Campbell led NHL for 31 years after World War II heroics

Legendary hockey reporter Stan Fischler writes a weekly scrapbook for NHL.com. Fischler, known as "The Hockey Maven," shares his humor and insight with readers each Wednesday.

This week Fischler looks ahead to Sept. 4, which marks the 77th anniversary of Clarence Campbell being named NHL president. Campbell's 31-year League stewardship involved many innovations as well as the growth of major league hockey in North America.

A product of Canada's raw northwest, Clarence Campbell was adventurer, academic, attorney, World War II prosecutor, major league referee and shepherd of the great NHL expansion all rolled into one amazing lifetime. And that's not all.

This coming Monday will mark the 77th year since Campbell took office in Montreal's massive Sun Life Building. He served the NHL for 31 years and to this day holds the record as longest serving head of any major sports league in North America. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman will tie that mark Feb. 1, 2024.

"As a commissioner," Campbell once explained during his presidency, "you are almost like an (on-ice) official. From the start, everything is against you, and you'd better understand that."

Campbell understood that well. At the time of his retirement in 1977, the NHL had grown from its Original Six teams in 1946 when he took office to triple that size and had grown enormously popular, coast to coast.

The legendary League executive may have been fortunate that his first year on the job coincided with "Mr. Hockey" Gordie Howe signing his first pro contract with the Detroit Red Wings.

"When Howe came into the game, hockey was a Canadian game," Campbell explained. "He converted it into a North American game."

Writing for The Hockey News and, later, the New York Journal-American, I interviewed Campbell many times in his Montreal office. While still maintaining a military presence -- he'd always answer the phone with "Campbell here!" -- there was a regular-guy persona about him.

"We got to see a lot of Clarence during the 1950 Rangers-Red Wings playoff," former Rangers publicist Stan Saplin said. "He'd think nothing of impromptu press conferences and hanging around with the press guys. We liked him a lot."

Campbell's life had the makings of a Hollywood film. The producers could open with Major Campbell with Canadian troops in Normandy, France, a month after D-Day, July 1944. At war's end he was awarded the Order of the British Empire.

For a post-war encore, Campbell was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and named to the Canadian War Crimes investigative unit. Campbell prosecuted Waffen-SS General Kurt Meyer, who was charged with the murder of 41 Canadian prisoners of war. Meyer was found guilty and sentenced to death, although the sentence later was commuted.

Never afraid of doling out justice, Campbell, then NHL president, severely punished Montreal Canadiens idol Maurice "Rocket" Richard following a brawl at Boston Garden in the homestretch of the 1954-55 season.

Richard was suspended for the final week of play and the entire Stanley Cup Playoffs. The decision infuriated Richard's legion of fans and precipitated protests prior to a crucial Detroit-Montreal game at The Forum on March 17, 1955.

Ignoring warnings not to attend the game, Campbell bravely showed up and soon was taunted and targeted at his arena seat. When a tear gas canister exploded near ice level, he barely escaped harm via back doors and the game was suspended.

Born in 1905, Campbell was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University in England. He practiced law in Edmonton and was a hockey referee in his spare time. His NHL officiating career began in 1933 and ended in 1938.

During a rugged playoff game between the Boston Bruins and Montreal Maroons at Boston Garden on March 23, 1937, Campbell verbally chastised Boston's Dit Clapper after Clapper had battled with Dave Trottier of Montreal. The normally reserved Clapper suddenly fired a right cross to the referee's head, after which a melee took place.

Boston hockey historian Jeff Miclash wrote in his book "Total Bruins" that "Campbell didn't hand out a match penalty due to guilt over what he said to Clapper."

Campbell gave Clapper a major penalty and a decade later told a reporter, "I was talking loud when I should have been throwing both of them in the penalty box. Clapper really didn't hit me. He was just crazy with rage lashing out with his fist in all directions."

Supported by NHL President Frank Calder, Campbell resumed his officiating career until it ended a year later following a brawl between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Chicago Black Hawks during the 1938 Stanley Cup Final. Maple Leafs manager and NHL powerbroker Conn Smythe disagreed with the officiating and confronted Campbell following the game. Furious over the referee's explanation, Smythe took action.

"We never allowed Campbell to referee again," Smythe claimed in his autobiography. "Owners could do that. Why not? It was our game, our meal ticket. A bad referee could do a lot of damage."

Campbell got a break when Calder immediately hired him as his aide de camp and began grooming him as his successor. But Canada's entry into World War II inspired Campbell to enlist in the armed forces.

After returning to Canada in 1946, Campbell learned that Smythe, of all people, nominated him to succeed the retiring Red Dutton as NHL president.

"Campbell knows that he will have to answer to our six owners," Smythe said. "Clarence is a military man and he's the right guy because he knows how to take orders, loves hockey and is very smart."

Savvy about publicity, Campbell hired Ken McKenzie as the League's first full-time public relations head. Campbell also was instrumental in creating The Hockey News, as well as launching the first official NHL All-Star Game in October 1947, among innumerable accomplishments.

With a smile and a quip three decades later, Campbell turned the keys to the president's office over to his successor, John Ziegler.

"There's nothing so past," Campbell chuckled, "than a past president!"

Photos courtesy of: Hockey Hall of Fame