Tad Potter

Last updated October 28, 2022

Thayer R. "Tad" Potter (February 19, 1933 - January 11, 2013) was a Pittsburgh-area businessman and a National Hockey League owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins from 1971 until 1975.

Biography

Early life and education

Potter was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the second of five sons to William and Katharine Potter. He grew up in the nearby borough of Edgewood. He became a three-sport athlete at Edgewood High School (now Woodland Hills High School). He later attended Valley Forge Military Academy in Wayne, Pennsylvania, as a result of misbehavior and poor grades. There Tad improved his academic record and graduated with honors and soon enrolled at Penn State. He married Jean Kutz, a college classmate in 1955. He served as an officer in the United States Navy Reserve and relocated to Newport, Rhode Island, then to Norfolk, Virginia. He and his family returned to Pittsburgh upon completion of his naval tour. During the 1960 World Series and he achieved notoriety by being the first man to greet Bill Mazeroski at home plate after his game-winning home run for the Pittsburgh Pirates in Game 7.^[1]

Pittsburgh Penguins

Tad was passionate about ice hockey and became a fan of the Pittsburgh Penguins. He became a "hockey hound" who encouraged fans to buy season tickets when he heard a buyer wanted to move the Penguins out of Pittsburgh.^[2] In 1971 he formed a partnership and purchased the team in order to keep the franchise in the city. The fortunes of the team improved, and the Penguins rose to elite status in the National Hockey League by 1975. Penguins' co-founder Peter Block was also a part of the new ownership group.

However at the end of the Penguins' 1974-75 season, the team filed for bankruptcy.^[3] Financial difficulties within the partnership and a salary war with the upstart World Hockey Association led to the move.^[1] The ownership group had been negotiating a plan to keep the team while beginning to pay $532,000 in overdue withholding taxes, however a local management change in the team. On June 12, 1975, IRS agents walked into the Pittsburgh Civic Arena and placed a tax lien against the Penguins. Meanwhile, Equibank, the Penguins’ largest creditor, had filed a $5 million suit against the club. Penguins were eventually sold for a mere $3.8 million to a group that included Wren Blair and Al Savill, ending Potter and Block's stake in the team. When the Penguins declared bankruptcy again in the late 1990s, Potter and Block both expressed hope that the Pens would be rescued stating "It’s very, very scary to see this happening to the Penguins again, after all, it was my idea and I want to see it succeed forever".^[3] According to Joe Gordon, a public relations director for the Penguins during the team's first two years. He later said that "Mr. Potter was "passionate" about hockey and was "instrumental in keeping hockey in Pittsburgh. We may have lost the team if it hadn't been for Tad and his partners".^[2]

Coal

Potter later forming Kitspaw Fuel, a coal brokerage service and then moving on to site evaluation and development for O'Brien Energy of Philadelphia. Tad's wife, Jean, later stated that his work on coal bed methane projects was his most satisfying professional achievement. Potter was a grandson of the Pittsburgh industrialist Willard Rockwell and had come into some family money. However he was proud this the coal brokerage, because it something he achieved on his own.^[2]

Later life

In retirement he went on annual fly fishing excursions with friends to the Boulder River Ranch in Montana and well as traveled with his wife. He died in his sleep on January 11, 2013, in Penn Hills, Pennsylvania, due to congestive heart failure.^[1]

Related Research Articles

The Pittsburgh Penguins are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference, and have played their home games at PPG Paints Arena, originally known as Consol Energy Center, since 2010. The team previously played at the Civic Arena, also known as "the Igloo". The Penguins are currently affiliated with two minor league teams – the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League (AHL) and the Wheeling Nailers of the ECHL.

Mario Lemieux is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He played parts of 17 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Pittsburgh Penguins between 1984 and 2006, and he assumed ownership of the franchise in 1999. Nicknamed "The Magnificent One", "Le Magnifique" and "Super Mario" after the fictional character of the same name, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. A gifted playmaker and fast skater despite his large size, Lemieux often beat defencemen with fakes and dekes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Art Rooney</span> American football player, executive, and owner (1901–1988)

Arthur Joseph Rooney Sr., often referred to as "The Chief", was the founding owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, an American football franchise in the National Football League (NFL), from 1933 until his death. Rooney is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, was an Olympic qualifying boxer, and was part or whole owner in several track sport venues and Pittsburgh area pro teams. He was the first president of the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1933 to 1974, and the first chairman of the team from 1933 to 1988.

Mike Lange is a retired American sportscaster, best known for his long career as a play-by-play announcer for Pittsburgh Penguins hockey. In 2001, he received the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award for his outstanding work as an NHL broadcaster.

Ryan Whitney is an American former professional ice hockey defenseman. After playing with his high school team from Thayer Academy and the USA National Development Program, Whitney joined the college ranks with Boston University in 2001. Upon completing his freshman year, he was selected by the Pittsburgh Penguins fifth overall in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft. Following parts of three seasons with the Penguins' minor league affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, Whitney played his NHL rookie season in 2005–06. Whitney remained in Pittsburgh for three-and-a-half seasons, helping the club to the 2008 Stanley Cup Finals. He was traded to the Edmonton Oilers in 2010 after a brief stint with the Anaheim Ducks.

Sports in Pittsburgh have been played dating back to the American Civil War. Baseball, hockey, and the first professional American football game had been played in the city by 1892. Pittsburgh was first known as the "City of Champions" when the Pittsburgh Pirates, Pittsburgh Panthers football team, and Pittsburgh Steelers won multiple championships in the 1970s. Today, the city has three major professional sports franchises, the Pirates, Steelers, and Penguins; while the University of Pittsburgh Panthers compete in a Division I Power Five conference, the highest level of collegiate athletics in the United States, in both football and basketball. Local universities Duquesne and Robert Morris also field Division I teams in men's and women's basketball and Division I FCS teams in football. Robert Morris also fields Division I men's and women's ice hockey teams.

Teams from 150 high schools competed as varsity ice hockey teams in Western and Eastern Pennsylvania. Unlike many other high school sport in Pennsylvania, hockey is not run under Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association umbrella. However, Pennsylvania's high school ice hockey is sanctioned by USA Hockey and varsity-level programs are marginally overseen by the NHL Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers organizations through the Penguins Cup and the Flyers Cup. However although it is considered a club it is still a part of the High School and is affiliated with the school.

Sports in Pennsylvania includes numerous professional sporting teams, events, and venues located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania.

Howard Lapsley Baldwin is an American entrepreneur and film producer. He is the CEO of Baldwin Entertainment, which has produced films such as the Academy Award-nominated Ray. Baldwin founded the New England Whalers ice hockey franchise in the World Hockey Association (WHA) and retained ownership when the team became the Hartford Whalers and joined the National Hockey League (NHL). He has also owned part of the Minnesota North Stars and Pittsburgh Penguins NHL franchises. He won the Stanley Cup in 1992 with Pittsburgh. The WHA's coach of the year award was originally named the Howard Baldwin Trophy in his honor.

PPG Paints Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Pittsburgh, that serves as the home of the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League (NHL). It previously was the home of the Pittsburgh Power of the Arena Football League (AFL) from 2011 to 2014.

Wren Alvin Blair was a Canadian ice hockey coach, scout and executive in the National Hockey League.

The 1967–68 Pittsburgh Penguins season was their first in the NHL. Pittsburgh was one of six cities awarded an expansion team during the 1967 NHL expansion.

The 1974–75 Pittsburgh Penguins season was the franchise's eighth season in the National Hockey League. It was also the Penguins first season in the Norris division of the Prince of Wales Conference. The team qualified for the playoffs for the third time in franchise history, losing to the New York Islanders after gaining a 3–0 lead in the quarter-final round.

Jack Edwin McGregor is a former Pennsylvania State Senator from Pittsburgh and the founder of the National Hockey League's Pittsburgh Penguins. He currently resides in Bridgeport, Connecticut where he serves as counsel to Cohen and Wolf, P.C. as an advisor to companies looking to create business opportunities in the Bridgeport region. He also serves as a consultant to existing companies wishing to expand their market share in the area.

The Western Pennsylvania Hospital, commonly referred to as "West Penn Hospital", is located at 4800 Friendship Avenue in the Bloomfield neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The 317-bed hospital is part of the Allegheny Health Network. It serves as a Clinical Campus of Temple University School of Medicine, offering medical education, including a large number of residency and fellowship programs. It is also the primary clinical setting of the West Penn Hospital School of Nursing.

The 2009–10 NHL season was the 93rd season of operation of the National Hockey League (NHL). It ran from October 1, 2009—including four games in Europe on October 2 and 3—until April 11, 2010, with the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs running to June 9, 2010. A mid-season break from February 15 to February 28 occurred to allow participation of NHL players in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Because of the Winter Olympics break, there was no NHL All-Star Game for 2010. The Stanley Cup Finals saw the Chicago Blackhawks defeat the Philadelphia Flyers in six games, for their first championship since the 1960–61 season.

Charles M. "Chuck" Greenberg is an American sports attorney, chairman and founder of the Greenberg Sports Group, and owner of three minor league baseball teams. Greenberg was managing partner of Rangers Baseball Express, LLC, which on August 5, 2010, won court approval to purchase the Texas Rangers, a Major League Baseball team, from Tom Hicks and Hicks Sports Group. Greenberg served as Managing Partner and CEO of the Rangers from 2010 to 2011.

Elmore Lee Keener, Jr. was a National Hockey League co-owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins starting from April 21, 1971 until his death from lung cancer.

Donald Holcombe Parsons was a lawyer, banker and a National Hockey League owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins from March 1968 until April 1971.

Peter Block was a co-founder and former-owner of the National Hockey League's Pittsburgh Penguins. He was a part of the team's ownership for just one season, selling in his share in 1968. Block rejoined the ownership group in 1971, though, and kept his stake until the team went bankrupt in 1975. He relocated to California in the mid-1980s to start a business venture and died on December 13, 2015 at his home in Santa Monica from cancer.

References

1 2 3 "Former Penguins' Part-owner Tad Potter dies". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . 2013-01-12. Retrieved 2016-07-14.
1 2 3 Chute, Eleanor (2013-01-13). "Obituary: Thayer 'Tad' Potter / Former owner of Penguins dies at 79". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . Retrieved 2016-07-14.
1 2 Grove, Bob (1998-11-01). "Behind the Net Penguin's Bankruptcy Revisited". Pittsburgh Sports Report. Retrieved 2016-07-13.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[Obit-1] 1 2 3 "Former Penguins' Part-owner Tad Potter dies". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . 2013-01-12. Retrieved 2016-07-14.

[Chute-2] 1 2 3 Chute, Eleanor (2013-01-13). "Obituary: Thayer 'Tad' Potter / Former owner of Penguins dies at 79". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . Retrieved 2016-07-14.

[Grove-3] 1 2 Grove, Bob (1998-11-01). "Behind the Net Penguin's Bankruptcy Revisited". Pittsburgh Sports Report. Retrieved 2016-07-13.

[1]

[2]

[3]