Photo Credit:
https://1000logos.net/blackhawks-logo/
Founding
On May 1st, 1926, the NHL awarded an expansion franchise for Chicago to a syndicate headed by former football star Huntington Hardwick of Boston. At the same meeting, Hardwick arranged the purchase of the players of the Portland Rosebuds of the Western Hockey League for $100,000 from WHL president Frank Patrick in a deal brokered by Boston Bruins’ owner Charles Adams(1). However, only a month later, Hardwick’s group sold out to Chicago coffee tycoon Frederic McLaughlin(1).
McLaughlin had been a commander with the 333rd Machine Gun Battalion of the 86th Infantry Division during World War I. This division was nicknamed the “Blackhawk Division” after Black Hawk(2), a Native American of the Sauk nation who was a prominent figure in the history of Illinois. McLaughlin named the new hockey team in honor of the military unit, making it one of many sports team names using Native Americans as icons. However, unlike the military division, the team’s name was spelled in two words as “Black Hawks” until 1986, when the team officially became the “Blackhawks”, based on the spelling found in the original franchise documents(3).
The Black Hawks began play in the 1926-1927 season, along with its fellow expansion franchises, the Detroit Cougars (now the Detroit Red Wings) and New York Rangers. The team had to face immediate competition in Chicago from Eddie Livingstone’s rival, the Chicago Cardinals, who played in the same building. McLaughlin took a very active role in running the team despite having no background in the sport. He hired Bill Tobin, a former goaltender who had played in the Western League, as his assistant, but directed the team himself. He was also very interested in promoting American players, then very rare in professional hockey. Several of them, including Doc Romnes, Taffy Abel, Alex Levinsky, Mike Karakas, and Cully Dahlstorm, became staples with the team, and under McLaughlin, the Black Hawks were the first NHL team with an all-American-born lineup.
The McLaughlin era 1926-1944
The Black Hawks played their first game on November 17th, 1926, against the Toronto St. Patricks at the Chicago Coliseum. They won their first game 4-1. The Hawks’ first season was a moderate success, as they finished the season in third place with a record of 19-22-3. However, they lost the 1927 first-round playoff series to the Boston Bruins.
Following the series, McLaughlin fired head coach Pete Muldoon. According to Jim Coleman, sportswriter for the Toronto-based Globe and Mail, McLaughlin felt that the Hawks were good enough to finish first. Muldoon disagreed, and in a fit of pique, McLaughlin fired him. According to Coleman, Muldoon responded by yelling, “Fire me, Major, and you’ll never finish first. I’ll put a curse on this team that will hoodoo it until the end of time.” The Curse of Muldoon was born – although Coleman admitted years after the fact that he had fabricated the whole incident(5) – and became one of the first widely known sports “curses.” While the team would go on to win three Stanley Cups in its first 39 years of existence, it did so without ever finishing in first place, either in a single- or multi-division format. The Black Hawks proceeded to have the worst record in the league in 1927-1928, winning only seven of 44 games.
For the 1928-1929 season, the Black Hawks were slated to play in the newly built Chicago Stadium, but due to construction delays and a dispute between McLaughlin and the arena promoter Paddy Harmon, they instead divided their time between the Coliseum, and the Detroit Olympia, and the Peace Bridge Arena in Fort Erie, Ontario, before moving to Chicago Stadium the following season.
By 1931, with goal-scorer Johnny Gottselig, Cy Wentworth on defense, and Charlie Gardiner in goal, the Hawks reached their first Stanley Cup Finals but fizzled in the final two games against the Montreal Canadiens. They had another stellar season in 1932, but that did not translate into playoff success. However, two years later, Gardiner led his team to victory by shutting out the Detroit Red Wings in the final game of the Stanley Cup Finals’ Mush March scored the winning goal in double-overtime as the Hawks beat Detroit 1-0.
In 1938, the Black Hawks had a record of 14-25-9, almost missing the playoffs. They stunned the Canadiens and New York Americans on overtime goals in the deciding games of both semi-final series, advancing to the 1938 Stanley Cup Finals against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Black Hawks goaltender Mike Karakas was injured and could not play, forcing a desperate Chicago team to pull minor-leaguer Alfie Moore out of a Toronto bar and onto the ice. Moore played one game and won it. Toronto refused to let Moore play the next, so Chicago used Paul Goodman in Game 2 and lost. However, for the third and fourth games, Karakas was fitted with a special skate to protect his injured toe, and the team won both games. It was too late for Toronto, as the Hawks won their second championship. As of 2019, the 1938 Black Hawks possess the poorest regular season record of any Stanley Cup champion.
The Black Hawks next returned to the Finals in 1944 behind Doug Bentley’s 38 goals, with Bentley’s linemate Clint Smith leading the team in assists. After upsetting the Red Wings in the semi-finals, they were promptly dispatched by the dominant Canadiens in four games.
Sources:
1. Jenish, D’Arcy (2013). The NHL: 100 Years of
On-Ice Action and Boardroom Battles. Random
Houce LLC. ISBN 9780385671477.
2. Briggs, Richard A. (1954). Black Hawks Over
The Danube: The History of the 86th Infantry
Division in World War II. Louisville, KY:
Western Recorder. Pp.7
3. https://archive.org/details/
officialnational0000unse
4. Vass, George (1970). The Chicago Black Hawks
Story. Chicago, IL: Follett Publishing Company.
ISBN 0-695-80202-X.
