A decent Hockey player himself, Jack Gibson entered the Hockey Hall of Fame in the builders category for his early organizing ability during the infancy of organizing the game. Gibson starred, and recruited and formed a very good Portage Lake squad, but it was in Northern Michigan where his contributions to the game really came to life. Gibson was the brainchild behind the International Hockey League, which was the first professional league for the sport. Although most of the teams were in Michigan, the league had teams in Pittsburgh and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. The league did not last long as professional hockey emerged in Canada, and many of the top players that Gibson lured from north of the border returned home.

Let’s talk about the good first. Bill Wirtz took over a lot of the operations of the Chicago Blackhawks in the late 50’s and the Hawks won a Stanley Cup in 1961. He would become the team President, and though Chicago did not win another Cup that decade, they remained a competitive and stacked franchise. Wirtz also served on numerous committees including the NHL Expansion, the U.S. Olympic and helped mediate the 1972 Summit Series.

An excellent two way Defenceman, Bill Quackenbush was one of the most disciplined players in the National Hockey League. Quackenbush rarely made mistakes on the ice. This was not just shown by his acumen with the puck, but his ability to stay out of the penalty box. He would become the first Defenceman to win the Lady Byng Trophy in a season in which he received ZERO penalty minutes. Quackenbush actually had a 131 game stretch without receiving a whistle from a referee. Although he never had the opportunity to hoist the Stanley Cup, he was a five time All Star and played in eight consecutive All Star games. It is likely though that his failure to win a Cup in the Original Six era (and his playoff PPG was a bit less than his regular season average) delayed his induction to the Hall of Fame.

A longtime President with the New York Rangers, William M. Jennings also sat on the NHL Finance Committee. Most importantly, Jennings was the Chairman of the NHL Board of Governors and the head of the Expansion Committee. Also in 1964, he was instrumental in setting up a National Hockey League office in New York City. His Rangers may never have won a Stanley Cup under his guidance, but the NHL became better because of him. As an honor to him in 1981 (shortly after he died), the William M. Jennings Trophy was created to be given annually to the Goaltender(s) who played a minimum of twenty five games on the team with the lowest Goals Against Average.