McLaughlin, 1st owner of Blackhawks, finally gets place in U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame 

Major Frederic B. McLaughlin not only was part of the NHL for much longer than the proverbial cup of coffee, the Chicago Black Hawks’ first owner was indeed a coffee baron.

Now, the legendary business and sports tycoon is to be inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame as part of its Class of 2024, enshrined posthumously on Dec. 4 in Pittsburgh for his role in popularizing the game in his native country and, specifically, in his hometown of Chicago.

Sixty-one years after he was inducted as a Builder in the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Class of 1963, McLaughlin now is being celebrated in the U.S. for his enthusiastic, vital work.

Castle McLaughlin says she believes that her grandfather, who died in 1944 at age 67, would be proud of how hockey has flourished in the U.S. Midwest.

“He had a particular interest in advocating for American-born players and I know he'd be very honored to be part of this class,” she said, quoted by the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame. “I feel that he sort of went under the radar for a while. … We're grateful that people are once again appreciating his accomplishments.”

Chicago Black Hawks owner Major Frederic McLaughlin (left) and coach Clem Loughlin, who replaced coach Tommy Gorman, on Oct. 18, 1934 in Chicago.

A proud, patriotic American, McLaughlin was a strong-willed visionary not unlike Canada’s Conn Smythe, a contemporary of the day who built the Toronto Maple Leafs. And like Smythe, McLaughlin had a strong military background, bringing discipline and focus to his business and hockey interests.

Born in Chicago in 1877, McLaughlin stepped into the family’s coffee business in 1905 as the company’s secretary-treasurer following his father’s death. That empire ultimately would be the foundation for hockey in Chicago when Lester and Frank Patrick sold a handful of Western Hockey League franchises in 1926.

McLaughlin took a leave from the coffee business to serve as a sergeant with the 1st Illinois Field Artillery on the border of Mexico in 1917, promoted to the rank of Major while serving overseas during the World War I.

Commanding the U.S. Army’s 86th, or Black Hawk, Division in Europe, McLaughlin would return home with a name for a franchise that he never dreamed of owning.

Back in the family business, he seized the opportunity in 1926 to relocate the WHL Portland Rosebuds to Chicago, heading a consortium of businessmen to bankroll the move and the team’s operation. Established on May 1, 1926, the new NHL team would be known as the Black Hawks.

Gaye Stewart, Ernie Dickens, Bud Poile, Bob Goldham and Gus Bodnar of the Chicago Black Hawks toast their new team at the McLaughlin Coffee Building at 610 N. LaSalle in Chicago. All five players arrived by a trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Nov. 2, 1947.

Captained by Dick Irvin Sr., who moved to Chicago with the transplanted Rosebuds, the fledgling team was a great curiosity in its new home, games a popular destination at Chicago Coliseum. Irvin would go on to coach the Black Hawks to within one win of the 1931 Stanley Cup championship, then was released by McLaughlin before the following season.

“They defeated the St. Patrick’s (future Maple Leafs) sextet from Toronto, Ont., 4 to 1, on the Coliseum’s new rink,” the Chicago Tribune reported of the Black Hawks on Nov. 18, 1926, the morning after the team’s maiden game.

“The sport was afforded a great reception. More than 7,000 pushed their way into the building and there were cheers from the time the game started until the final whistle.”

But it wasn’t long before the Black Hawks were playing in front of many empty seats at the Coliseum, so McLaughlin bought blocks of shares from consortium members until he was majority owner, then moved the team to Chicago Stadium when the cavernous arena opened in December 1929, his personal investment of $600,000 helping to finance construction.

1926-27 Chicago Black Hawks, the team’s first year in the NHL. Front row, from left: Gordon Fraser, Cully Wilson, Charles McVeigh, Ken Doraty, Babe Dye, Mickey MacKay. Back row: Coach Pete Muldoon, Red McCusker, Duke Dutkowski, George Hay, captain Dick Irvin Sr., owner and president Major Frederic McLaughlin, Bob Trapp, Percy Traub, Art Townsend, Hugh Lehman.

The Black Hawks again were the hottest ticket in town until fans, and the world, were dramatically impacted by the Great Depression. McLaughlin kept his dream and his team afloat only when he borrowed money from Joseph Cattarinich, an affluent horseman and co-owner of the rival Montreal Canadiens.

Against long odds, McLaughlin’s Black Hawks won the Stanley Cup in 1934 and again in 1938, the first two of the six won to date by the franchise.

During a time of interminable shifts by a short bench, McLaughlin and his coaches -- and there were many of the latter -- radically employed three forward lines and kept shifts “down” to three minutes.

Wrapped in the U.S. flag, the owner boldly announced in late January 1937 his plans within two years to stock his team solely with American players, produced by a “hockey factory.”

“If men can be developed into star football and baseball players, why can’t they be made into hockey players?” McLaughlin told an Associated Press reporter. “If they are equipped with the necessary physique, possess a modicum of ability and are willing to submit themselves to the teaching of a qualified instructor, I think there is a place in hockey for our own boys.

Headlines from the April 11, 1934, and April 13, 1938, Chicago Tribune, reporting on the Chicago Black Hawks’ first two Stanley Cup championships.

“Where Canadian clubs have their amateur ranks and natural farm clubs from which to obtain reinforcements, we’ll go ahead and develop our own sources.”

McLaughlin’s scheme never panned out, but it further illustrated his robust interest in building hockey in the U.S.

His energy -- perhaps fueled in part by his coffee business -- and tireless promotion of the team built a strong hockey base in Chicago and beyond.

Coffee roaster and purveyor W.F. McLaughlin & Co. was established in 1852 by McLaughlin’s father, an Irish immigrant, six years after arriving in Chicago.

The founder was succeeded by his son, George, and then in 1931 by Frederic, the latter’s education and riches made in the coffee trade of great use to his hockey holdings.

With the Black Hawks the jewel in his sports crown, McLaughlin championed scholastic hockey in the Chicago area, furnishing equipment and sweaters to enthusiastic players who he hoped one day would find their way to his NHL club.

From left: Howie Morenz, Norm Locking, Lorne Chabot, coach Clem Loughlin, Marty Burke, Art Wiebe and Ernie Kenny of the 1934-35 Chicago Black Hawks at the University of Illinois practice rink in Champaign, Illinois.

No one in his Black Hawks organization rested on their laurels, least of all coaches who were out the door as though blown away by the stiff winds off Lake Michigan.

McLaughlin had 10 different coaches during the Black Hawks’ first eight seasons; two legends -- Irvin Sr. and Tommy Gorman -- were among them. In 1932-33 alone, Chicago had three coaches, the boss quick with the hook when he believed a change was needed.

“The first year or two I was in the game, [coaches] of the Black Hawks complained that I was interfering too much in the direction of the team,” McLaughlin told the Chicago Tribune in a 1930 story. “But I was under the impression that was why I had been made president of the club -- to see that certain principles of sport were observed.

“I wanted to know why no effort had been made to improve this or that weakness in a player’s work. I was told that hockey stars, like opera singers, were temperamental. Suggestions were out of order.

From left: Chicago Black Hawks’ Lorne "Baldy" Northcott, Bill MacKenzie, Earl Robinson and Russ Blinco pose in the team's dressing room during the 1938-39 season.

“We finally obtained results. There are no players on the club now who spurn helpful hints. We have a group of comers striving hard to work for one another. You can’t go wrong with lads like that. If the Black Hawks were to be sold individually, they wouldn’t bring a great return. But as a team, they are worth their weight in gold.”

Once a superb six-goal polo player, one of the finest ever developed in the Midwest, McLaughlin would retire from the Black Hawks presidency in 1939, named chairman of the board, a position he held until heart disease took his life in 1944.

The Blackhawks -- rebranded one word in 1981 -- have gone on to win the Stanley Cup four times since their founder’s death. But it was a bold, innovative coffee baron’s vision that gave the team life in Chicago, his role with the team and the game in the Midwest, indeed through the U.S., now bringing him to hockey enshrinement in his native country.

Top photo: Drawn portrait of Major Frederic McLaughlin, owner of the Chicago Black Hawks from their inception in 1926-27 until his death in December 1944. This photo of the illustration was taken on Jan. 3, 1949.