Smeaton talks officiating, transition from player in 1976 Q&A

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 returns to "Voices from the Past." His subject is James Cooper Smeaton, an iconic on-ice official who went from being a player to the father of modern officiating, a 1961 Hockey Hall of Fame induction and trustee of the Stanley Cup until his death Oct. 3, 1978, at the age of 88.

The 1976 interview originally appeared in Fischler's book, "Those were the days: The lore of hockey."

How did you become a hockey player?

"I was born in Ottawa, but my family moved to Montreal when I was 3 and that's where my hockey playing began. The Westmount Amateur Athletic Association had a team, and I earned a spot on defense, only in those days, at the turn of the century, it was called point. We won our share of championships and I got recognized for my play by hockey people at New York's St. Nicholas Arena, which then was the main hockey center in Manhattan. It was not far from Times Square and had several teams in a league. I suddenly realized that I was in demand."

What was attractive about the offer?

"The fact that I could play high-level hockey along with some very good players from Montreal and also get a job at the same time. Sprague Cleghorn and his brother, Odie, were the other (Montreal natives) who were invited to Manhattan by the New York Wanderers. There was no National Hockey League in those days, but top-notch players were given good jobs in the city, and we were getting paid pretty good money so we could enjoy life in a fast-growing New York."

What was it like to be a pro in 'The Big Apple?'

"We weren't exactly professionals by the later standards of the NHL because my hockey salary was being paid for by my other employer, the Spaulding Sporting Goods Company. Likewise, Sprague's salary was paid by the telephone company and Odie's by a Wall Street brokerage. The hockey was intense and that's why the Wanderers had us come down from Canada. Besides the Wanderers, the other teams were the St. Nicholas Hockey Club, the New York Hockey Club and one from Brooklyn called the Crescent Athletic Club. Also, collegiate teams played at St. Nick's and that's where the great American player Hobey Baker was the big attraction playing for Princeton. I loved New York and the whole setup there."

What made you leave to become a referee?

"I would have stayed on and played, but a serious family situation came up at home in Montreal and I had to return. Once I settled the family business, I got a job and started playing hockey again, but the new job didn't give me enough time to play hockey as I had in New York. But I found out that if I started refereeing, I could pick my spots, stay with my job, and make a living at hockey and regular employment with the Sun Life Insurance Company. Meanwhile, my hockey buddy, goalie Riley Hern, fixed me up with his wife's girlfriend (Victoria) and we got married in 1913."

How did marriage influence your officiating career?

"In order to make a decent living for our family, I got a tip that the National Hockey Association, predecessor to the NHL, needed referees. The NHA was a pro league run by Frank Calder, (who) eventually become the first NHL president. A sportswriter at the Toronto Star newspaper saw me work said to Calder, 'Why don't you give Smeaton a chance?'"

What happened?

"Calder phoned me and said he wanted me to referee a game between the Montreal Canadiens and the Montreal Wanderers. He told me that I'd be working with another official named Harvey Pulford. He would be the referee and I'd be what they called 'The judge of play.' That meant that Pulford would have the final say on calling penalties. That sounded good to me because I knew that Pulford was a big, strong fellow and not afraid of anybody and it also meant that I could call penalties as much as Harvey could."

Do you remember your first penalty call?

"I'll never forget it. It was against Newsy Lalonde, who was one of hockey's toughest players at the time. Newsy was a center in those days of seven-man hockey; the seventh being what they called the rover. I faced off the puck and Newsy passed it to his rover and then started skating, but I noticed that he was offside and called him for it. Suddenly, he wheeled around and came at me like he was going to knock my head off. Here I was a rookie in the pro ranks and already I had a career crisis."

How did you solve it?

"For one thing, I knew the rule book and for another I knew that I had the right to fine him if necessary. As he came at me, I snapped, 'Two minutes and $5.' Well, Newsy nearly dropped dead when he heard that. He stopped in his tracks and said nothing, and I learned then and there that that was the way to squelch Lalonde. From that point on, Newsy never bothered me and it was a turning point in my career because if I had given in to him, I would have been through as an official. The players would have spread the word around and I wouldn't have been worth much anymore. I learned that I had to be strict. If a player tried to give me a hard time, I'd tell him, 'You open your mouth and out you go!'"

When did your officiating career take off?

"Frank Calder began giving me lots of work and I liked officiating so much that I figured a way to get it around my full-time job at Sun Life. If I had a game in Ottawa one night, I'd have to catch the 4 p.m. train out of Montreal, eat on the train, referee the game, go to a hotel, catch the 5:30 a.m. train and be back in my Montreal office at 9 a.m. And when I handled games in Ontario, I had to use a bell rather than a whistle and that was awkward. Imagine racing from one end of the rink to the other lugging a big bell along with you. My trick was to carry the tongue of the bell between my fingers, but it still was a clumsy procedure."

What effect did officiating have on your marriage?

"My wife came to my games, and she learned to deal with fans who disagreed with my calls. There were nights when fans took out their anger on my wife and pelted her with missiles. When we got home one night, we had to cut the gum out of her fur coat with a pair of scissors. We also had to put a stopper on our telephone in case fans called to tell me off. And whenever we'd go out to eat, somebody would recognize me, come over to the table, and start an argument. Sometimes my refereeing made it tougher on my wife than anybody."

How bad did it get for her?

"One night my wife barely escaped injury thanks to Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Hap Day. He had been injured and was sitting beside my wife when I made a couple of calls that upset the fans. One guy approached my wife with his fist cocked. Luckily, Day had a set of crutches next to him and threatened to whack the fellow with one if he came any closer. It was especially bad at Montreal's Forum, where you had the French-speaking fans rooting for the Canadiens and the English-speakers pulling for the Montreal Maroons. I'm English, but I took more abuse from the Maroons fans than I ever did from the French."

What changes did you make for NHL officials?

"One of the practices that I made part of my pregame routine was to talk to the players on both teams before every game, especially if it was between fierce rivals like the Canadiens and the Maroons. I also convinced Calder that it would be a good idea for him to allow me to visit NHL training camps at the start of each season to go over the rules and any new ones the League may have approved. That way, the players would have a better idea of what's in the rule book. And that same thing held for coaches and even the biggest of the big shots like Conn Smythe of the Maple Leafs."

Did you have a run-in with Smythe?

"Yes, it was the day I went to Toronto and met with the Leafs players to explain some new rules. Smythe was sitting in the corner of the dressing room ignoring me, just reading the paper. 'Connie,' I said, 'This is just as good for you as it is for the others, so please put down your paper.' And he put it down. He learned something and, as a result, we didn't have many arguments."

Pick a game you'll never forget.

"By the mid-1920s, I had a considerable reputation throughout the League and that's why Frank Calder had me referee the first game at old Madison Square Garden in 1925. It was a match between the New York Americans and Montreal Canadiens. It was like no other game in that it was a spectacle of pomp and circumstance, black tie and tails. Quite a show."

Which player gave you the most grief?

"Eddie Shore of the Boston Bruins. He was nasty -- and as far as I was concerned -- a threat to the life of other players, a real danger. I know that Shore would have liked to hit me and once, during a game in Chicago, he shoved me around and I threw him out of the game. Art Ross, the Bruins manager, protested my decision and the League upheld Ross because Shore was such a drawing card, and I wasn't. When I heard their verdict, I resigned but the League governors asked me to come back, and I did."

Did an owner ever give you a hard time?

"When 'Big' Jim Norris owned the Detroit Red Wings, he was a powerful man in the League. One night, he stormed into my room complaining about what a bum job I had done until I had it up to here. 'Norris,' I said, 'if you think you can do any better, here's the whistle, go out there and do it yourself!' And he turned around and walked out."

Why did you quit officiating?

"My boss at Sun Life pressured me to pay more attention to my regular job than to officiating. Meanwhile, the NHL had made me referee-in-chief and, except for one time when a railway locomotive broke down in a snowstorm, I never missed getting back to work on time. All things considered, I had a long and successful career on the ice, so I finally decided to give up refereeing, although I still kept going to games.

"But in 1946, when Clarence Campbell became NHL president, I was named senior trustee of the Stanley Cup. That was a nice way to leave the game; without actually leaving it!"