Hall of Famer Hay dies at 88, influential on and off ice for decades

Bill Hay, a Stanley Cup champion, Calder Trophy winner and for decades an influential figure with the Hockey Hall of Fame, Hockey Canada and Calgary Flames, has died. He was 88.

The native of Lumsden, Saskatchewan, inducted into hockey’s shrine in the Builders category in 2015, played eight seasons for the Chicago Black Hawks from 1959-67, winning the Calder Trophy in 1959-60 as the NHL’s top rookie and becoming the first player U.S. college-trained player to become a regular in the League, out of Colorado College.

A year after Hay’s award-winning rookie year, he played a part in helping Chicago end a 23-year championship drought.

But it was his work off the ice at many levels, following in the strong managerial footsteps of his father, Charles Hay, that helped to shape the game in Canada and the U.S.

Hockey in the family blood, Hay ultimately followed his father into the shrine, the latter having been inducted as a Builder in 1974.

“Bill Hay was born into a hockey family, won the Stanley Cup as a player and then devoted his post-playing career to growing the game at all levels and honoring its brightest stars,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement upon Hay’s passing.

“Inducted into the Hall as a Builder in 2015 -- joining his father, Charles Hay, who had been enshrined as a Builder in 1974 -- Bill Hay lived a remarkable hockey life that reflected the very best of our sport. The National Hockey League family mourns his passing and sends our deepest condolences to his family and many friends throughout the hockey world.”

Hay’s father led the University of Saskatchewan to the Allan Cup final in 1921 as goalie, and would later serve as president of Hockey Canada.

Charles Hay’s tireless boardroom work included bringing to reality the historic 1972 Summit Series between an NHL all-star team representing Canada and a select team of Soviets.

Bill's mother, Florence Miller, was a track and field star and Bill's maternal uncle, Earl Miller, played in the NHL during the 1920s and 1930s.

The 1960-61 Stanley Cup-winning Chicago Black Hawks. From row, from left: Glenn Hall, captain Ed Litzenberger, Reg Fleming, president Arthur Wirtz, GM Tommy Ivan, owner James Norris, coach Rudy Pilous, Bobby Hull, Bill Hay, Denis DeJordy. Middle row: John Gottselig (public relations), Eric Nesterenko, Dollard St. Laurent, Earl Balfour, Elmer Vasko, Ab McDonald, Al Arbour, Jack Evans, Wayne Hillman, VP Michael Wirtz. Back row: trainer Nick Garen, Murray Balfour, Pierre Pilote, Chico Maki, Stan Mikita, Ron Murphy, Wayne Hicks, Tod Sloan, Kenny Wharram, assistant trainer Walter “Gunzo” Humeniuk.

Hay's road to the NHL and the Hall of Fame began in the mid-1950s, when he was a junior hockey star with the Regina Pats. The Montreal Canadiens owned his rights, but he and a friend hitchhiked from Saskatchewan to Colorado College, where they convinced the school to give them athletic scholarships. Hay would earn a degree in geology and help the Tigers win the 1957 NCAA championship.

"What we had were good teammates, good Canadians," he said. "It was early where hockey was coming in to show some prominence. Colorado College was sort of a town team. We all had jobs in restaurants to eat, and people supported us. We had an outstanding time."

Back in Canada after college, the Black Hawks purchased Hay’s NHL rights from the Canadiens and assigned him to Calgary of the Western League in 1958-59. They would bring him to Chicago for the 1959-60 season, his 55 points (18 goals, 37 assists) in 70 games giving him the voting nod over Murray Oliver of the Detroit Red Wings for the Calder Trophy as the League’s top rookie.

He was the fourth of 10 Calder winners with Chicago through the years. In reverse chronological order: Connor Bedard, 2023-24; Artemi Panarin, 2015-16; Patrick Kane, 2007-08; Ed Belfour, 1990-91; Steve Larmer, 1982-83; Tony Esposito, 1969-70; Hay, 1959-60; Ed Litzenberger, 1954-55; Cully Dahlstrom, 1937-38; and Mike Karakas, 1935-36.

From left: Murray Balfour, Bill Hay and Bobby Hull, linemates with the Chicago Black Hawks.

For much of his time in Chicago, Hay would center one of hockey's most famous trios, the "Million Dollar Line," with Bobby Hull on the left and Murray Balfour on the right. Hay led the Black Hawks in 1960-61 with 48 assists and 59 points.

“He’s the key man on the line, the best playmaker and by far the best stickhandler,” Chicago coach Rudy Pilous said of Hay during the center’s rookie season.

“When today’s fans talk about great centers of the immediate past, they always mention Milt Schmidt, Max Bentley, Teeder Kennedy, Syl Apps and Elmer Lach. Well, 10 or 15 years from now, Hay will be mentioned in this company.”

That wasn’t to be, but Hay would be a vital cog in the gears of his team’s offense.

"Bill was a big, strong center who could handle the puck and was smart with it," Hull told NHL.com writer John Kreiser in 2015. "He and Murray Balfour, his buddy who he grew up with, weren't playing and they put us together. We had chemistry from the get-go.

"Bill was strong and could control the puck. Murray was a bulldog who forechecked and backchecked. We just worked out fabulously well."

From left: Chicago’s Bill Hay, Eric Nesterenko and Bobby Hull in their dressing room following Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final on April 6, 1961 at Chicago Stadium. The Black Hawks defeated the Detroit Red Wings 3-2.

Hay agreed the line was a perfect fit, and said he and Balfour helped make Hull's emergence as one of the NHL's great goal-scorers a little easier.

"I said to Bobby, 'You've been trying to go through everybody on the team, end to end, and it's not doing you any good,'" Hay said. "'It's simple; Murray will battle in the corners, I'll get the puck and fool around with it, I'll get it to you in front of the net and you shoot it in. That's all we have to do.' It worked good.”

Hay had NHL career highs of 52 assists and 63 points in 1961-62, scoring a career-best 23 goals in 1963-64. He had 51 points (20 goals, 31 assists) in 1965-66 but decided to retire after that season to enter the family oil business.

The Black Hawks convinced him to return at midseason in 1966-67. He had 20 points (seven goals, 13 assists) in 36 games, helping Chicago to a first-place finish but when he was made available in the 1967 NHL Expansion Draft and claimed by the St. Louis Blues, Hay retired again, this time for good.

Chicago’s Bill Hay and Toronto goalie Johnny Bower in game action from Feb. 8, 1964 at Maple Leaf Gardens.

He left NHL ice in 1967 at age 31 with 386 points (113 goals, 273 assists) in 506 NHL games and 36 points (15 goals, 21 assists) in 67 Stanley Cup Playoff games.

Hay would enjoy great success in the family oil business, but hockey being his family’s lifeblood, he returned to the game, tapped as president and chief executive officer of the Calgary Flames, part of the team’s ownership group.

Like his father, he was later to serve as president and chief operating officer of Hockey Canada.

Hay also became a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame selection committee in 1980, was made a member of the board of directors in 1995, and served as chairman and CEO from 1998 until his retirement on Aug. 2, 2013.

Under his leadership, the Hall of Fame had two major expansion projects and strengthened its relations with the NHL, the NHL Players' Association, Hockey Canada and the International Ice Hockey Federation.

Bill Hay at his 2015 Hockey Hall of Fame induction with pucks bearing the crests of the Chicago Blackhawks and Calgary Flames, teams for which he played and served as president and chief executive officer.

A great believer in grassroots development for hockey, Hay was instrumental in helping build the Canadian Hockey Centre of Excellence model, which has since found its way into the Hockey Canada Regional Centres, the hubs of initiation activities for those looking to get into the game.

Along with Murray Costello, then the president of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA), he led the discussions and negotiations to merge Hockey Canada and the CAHA into the Canadian Hockey Association (later to be called Hockey Canada) in 1998.

Hay also played a significant role in working with the Seaman Hotchkiss Hockey Foundation on special projects, including Hockey Canada's Officiating Program of Excellence, the Ed Chynoweth Internship Program and the National Coach Mentorship Program.

He played an integral role in two major expansion projects at the Hall, as well as the 18,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art D.K. (Doc) Seaman Hockey Resource Centre, the home of the Hockey Hall of Fame's vast artifact and archival collections and the focal point for research into the history of the game within the MasterCard Centre.

Hockey Hall of Fame chairman Bill Hay (right) and selection committee co-chair Pat Quinn (left) present Mark Messier with his Class of 2007 jacket prior to the Hall of Fame Legends Classic.

For his extraordinary body of work, Hay was honored in 2021 with the prestigious Order of Hockey in Canada. It followed his Hockey Hall of Fame enshrinement, and many other distinctions. Among them:

Alberta Hockey Hall of Fame, 2017; Saskatchewan Hockey Hall of Fame, 2015; Saskatchewan Oil Patch Hall of Fame, 1999; Colorado College Hall of Fame, 1995; Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame, 1992.

"I don't really know why I made into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder," Hay said with a laugh upon his election in 2015, asked whether he could have made the Hall as a player had he not retired so young. "Give the selection committee due credit because I sat through (their meetings) for a long time and they really do debate honestly and fairly.

"But I think as a builder," he added in a more serious vein, "I leave something behind to be proud of."

John Kreiser and the Hockey Hall of Fame contributed to this report.

Top photos: Bill Hay (left) receives his Class of 2015 Builders category Hockey Hall of Fame ring from shrine chairman Lanny McDonald; and with the Chicago Black Hawks in 1960, winner of the 1959-60 Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie.