Founded | 1920 |
---|---|
Ceased | 1930 |
Replaced by | American Hockey Association |
No. of teams | 8 to 15 |
Country | United States |
The United States Amateur Hockey Association (USAHA) was an ice hockey governing body in the United States from 1920 to 1930, which operated an amateur league from 1920 to 1925. The league was filled with predominantly Canadian-born players, but struggled to achieve consistent attendance figures in the days before large arenas with artificial ice. The league disbanded in 1925, with some teams eventually joining the American Hockey Association, and one team joining the National Hockey League. It continued as a governing body until 1930, when its responsibilities were assumed by the Amateur Athletic Union.
The United States Amateur Hockey Association (USAHA) was founded on October 25, 1920 in Philadelphia. The International Skating Union of America which had governed ice hockey until then, resolved to turn over control of the sport with the approval of the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU). The USAHA also inherited the existing affiliation agreement with the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA), which allowed teams from the USAHA to play against teams in either the AAU or the CAHA. [1]
William S. Haddock from Pittsburgh was elected the first president of the USAHA. The original eight teams in the USAHA included the Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets, and teams from Boston, Cleveland, New York City, Philadelphia, and three from Minnesota including Duluth, Eveleth, and Saint Paul. Later additions were the Boston Athletic Association, the Fort Pitt Hornets, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, and three transfers from the American Amateur Hockey Association which included teams from Calumet, Houghton and Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. [1] The USAHA divided its team into three divisions for the first two seasons, with teams grouped in the east, the mid-west and northwest. From 1922 onward, the association was grouped into eastern and western divisions. [1]
In 1922, an annual post-season series was arranged for the USAHA champion to play the senior hockey champion of the CAHA for the Hamilton B. Wills Trophy, [2] but no such series was played for various reasons. [3] In 1923, the USAHA and the CAHA negotiated an agreement to govern the migration of senior hockey players between the associations. [4] Persistent disagreements on player movements between the USAHA and the CAHA, led to CAHA president Silver Quilty cancelling the agreement in 1925. [5] The USAHA stopped league play after the 1924–25 season. The Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets joined the National Hockey League, and the western teams were reorganized as the Central Hockey League in 1925, which later became the American Hockey Association in 1926. [1]
The association had faced difficulties with consistent refereeing, and the lack of suitable ice for the whole season since most teams played on natural outdoor ice surfaces instead of arenas. The Minneapolis Arena, and the Duquesne Gardens in Pittsburgh were the largest rinks at the time. The association also struggled with attendance figures due to the varying arena capacities. [1]
Although league play ceased in 1925, the USAHA continued to oversee amateur hockey in the United States, included United States Olympic hockey team. The USAHA selected the Augsburg College hockey team to represent the US at the 1928 Winter Olympics, however the American Olympic Committee, led by Douglas MacArthur, refused to certify the Augsburg team due to the lack of Olympic trials. [6] Haddock insisted that the Augsburg team was the only one in the country that had the ability and the funds to compete in the Olympics and refused to approve any other team. [7] As a result, the United States did not have an Olympic hockey team in 1928. In 1930, the USAHA was dissolved and the AAU took control of ice hockey. [8]
USAHA players were predominantly Canadians, with the St. Paul and Duluth teams being the exceptions. Rosters were typically small and ranged from nine to twelve players, and teams did not usually have an alternate goaltender. [1]
Notable players from the USAHA include: [1]
United States Amateur Hockey Association regular season and playoff champions. [9]
Season | Regular season champions | Playoff champions |
---|---|---|
1920–21 | Group One: Boston A.A. Group Two: Cleveland HC Group Three: Eveleth | Cleveland HC (14-12 on total goals) |
1921–22 | Group One: Westminster Hockey Club Group Two: St. Paul Group Three: Canadian Soo* | Westminster Hockey Club |
1922–23 | Eastern division: Boston A.A. Western division: St. Paul | Boston Athletic Association |
1923–24 | Eastern division: Boston A.A. Western division: Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets | Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets |
1924–25 | Eastern division: Fort Pitt Hornets Western division (1st half): Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets Western division (2nd half): Eveleth | Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets |
*Canadian Soo was ineligible to compete for the U.S. championship, so group runner-up Eveleth entered the playoffs instead.
William Raymond "Toby" Sexsmith was a Canadian politician and ice hockey administrator. He was elected three times as a Progressive Conservative Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba representing the Portage la Prairie riding from 1933 to 1943. He served as president of the Manitoba Amateur Hockey Association from 1921 to 1923, and sat on the association's executive committee for 25 years. He served as president of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) from 1922 to 1924, and set a precedent that future CAHA presidents would also be given two-year terms.
The Canadian Amateur Hockey Association was the national governing body of amateur ice hockey in Canada from 1914 until 1994, when it merged with Hockey Canada. Its jurisdiction included senior ice hockey leagues and the Allan Cup, junior ice hockey leagues and the Memorial Cup, amateur minor ice hockey leagues in Canada, and choosing the representative of the Canada men's national ice hockey team.
William Abraham Hewitt was a Canadian sports executive and journalist, also widely known as Billy Hewitt. He was secretary of the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) from 1903 to 1966, and sports editor of the Toronto Daily Star from 1900 to 1931. He promoted the establishment of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA), then served as its secretary-treasurer from 1915 to 1919, registrar from 1921 to 1925, registrar-treasurer from 1925 to 1961, and a trustee of the Allan Cup and Memorial Cup. Hewitt standardized player registrations in Canada, was a committee member to discuss professional-amateur agreements with the National Hockey League, and negotiated working agreements with amateur hockey governing bodies in the United States. He oversaw referees within the OHA, and negotiated common rules of play for amateur and professional leagues as chairman of the CAHA rules committee. After retiring from journalism, he was the managing-director of Maple Leaf Gardens from 1931 to 1948, and chairman of the committee to select the inaugural members of the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1945.
Claude Copeland Robinson was a Canadian ice hockey and sports executive. After winning an intermediate-level championship as captain of the Winnipeg Victorias in 1905, he served as secretary-treasurer and as vice-president of the Victorias. He coached the Victorias to a Manitoba Hockey League championship in 1909, and felt that his team could have competed for the newly established Allan Cup, despite that challenges from senior ice hockey teams were accepted only from Eastern Canada at the time. The Victorias won the Allan Cup by default in 1911, when the Toronto St. Michael's Majors refused to play, then successfully defended four challenges for the trophy.
George Samuel Dudley was a Canadian ice hockey administrator. He joined the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) executive in 1928, served as its president from 1934 to 1936, and as its treasurer from 1936 to 1960. He was elected to Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) executive in 1936, served as its president from 1940 to 1942, as its secretary from 1945 to 1947, and as its secretary-manager from 1947 to 1960. He was secretary of the International Ice Hockey Association from 1945 to 1947, and was later vice-president of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) from 1957 to 1960. He was expected to become the next president of the IIHF before his death. He graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1917 then practiced law for 43 years as the town solicitor for Midland, Ontario.
Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets was the name of three separate ice hockey teams based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The original team was part of the United States Amateur Hockey Association (USAHA) from 1920 to 1925 and developed from predecessors dating back to 1915. After winning the USAHA Championship in 1924 and 1925, the ostensibly amateur Yellow Jackets turned fully professional and became the Pittsburgh Pirates of the National Hockey League. After the Pirates relocated in 1930 to play as the Philadelphia Quakers, a second Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets club played for two seasons in the International Hockey League, a minor professional circuit. A third Yellow Jackets team was organized at the amateur level in 1935 by John H. Harris and competed in the Eastern Amateur Hockey League before folding in 1937.
Roy Dunlap Schooley was a former hockey referee who later became the manager of both Duquesne Gardens, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and the Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets of the United States Amateur Hockey Association. In 1925, the Yellow Jackets hockey club, evolved into the Pittsburgh Pirates of the National Hockey League. On March 16, 1920 at the Duquesne Gardens, he helped found USA Hockey, the governing body for amateur ice hockey in the United States. That same year, he assembled the first U.S. Olympic Hockey Team which won a silver medal at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium and is credited with helping to foster the growth of hockey in the country.
Sylvester Patrick "Silver" Quilty was a Canadian football player, referee, coach and sport administrator. As a player, he won the Yates Cup in 1907 with the Ottawa Gee-Gees football team, and was credited as the first man to play the flying wing position. He also played with the Ottawa Rough Riders, and the McGill Redmen football team. After his playing career, he became a football referee and officiated the 10th Grey Cup, and also coached the Ottawa Rough Riders.
William Alexander Fry was a Canadian sports administrator and newspaper publisher. Fry founded the Dunnville Chronicle in 1896, managed local hockey and baseball teams in the 1910s, then served as president of the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) from 1922 to 1924. At the national level, he was president of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) from 1928 to 1930, was a Canadian Olympic Committee member and British Empire Games committee member from 1927 to 1938, and served as president of the Amateur Athletic Union of Canada from 1934 to 1936.
The International Ice Hockey Association was a governing body for international ice hockey. It was established in 1940 when the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association wanted more control over international hockey, and was in disagreement with the definition of amateur used by the International Olympic Committee. The Amateur Hockey Association of the United States co-founded the association, with the British Ice Hockey Association joining later. The association oversaw the relationships between the National Hockey League, and leagues within the national amateur associations. W. G. Hardy served as its president, and planned for an amateur hockey World Series after World War II. The association was merged into the Ligue Internationale de Hockey sur Glace in 1947.
John Welch Hamilton was a Canadian sports executive. He served as president of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) from 1930 to 1932, president of the Amateur Athletic Union of Canada from 1936 to 1938, and was a member of the Canadian Olympic Committee for 17 years. His leadership of the CAHA and the AAU of C coincided with efforts to maintain amateurism and combat growing professionalism in sport. He appointed a committee to establish better relations between the CAHA and professional leagues, and praised the players and teams for quality hockey and growth of the amateur game in Canada despite the competition. He favoured professionals in one sport playing as amateurs in another, and took charge of the AAU of C at a time when the CAHA, the Canadian Amateur Basketball Association, and the Canadian Amateur Lacrosse Association challenged the definition of amateur, and later broke away from the AAU of C which wanted to hold onto purist ideals of amateurism.
John Franklin Paxton was a Canadian ice hockey administrator. He served as president of the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA), and was the acting president of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association during World War I. He ensured that competition for the Allan Cup continued, which saw increased participation from military teams playing senior ice hockey in Canada. He partnered with W. A. Hewitt to negotiate a relationship with the International Skating Union of America to resume hockey games between Canada and the United States that had ended due to the war. Paxton later served as treasurer of the OHA, was a regular delegate to the general meetings of the Amateur Athletic Union of Canada, and represented the old guard of strict principles of amateurism where hockey players did not accept money. He served as the sheriff of Ontario County from 1887 until 1932, and was the son of politician and industrialist Thomas Paxton. After Paxton's death, the Winnipeg Free Press referred to him as both "Canada's most beloved hockey official", and "hockey's most beloved figure".
William Rowen Granger was an American-born Canadian sports administrator and businessman. He served as president of the Montreal AAA from 1918 to 1920, oversaw the revival of the association's ice hockey, baseball and soccer teams after World War I, and previously served as president of the Montreal Lawn Bowling Club and the Montreal Bicycle Club. He helped establish the Province of Quebec Lawn Bowling Association and became its president in 1919. He also served as president of the Inter-Club Road Race Association of Montreal, helped organize the Cyclists' Rights Committee in Montreal, and was a director of the Canadian Wheelmen's Association.
Harry John Sterling was a Canadian ice hockey administrator. He was elected president of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) in 1920, after serving as an Ontario Hockey Association executive and as president of the Thunder Bay Amateur Hockey Association. He declared that the CAHA would not tolerate the hockey "tourist" after becoming suspicious of players who changed their addresses to be on a new team. His investigation into registrations led to the suspension of a team from Saskatoon when it was discovered that players who won the gold medal representing Canada in ice hockey at the 1920 Summer Olympics were being paid for amateur hockey. His term as president resulted in the CAHA enacting stricter rules for registration and co-operation with the Amateur Athletic Union of Canada to investigate into all Canadian hockey players to maintain amateurism.
Frederick Everett Betts was a Canadian ice hockey administrator and businessman. He concurrently served as president of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA), the Saskatchewan Amateur Hockey Association, and the Saskatchewan branch of the Amateur Athletic Union of Canada during the 1919–20 season. He sought regulations to govern amateur sport in Canada, which he felt was in a state of disrepute due to the lack of discussion and the postponement of meetings during World War I. He supported the reinstatement of former professionals as amateur athletes as favoured in Western Canada, despite the growing rift with delegates from Eastern Canada on the issue. He sought for the Allan Cup trustees to allow the CAHA to have more say into how the national playoffs were operated and argued for receiving an annual percentage of profits from gate receipts to allow the CAHA to govern effectively.
Frederick Paul Henry Marples was a Canadian sports executive in ice hockey and athletics. He was president of the Winnipeg Monarchs team which won Winnipeg Amateur Hockey League championships in 1914 and 1915, and the Allan Cup as senior ice hockey champions of Canada. His operation of a reserve team to support the Monarchs led to debates on player eligibility for the Allan Cup and calls for a national governing body of hockey. As the secretary-treasurer of the Winnipeg Amateur Hockey League, he helped establish both the Manitoba Amateur Hockey Association (MAHA) and the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) in 1914; then served as secretary-treasurer of the MAHA from 1914 to until 1934, and as secretary of the CAHA from 1926 to 1945. He sought to grow the game in rural regions of Manitoba, promote minor ice hockey as a source of future senior players, to keep players in junior ice hockey until age 21, and was against the exodus of amateur players to professional teams.
The Eveleth Rangers were an amateur ice hockey team from Eveleth, Minnesota that played in various amateur leagues during the first half of the 1900s. As a member of the United States Amateur Hockey Association (1920–1925) the team was known as the Eveleth Reds, and in 1925–26 they played as the Eveleth-Hibbing Rangers in the CAHL, out of the Hibbing Memorial Arena in Hibbing, Minnesota.
The Boston Athletic Association ice hockey team was an American amateur ice hockey team sponsored by the Boston Athletic Association that played in the American Amateur Hockey League, United States Amateur Hockey Association, and Eastern Amateur Hockey League. The team won the AAHL title in 1916 and 1917 and the USAHA championship in 1923, and the EAHL title in 1926. The team was nicknamed the Unicorn after the association's symbol.
The Westminster Hockey Club was an American amateur ice hockey team that played in the United States Amateur Hockey Association from 1921 to 1924. The team played its first season in Boston and won the 1922 USAHA championship. The team moved to New Haven, Connecticut for the 1922–23 season and, during that season, were kicked out of the league for failing to show up for a scheduled game. The Westminsters were then replaced by the New Haven Bears, which consisted of most of the same players as the Westminster Hockey Club, but had different management.
William Samuel Haddock was an American athletic leader who served as president of the United States Amateur Hockey Association from its creation in 1920 until its demise in 1930.