game (Loss)
1975-76 Harvard 13-10-310-7-37th ECAC Third Place Game (Loss)
1976-77 Harvard 14-12-012-10-09th
1977-78 Harvard 12-14-010-13-010th
1978-79 Harvard 7-18-15-16-114th
1979-80 Harvard 8-15-57-11-312th
1980-81 Harvard 11-14-18-12-114th
1981-82 Harvard 13-15-211-8-28th NCAA Quarterfinals
1982-83 Harvard 23-9-215-5-1t-2nd NCAA Runner-Up
1983-84 Harvard 10-14-310-9-18th ECAC Quarterfinals
1984-85 Harvard 21-9-215-5-12nd NCAA Quarterfinals
1985-86 Harvard 25-8-118-3-01st NCAA Runner-Up
1986-87 Harvard 28-6-020-2-01st NCAA Consolation Game (Loss)
1987-88 Harvard 21-11-018-4-0t-1st NCAA West Regional Quarterfinals
1988-89 Harvard 31-3-021-2-01st NCAA National Champion
1989-90 Harvard 13-14-112-9-16th ECAC Quarterfinals
Harvard:324–201–24256-130-16
Total:324–201–24

      National champion        Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion        Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion      Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

[1]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "2008-09 Harvard Crimson Media Guide" (PDF). Harvard Crimson. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-12-15. Retrieved 2014-08-05.
  2. 1 2 "NCAA Frozen Four Records" (PDF). NCAA.org. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2012-08-17. Retrieved 2013-06-19.
  3. ↑ "Ivy League players in the Cape League". capecodbaseball.org. Retrieved August 30, 2019.
  4. ↑ "Cotuit Maintains League Lead By Beating Sagamore". Falmouth Enterprise. Falmouth, MA. July 19, 1957. p. 5.
  5. ↑ "Two-Hitter Loses For All Star Hurler". Falmouth Enterprise. Falmouth, MA. August 15, 1958. p. 6.
  6. ↑ Barone, Pamela (2010-02-10). "Before the Miracle on Ice: 'Team of Destiny'". NBC Sports. Retrieved 2010-02-19.
  7. ↑ "Harvard Men's Hockey Team History". USCHO.com. Retrieved 2014-08-05.
  8. ↑ "2008-09 ECAC Hockey Media Guides". ECAC Hockey. Archived from the original on 2014-04-27. Retrieved 2014-04-23.
  9. ↑ "NCAA Division 1 Tournament". College Hockey Historical Archive. Retrieved 2014-04-23.
  10. ↑ Thompson, Harry (March 2020). "Lessons From A Legend". USA Hockey Magazine. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
  11. ↑ "IIHF Hall of Fame". Hockey Archives (in Russian). Retrieved 4 July 2023.
Awards and achievements
Preceded by NCAA Ice Hockey Scoring Champion
1954–55 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Spencer Penrose Award
1982–83 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Tim Taylor Award
1987–88
With: Mike Gilligan 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Hobey Baker Legends of College Hockey Award
1993		Succeeded by
Sporting positions
Preceded by NCAA Single-Season Points Leader
1955–1959		Succeeded by
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