Dit Clapper

Dit Clapper
Hockey Hall of Fame, 1947
Born (1907-02-09)February 9, 1907
Newmarket, ON, CAN
Died January 20, 1978(1978-01-20) (aged 70)
Peterborough, ON, CAN
Height 6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Weight 195 lb (88 kg; 13 st 13 lb)
Position Right Wing/Defence
Shot Right
Played for Boston Bruins
Playing career 1927–1947

Aubrey Victor "Dit" Clapper (February 9, 1907 – January 20, 1978) was a Canadian Hall of Fame professional ice hockey player, playing his entire professional career for the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League.

Clapper was the first NHL player to play twenty seasons,[1] and one of only two to be an All-Star at both forward and defence.[2] The right wing on the powerful "Dynamite Line"—one of the first forward combinations to receive a nickname in hockey history—along with linemates Cooney Weiland and Dutch Gainor, he contributed to the breaking of several scoring records in the 1930s. Towards the end of his career, he was named player-coach of the Bruins, and held the coaching position after his retirement as a player.

Early years

Aubrey Clapper, son of Bill Clapper, was raised in Hastings, Ontario.[3] Clapper was given his nickname at an early age when he would lisp his name, the result coming out "Dit."[4]

Clapper started his hockey career at age 13, playing minor hockey in Oshawa,[5] and going on to play with the junior league Toronto Parkdale club of the Ontario Hockey Association in 1925, scoring a goal in the team's Memorial Cup run that season. The following season he turned professional, playing for the Boston Tigers of the Canadian-American Hockey League.

NHL career

The Boston Bruins bought Clapper's contract from the Tigers in 1927. Hitherto a defenceman, Bruins' coach Art Ross decided to try Clapper at right wing, and the experiment stuck.[6] He scored his first NHL goal—ten seconds into his first shift[7]—in the season opener against the Chicago Black Hawks.[8]

The following season, Ross teamed Clapper up with Cooney Weiland and Dutch Gainor to form the renowned Dynamite Line,[1] one of the first named forward lines in history.[9] The Bruins won the American Division that season and went on to their first Stanley Cup championship, with Clapper scoring the winning goal in the first game of their best-of-three series with the New York Rangers.

In the 1930 season, the league considerably liberalized the passing rules, effectively eliminating offsides. The Stanley Cup champion Bruins took especial advantage, breaking many scoring records and recording the highest winning percentage the league would ever see, unsurpassed as of 2012.[10] Leading the charge was the Dynamite Line, as Weiland led the league in scoring, Clapper finishing third and Gainor finishing ninth; Clapper's goal total of 41 was the third most in league history at that time.[11] The Dynamite Line scored 102 of the Bruins' league record 179 goals, as many as last-place Pittsburgh managed.[11] While Clapper scored four goals in six playoff games, the Bruins were shocked in the Stanley Cup finals by the Montreal Canadiens in their best-of-three series.

While Clapper kept his production high in the 1931 season, Gainor's scoring fell off badly, and the Dynamite Line was broken up at season's end.[1] Clapper's 22 goals were good for eighth in the league, and he was named Second Team All-Star at right wing at year's end, the first season such All-Stars were named.[1] The following year Clapper—with Bud Cook replacing the traded Gainor on his line with Weiland—was named team captain[6] and again finished eighth in league scoring, but an injury-riddled Bruins' team fell into last place and out of the playoffs. While Weiland was dealt to Ottawa for the 1933 season, the Bruins purchased Montreal Maroons star Nels Stewart and paired him with Clapper to form a powerful offensive unit that led the Bruins back to a division championship.

The largest forward of his era at 6'2" and 200 lbs,[1] Clapper was a notably peaceful player who nonetheless was involved in an unusual incident in the 1937 Stanley Cup playoffs against the Montreal Maroons. Highsticking Maroon Dave Trottier twice in the head, referee Clarence Campbell (the future NHL president) called Clapper a profane name, and Clapper knocked the referee to the ice with a single punch.[8] Speculation was heavy that Clapper's punishment would be severe,[12] but Campbell himself pleaded Clapper's case, stating that he felt he had provoked the Bruin into the blow; Clapper received only a $100 fine for the incident.[13]

By 1938, Ross believed the Bruins needed an overhaul, and as part of it asked Clapper to move back to defence.[6] Paired with perennial superstar Eddie Shore on the backline, the move proved highly successful, and Clapper was named a First Team NHL All-Star on defence in 1939, 1940 and 1941, leading the Bruins to Stanley Cup victories in 1939 and 1941.[6]

In February 1942, Clapper suffered a severed tendon in a collision with Toronto player Bingo Kampman and was done for the season.[12] It was feared he would be forced into retirement, but he came back next year and returned to form.[6] During the 1944 season, Clapper broke Hooley Smith's career record for games played, holding the record until Maurice Richard surpassed him in 1957.[14]

Player-coach

During the 1944 season, Clapper filled in as interim coach when Art Ross took ill.[15] In 1945 Ross retired as Bruins' coach, retaining his general manager's position, and named Clapper as player-coach, the only one in team history.[8] Clapper retained his team captaincy until his retirement as a player in 1947, ultimately serving as team captain for longer than any NHL player until Ray Bourque surpassed his total in the 1990s.[15]

Retirement and legacy

Clapper's #5 jersey on display at the International Hockey Hall of Fame

Hobbled by injuries and with his skills eroded, Clapper originally retired before the start of the 1946–47 season, but returned to play in November 1946 to replace the injured Jack Crawford in the Bruins' lineup.[16] He played only sporadically thereafter, and retired for good on February 12, 1947. Leading the Bruins to a 10-1 victory over the New York Rangers in his final game (in which Bill Cowley broke the league career scoring record,[16] the Bruins further announced that day that his number #5 sweater would be retired, and the Hockey Hall of Fame immediately inducted him as an Honoured Member; he was the only active player ever to be inducted into the Hall,[17] and at the time the only living Member inducted.[16]

Of his prowess, Bruins goaltending legend Tiny Thompson said:

"Clapper diagnosed the plays like a great infielder in baseball," said. "He put himself where the puck had to come."[4]

He coached the Bruins for two more seasons until, unhappy with the club's performance in the 1949 playoffs against Toronto and uneasy about coaching friends with whom he had played, he resigned.[4] Save for a single season coaching the American Hockey League's Buffalo Bisons in 1960, in which the team recorded a 33-35-4 record and failed to make the playoffs, he did not again participate in professional hockey.

Clapper ran a plumbing firm and a sporting goods store in Peterborough in retirement, while serving as a director of the Peterborough Petes of the OHA.[13] He briefly attempted a political career, standing as a Liberal candidate for the Peterborough West riding in the 1949 federal election, losing by less than 250 votes to incumbent Progressive Conservative Gordon Fraser.[18]

Dit Clapper died of complications from a 1973 stroke, which had left him confined to a wheelchair, on January 20, 1978.[19][20] He is buried in Trent Valley Cemetery, Hastings, Ontario.

In 1983, the Bruins signed former Montreal Canadiens star Guy Lapointe, Lapointe sought to wear his customary #5 jersey, which had been retired in Clapper's honor nearly forty years before.[8] Team general manager Harry Sinden agreed to Lapointe's request, but under protests from Clapper's family, Bruins superstar Bobby Orr and the public, Lapointe was switched to #27 after a handful of games.[8]

In August 2012, former NHL coach Scotty Bowman, who was a young Peterborough Petes coach when Clapper served on the club's board of directors, paid tribute to Clapper. The occasion was the unveiling by Dit's daughter, Marilyn Armstrong, of a new street sign named "Dit Clapper Drive" in Hastings, Ontario.[21][22]

Achievements and facts

Career statistics

    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1925–26Toronto ParkdaleOHA-Jr.20000—————
1925–26Toronto ParkdaleM-Cup—————5101—
1926–27Boston TigersCAHL2961757—————
1927–28Boston BruinsNHL404152020002
1928–29Boston BruinsNHL4092114851010
1929–30Boston BruinsNHL444120614864044
1930–31Boston BruinsNHL43228305052464
1931–32Boston BruinsNHL4817223921—————
1932–33Boston BruinsNHL481414284251122
1933–34Boston BruinsNHL481012226—————
1934–35Boston BruinsNHL482116372131010
1935–36Boston BruinsNHL441213251420110
1936–37Boston BruinsNHL48178252532025
1937–38Boston BruinsNHL46691524300012
1938–39Boston BruinsNHL4213132622110116
1939–40Boston BruinsNHL441018282560222
1940–41Boston BruinsNHL488182624110554
1941–42Boston BruinsNHL323121531—————
1942–43Boston BruinsNHL38518231292359
1943–44Boston BruinsNHL506253113—————
1944–45Boston BruinsNHL46814221670000
1945–46Boston BruinsNHL30235040000
1946–47Boston BruinsNHL60000—————
NHL totals 833 228 246 474 462 82 13 17 30 50

Coaching record

Team Year Regular season Post season
G W L T Pts Division rank Result
Boston Bruins1945–46 5024188562nd in NHLLost in Cup Finals
Boston Bruins1946–47 60262311632nd in NHLLost in Semi-Finals
Boston Bruins1947–48 60232413593rd in NHLLost in Semi-Finals
Boston Bruins1948–49 6029238662nd in NHLLost in Semi-Finals
NHL Total 2301028840

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Coleman, Charles (1969). Trail of the Stanley Cup, Vol II. Sherbrooke, PQ: Progressive Publications Ltd. p. 627.
  2. 1 2 Freeman, Bill (16 February 2007). "NHL legend lives on in Hastings". The Shield Newspapers. Archived from the original on October 12, 2007. Retrieved 5 April 2012.
  3. 1 2 Freeman, Bill (12 January 2012). "Dit Clapper story needs to be told says local writer". Northwest EMC. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
  4. 1 2 3 Pelletier, Joe (March 2007). "Dit Clapper". Greatest Hockey Legends.com. Retrieved 5 April 2012.
  5. ↑ Dan Diamond, Joseph Romain (1988). Hockey Hall Of Fame: The Official History Of The Game And Its Greatest Stars. New York: Doubleday. p. 70. ISBN 0-385-24830-X.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 "Dit Clapper, Biography". Hockey Hall of Fame. Retrieved 5 April 2012.
  7. 1 2 Fischler, Stan (1984). Hockey's 100. New York: Beaufort Books, Inc. p. 233. ISBN 0-8253-0245-5.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 McFarlane, Brian (1999). The Bruins: Brian McFarlane's Original Six. Toronto, ONT: Stoddard Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0-7737-3189-X.
  9. ↑ Isaacs, Neil (1977). Checking Back. Toronto, ONT: George J. McLeod Ltd. p. 75. ISBN 0-393-08788-3.
  10. ↑ Diamond, Daniel (2004). National Hockey League Official Guide and Record Book 2005. Dan Diamond & Associates, Inc. ISBN 1-57243-603-4.
  11. 1 2 Coleman, Charles (1969). Trail of the Stanley Cup, Vol II. Sherbrooke, PQ: Progressive Publications Ltd. p. 95.
  12. 1 2 Coleman, Charles (1969). Trail of the Stanley Cup, Vol II. Sherbrooke, PQ: Progressive Publications Ltd. p. 431.
  13. 1 2 3 "One On One With Dit Clapper". Hockey Hall of Fame. 7 May 2010. Retrieved 5 April 2012.
  14. ↑ "NHL Progressive Leaders for Games Played". hockey-reference.com. Retrieved 5 April 2012.
  15. 1 2 Vautour, Kevin (1997). The Bruins Book. Toronto: ECW Press. p. 91. ISBN 978-1-55022-334-7.
  16. 1 2 3 Coleman, Charles (1976). Trail of the Stanley Cup, Vol III. Sherbrooke, PQ: Progressive Publications Ltd. p. 25.
  17. ↑ Duplacey, James. Hockey’s Book of Firsts. JG Press. p. 25. ISBN 978-1-57215-037-9.
  18. ↑ "Dit Clapper Candidate". Ottawa Citizen. May 13, 1949. Retrieved 3 April 2012.
  19. ↑ Fischler, Stan; Fischler, Shirley (2003). Who's Who in Hockey. Andrews McMeel Publishing. p. 69.
  20. ↑ "Dit Clapper Dead At 70". Windsor Star. January 21, 1978. Retrieved 3 April 2012.
  21. ↑ Freeman, Bill (16 August 2012). "Hockey hero gets his day in Hastings". Northwest EMC. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
  22. ↑ Hoult, Mark (16 August 2012). "Hastings honours hockey great Dit Clapper". Community Press. Retrieved 18 August 2012.

External links

Preceded by
George Owen		 Boston Bruins captain
1932–38 		Succeeded by
Cooney Weiland
Preceded by
Cooney Weiland		 Boston Bruins captain
1939–46 		Succeeded by
John Crawford
Preceded by
Art Ross		 Head coach of the Boston Bruins
1945–49 		Succeeded by
Georges Boucher
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