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Home , Bernie Morris, Bobby Rowe (ice hockey), Calgary Tigers, Cully Wilson, Hamilton Tigers, Jack Walker (ice hockey)

Lögberg-Heimskringla • Online supplement to Issue 6, 2005 • 1

In the early 20th century, descendants of Icelandic immigrants in North America had to fight for acceptance in many walks of life. Professional hockey was no exception, and few fought harder than , who played for teams ranging from Win- nipeg to Toronto to . Wes Wilson and Elma (Wilson) Kozub tell the story.

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF WES WILSON hile growing up in Vidir, Vidir was also the home of our afi Wilson family, Cully’s story might well during the 1950s, Albert Wilson who, in his later years, have been forgotten were it not for my Wour hockey experience was lived next door to us on our farm. Afi sister Elma. Over the past 20 years, she limited to watching weekend scrim- was a wonderful conversationalist, has devoted herself to researching and mages played on an outdoor rink just naturalist and storyteller, and it was documenting the many branches of our north of my great-uncle Siggi Sigvalda- through him that we first heard about family tree with painstaking thorough- son’s general store. Memories of those the exploits of his brother Cully, who ness. The result is a comprehensive crisp winter afternoons are as clear as had found a measure of fame, if not for- written record of our family’s roots that if they happened yesterday. The stars tune, during the early years of profes- include the Erlendson (Wilson) im- of those games were hard-working sional hockey in Canada and the United migration to Canada in the late 1800s men and boys from our community States. through to the present. who relished the opportunity to let off Afi always spoke proudly of this tal- One night in 2000, I was relaxing a little steam after a long week on the ented athlete who had gone on to fulfill and reading the chapter Elma had writ- farm. In retrospect, it’s amazing how his dreams in the “pros” and his stories ten about Cully. As I read through the well they played. Their speed, skill and intrigued our family as we were grow- details of his life, I began to realize what heady competition more than inspired ing up. But Cully was a mythic figure a fascinating man this was. It was as if the next generation of us kids who sim- who lived far away, and after afi passed afi’s pride in his brother had suddenly ply wanted to learn how to skate well away in 1956, many of those memories been awakened in me. I immediately enough to make it from one end of the gradually faded away as well. went to my computer and typed “cully rink to the other. For succeeding generations of the wilson” into the search engine. I didn’t 2 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • Online supplement to Issue 6, 2005

Cully (back row, far right) started playing for the Vikings in 1909 at the age of 17. have any great expectations as I waited newcomers to Canada at the time, Ice- tier Icelandic league in Winnipeg at the for the page to load, but I was immedi- landers experienced problems fitting in time — the Vikings and the Falcons. ately rewarded with what seemed like a because of language and customs. Sig- Both of these teams were made gold mine of information. Since then, urdur understood this early on and de- up entirely of Icelanders. They were Elma and I have continued our research cided to change his surname. Adopting shunned by the elite Winnipeg City as a kind of impassioned hobby and an English-sounding name like Wilson League and weren’t allowed to com- have managed to collect a comprehen- was more likely to offer advantages in pete. That only made the Icelanders sive record of Cully’s life in hockey. a job market not always friendly to im- more determined and they formed their We’ve thoroughly enjoyed the ex- migrants. Their children, five sons and own league that included teams from perience of getting to know our great- three daughters, all grew up adopting Selkirk, Portage la Prairie, and Win- uncle better. What we discovered was the Wilson name. nipeg’s AAA League. At times adver- a man full of grit, determination and Cully grew up on Home Street in sity and alienation can provoke great- pride whose talents with skates and a an area some referred to as Winnipeg’s ness, and out of that situation a hockey stick offered him unbelievable opportu- Icelandic “West End.” From an early powerhouse grew. It finally manifested nities to succeed. It’s also the story of age he showed a natural talent and pas- itself in 1920 when the Winnipeg Fal- an enormously competitive man with a sion for skating, and ultimately hockey. cons won the Allen Cup, and with it, short fuse who played and fought hard We don’t know a lot about how Cully the right to compete in the 1920 Olym- in the game he loved. developed as an athlete at this time but pic Games in Antwerp, Belgium. They Cully was born in Winnipeg on it’s almost a certainty that he was no- won the gold. But that’s another well- June 5,1892 to Sigurdur Erlendson ticed and nurtured by some of the great documented story. and Metonia Indridsdottir. Like many hockey players that made up the two- Our first record of Cully’s career Lögberg-Heimskringla • Online supplement to Issue 6, 2005 • 3 begins in 1909, when he started play- ing hockey in earnest with the Vikings. He was 17 years old. The next year he started the season with the Winnipeg Falcons, but his talents soon brought him to the attention of the , who had won the in 1907 in a matchup against the Mon- treal Wanderers. To this day, Kenora, retains the distinction of being the smallest town to ever host a Stanley Cup winner. There he played for a por- tion of the year before finishing off the season with the famed Winnipeg Mon- archs. The Monarchs were the elite Win- nipeg team at the time, and for the young Icelander it was a validation of his emerging abilities as a player. Cully In 1912 Cully joined the Toronto Blueshirts (seen here in 1914). went back to the Falcons for the 1911 season, but the pro scouts were out and the Toronto Blueshirts met in the 1914 22 goals. He also amassed an incred- about on the Prairies, and he’d been no- Stanley Cup final. Some statistics show ible 138 minutes in penalties that year, ticed. It was time to move on. Victoria of the Pacific Coast Hockey quite a feat considering the team’s 20- Cully officially joined the pro ranks Association meeting Toronto for the game schedule. The 1914/1915 season in 1912 when he signed with the To- championship. The PCHA was a new was Cully’s last with the Blueshirts. In ronto Blueshirts. They belonged to the league that had been formed on the West three years with the team, he had a re- National Hockey Association, an east- Coast in 1912 by Frank and Lester Pat- spectable 43 goals to his credit and had ern league that included the rick, and during the 1913/1914 season also gained notoriety in another area. Canadiens, , Ot- Victoria had come out on top. Within a Cully’s hard-hitting style and penchant tawa Senators, and Bulldogs. few days of Toronto beating Montreal, for a good mix-up had earned him a to- The NHA was Canada’s recognized the Victoria team headed east with the tal of 216 minutes in the box. professional league at the time and purpose of facing off against the NHA He was quickly gaining a reputation as teams competed for the Stanley Cup. champs. the bad boy of hockey. Cully scored 12 goals in 19 games in However, Victoria had not formal- Out on the West Coast, the Patrick his debut, and though the Blueshirts did ly submitted a challenge and the NHA brothers were introducing hockey to a well during the season, the Bulldogs trustees didn’t recognize the legitimacy whole new audience. At various times won the Cup. of a series against Toronto. In sports- the Pacific Coast Hockey Association For 21-year-old Cully, the next manlike fashion, the two teams decided included teams from Victoria, Vancou- season was a dream come true. The to play anyway and the Blueshirts ul- ver, New Westminster, Spokane, Wash- Blueshirts finished at the top of the timately swept a best-of-five series. It ington and Portland, Oregon. But in standings along with the Canadiens. was an historic matchup in a number 1915, a brand new team was added that Neither team had ever competed for the of ways. Not only was it the first time would make hockey history. championship before and spirits were the top teams from the two leagues With the , high as the series opened in Montreal. met, but it also began a process that the Patricks were determined to make The Canadiens had a powerhouse team would include PCHA teams competing hockey a success in the west, and they that included and the against the NHA for the Stanley Cup. It began raiding the eastern NHA of its legendary Georges Vezina in , and was also the start of an east-west rivalry best players. The Toronto Blueshirts Montreal came away with a 2-0 home that helped spread hockey’s popularity were a favorite target, and in 1915 Cul- ice victory. The teams then travelled to across the country and into the United ly found himself in Seattle along with Toronto for game two and the first Stan- States. four other Blueshirt players that includ- ley Cup final ever played on artificial These were exciting times for the ed fellow forwards and ice at the Arena Gardens. On March 14, sport. Hockey was evolving, and Cully Frank Foyston, and goalie Harry “Hap” 1914, the Blueshirts whipped the Cana- was in the thick of it. Holmes. Moving to the West Coast diens 6-0, taking the NHA and Stanley During the next season, the proved to be one of the most important Cup championship based on the two- Blueshirts struggled and ended up in decisions Cully ever made. In spite of game total point series. fourth place with an 8-12 record. On where hockey took him in following Now depending on the source, the scoring front, though, it was a great years, Seattle would be home for the there’s been some confusion as to who year for Cully, who led the team with rest of his life. 4 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • Online supplement to Issue 6, 2005

PHOTO COURTESY OF JEFF OBERMEYER Top: Harry Holmes, , Ed Carpenter, . Middle: Frank Foyston, , Manager. Bottom: Bernie Morris, Cully Wilson, Roy Rickey, . 1915 was also one of the most im- ey before. The next day, a local sports that game, Cully became the first player portant years in the history of hockey, reporter described the heady atmo- in Seattle franchise history to be penal- when the PCHA reached an agreement sphere: “A lot of local folks had never ized and the first to be ejected. with the NHA to compete annually seen the game before, but the game had In many ways, the new Metro- for the Stanley Cup. This truly began not been in progress long before they politans were a dream team, and every the process of making hockey a North were calling the Seattle players by their player was a talent to be reckoned with. American game. But it also presented a names and shouting advice to them as Three players from that debut season, number of challenges. Up to that point, they rushed and swerved and slammed Frank Foyston, Harry Holmes and Jack hockey had been inventing itself as it and kicked and bucked and blocked Walker, would eventually be inducted went along, and the two leagues were with the equally strong and active Vic- into the NHL Hall of Fame. It wasn’t proof of that. The most important dif- toria men.” long before manager Pete Muldoon had ference was that the NHA iced the six Cully’s debut with the team was his men playing like champions. positions we’re familiar with today and noted when the reporter added, “It was Cully enjoyed four exciting years had two substitute players. The PCHA a real fight all the way. Cully Wilson, with the Metropolitans that included featured six players on the ice plus a the energetic right wing of Seattle, winning his second Stanley Cup in freewheeling . One substitute was is the Johnny Evers [ Red Sox 1917 against the . allowed on the bench. Over the next player] of hockey, for ev- As always, there’s an interesting story couple of years it was one of the di- ery time there is trouble he is there or behind the story. Although the two lemmas that had to be dealt with and thereabouts. He is a little fellow but is leagues had already agreed to compete worked out each time the two league’s built all in a bundle. He is a fast skater for the Stanley Cup, some of the mov- top teams met for the Championship. and absolutely fearless in a mix-up and ers and shakers in the NHA were dis- The Seattle Metropolitans debuted the way he went crashing into the big turbed by the addition of an American on home ice on December 8, 1915 beat- fellows on the Victoria team had the team. What if the NHA were to actually ing Victoria by a score of 3-2. Many of crowd yipping with delight and yelling lose to a team south of the border? By the people who crammed into the arena his name.” the time the Metropolitans and Mon- that night had never experienced hock- It’s also worth noting that during treal were set to meet for the Cup in Lögberg-Heimskringla • Online supplement to Issue 6, 2005 • 5 1917, the uproar and mistrust were so great that Seattle wouldn’t take on the Canadiens without a formal written ac- ceptance. Simply put, the Mets wanted a guarantee that if they won the series, the Cup would be sent south of the bor- der. In fact, the series started without the Cup and it didn’t arrive in Seattle until three months after the playoff was over, and only after a $500 bond was put up for its safe return. The first game of the 1917 playoff saw Seattle lose 8-4 to the Habs. In an amazing turnaround, Seattle fought The Seattle Arena was the Metropolitans’ home ground for many years. back, allowing only three goals in the next three games. Center Bernie Morris thing would be perfect. One of the in- locker room incoherently protesting had the series of his life when he scored teresting decisions made before the se- that he was able to continue. Manager an amazing 14 goals. It was all over for ries started was that there would be no Pete Muldoon looked for a replacement the Canadiens, and the NHA’s concerns smoking allowed in the arena. It wasn’t but there was no one. The bench was proved correct as the Stanley Cup left for health reasons though. When the empty.” Canadian soil for the first time. It was a weather was mild, a fog often hung When you consider that players watershed moment in hockey’s history. over the ice and it was feared that smok- from that era toughed it out for the As Cully and the rest of the Met- ing would only add to the problem and whole game with one line and a few ropolitans entered the 1917/1918 sea- make it difficult for both players and substitutions, the 1919 Stanley Cup son, a new organization was formed to fans to see during the games. final was arguably the toughest ever oversee professional hockey. The Na- As the championship series opened, played. And the sniffles and coughs tional Hockey League (NHL) replaced Harry Holmes was invincible in the Se- heard on the Montreal team were an the east’s old NHA but continued to attle net, and the Mets blanked Montre- ominous portent of things to come. include the PCHA in competition for al 7-0. But Montreal fought back in the Within hours, the Spanish flu spread the Stanley Cup. Once again it looked second game to tie the series. Unim- quickly and hit the Canadiens particu- like Seattle was going to have another pressed, Seattle trounced the Canadiens larly hard. Montreal’s stalwart man on at the Cup, but their hopes were in game three by a score of 7-2. Game defense, “Bad” , developed a dashed in the final game of the season four, a 0-0 draw, was brutally tough dangerously high fever of 106. As the when the Millionaires beat on the teams as they fought it out for virus advanced to members of the Met- them 1-0. Vancouver then headed east 80 minutes. Seattle came very close to ropolitans, it soon became apparent that to meet the (formerly possibly winning the Cup when at the neither team would have enough men the Blueshirts), but lost the series. end of the first period, Cully took a pass to play a final game. The Seattle Board As the 1918/1919 season pro- and fired the puck past goalie Georges of Health stepped in and it was decided gressed, the Seattle Metropolitans en- Vezina. But he was a half-second late that the series should end. Sadly, “Bad” joyed a very successful season and end- as the whistle had already blown to end Joe Hall died a few days later. ed up on top of the PCHA standings. the period. Prior to the tragic final with Mon- Once again, they would compete for Montreal tied it up again in game treal, Cully had gotten into serious trou- the Stanley Cup against the Montreal five but the effects of the fast-paced and ble with the PCHA. During a regular Canadiens. This series would prove to tremendously physical series had taken season game against the Vancouver Mil- be both historic and tragic as it was the its toll on both teams. A good number lionaires, Cully and Vancouver forward only time in the Stanley Cup’s history of players were nursing painful injuries, Mickey MacKay whacked furiously (until this year) that no team would be and as the game progressed some fell to away at the puck for possession. Sticks awarded the Cup. The cause was the the ice from weakness and exhaustion. were everywhere, and Cully’s connect- dreaded Spanish flu pandemic that had In a 1975 story about the ill-fated ed with MacKay’s face so hard that it affected many parts of the world and series, Royal Brougham of the Seattle fractured the young star’s jaw. The in- was brought to North America in part Post-Intelligencer described the incred- jury put MacKay out for the rest of the by soldiers returning from the Great ible difficulties the players were expe- season, and Cully was immediately sus- War. riencing. Cully’s physical state was pended by league president Frank Pat- Unaware of what lay ahead, the typical. “Cully Wilson, like many play- rick. That created an uproar with the Se- hometown fans got primed and ready ers of that era, who had a body built of attle players, who vowed they wouldn’t for what promised to be a hard fought scrap iron and a never-give-up spirit, step on the ice for another game without series. The Seattle Arena management limped to the bench and hung helpless Cully. Patrick relented, somewhat. He worked diligently to make sure every- over the railing. He was carried to the fined Cully fifty dollars and allowed him 6 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • Online supplement to Issue 6, 2005 to finish the season. After that, Patrick The were essen- suspended him from the PCHA. tially the old team In the ensuing debate, players agreed who had been relocated and renamed there was too much violence in the game by the NHL. Cully spent two seasons but that most of it was born out of frus- with the Tigers, but the new team floun- tration. Their biggest beef was with the dered at the bottom of the standings. officiating. At the time, only one official During his second year, Cully made the oversaw each game and with fourteen NHL’s top ten scoring list, but was un- players on the ice there was no way that happy and had hopes of returning out every indiscretion could be seen or man- west to play. Hamilton gave him the op- aged. The players had asked for more portunity when they traded him to the officials but the league wouldn’t spend Tigers of the Western Canada the money to get them. Hockey League at the start of the 1923 The Metropolitans also felt they season. were unfairly penalized more than other It proved to be a very eventful year teams, and that Cully was a favorite tar- all around. The WCHL had an inter- get. The support he had from his team- locking schedule with the Pacific Coast mates was evident in a Seattle Times Hockey Association who agreed to of- article at the time of the incident. “To a ficially reinstate Cully after the Mickey man they are all agreed that Cully Wil- Mackay incident four years earlier. With son is the most abused player in hockey that problem resolved, Cully seemed re- today. Every player of each opposing vitalized and went on to score 16 goals team is out to do something to get him with 17 assists, and established a WCHL off the ice. He is playing the best and record when he scored three goals in 61 cleanest hockey he has ever played. He seconds during a regular league game. is a little dervish on skates when he is By the end of the season, Calgary was at in action and they don’t want him out the top of the WCHL standings and had there.” won the right to compete for the Stanley After the aborted series with Mon- Cup in one of the most convoluted play- treal, it was over for Cully in Seattle. In offs formats in pro hockey’s ever-evolv- his four years with the Metropolitans, ing history. Once again, Cully would Cully had been a solid contributor to the face off against the NHL champion team’s success and a fan favourite. He Montreal Canadiens. scored 52 goals, 8 of them in one PCHA into the season before, he wasn’t about The Habs travelled west with a typi- All-Star game alone, and assisted on 23 to change his rough-and-tumble style. cally strong team that included rookie others. On the penalty side he chalked What happened the following season . They beat Calgary, then up a hefty 198 minutes in 68 games. The didn’t do anything to change his tem- headed to the coast where they over- camaraderie and friendship he enjoyed perament either. whelmed the PCHA’s top team, the Van- with his teammates coupled with the On January 21st, 1921, Toronto couver Maroons. It was a very strange fierce loyalty of the fans had made his made a deal to “loan” Cully to the Mon- playoff indeed. The Tigers would com- four years in Seattle one of the happiest treal Canadiens. What was behind this pete under the WCHL banner for one times in his career. decision is unknown. In any case, Cully more year before the team was relegated Cully headed back east to Toron- was very upset and felt slighted by his to semi-professional status in the West- to and immediately signed a contract team. However, he reported to the Ca- ern Hockey League. Cully played with with his old team. A lot had changed in nadiens, scored six goals for them, and Calgary for three full seasons. In that four years. The Blueshirts had briefly when recalled by Toronto three weeks time he scored a respectable 41 goals become the Toronto Arenas in a con- later, refused to rejoin the team. As a re- and, not surprisingly, accumulated 120 troversial ownership showdown as the sult, Toronto suspended him for the re- minutes in the penalty box. NHL was being formed. Then after the mainder of the 1920-21 season. Strange- Although he was now in his early NHL took control of the NHA in 1917, ly, through all of this, Cully remained thirties, Cully remained fearless on the the team had been renamed the Toronto under the control of the Canadiens, and ice. For a man who barely weighed one St. Patricks. just before the start of the 1921/1922 hundred and fifty pounds, he had proven The 1919/1920 season with the season he was one of five players in- himself in a decade of pro hockey to St. Pats was a bona fide success. Cully volved in the NHL’s first multi-player be one of the toughest and scrappiest scored 20 goals in 23 games and had trade. Cully and two other Montreal- players to ever play the game. But that six assists to his credit. He also served ers went to Hamilton in exchange for doesn’t tell the whole story. Cully was 86 minutes in penalties. It was obvious the Tigers’ and Billy also one of the fastest and most adept that even with all the trouble he’d gotten Coutu. skaters of his era, and although his fisti- Lögberg-Heimskringla • Online supplement to Issue 6, 2005 • 7 cuffs and stick-swinging duels made the him to the Calgary hometown fans more the honour of playing alongside some of headlines, and he wouldn’t back down than ever. the greatest legends of the game. from any of the biggest players, his After his third season with the Ti- Although Cully was widely re- goals and assists won many a game. gers, who were now a regional team nowned for an aggressive style that Throughout his career, sports re- under the WHA, Cully decided to move put him in the record books as the porters loved describing Cully’s exploits on. He wanted another shot at the pros most penalized NHL player during the on the ice. If you were a hometown re- and he found it in the Windy City. The 1919/1920 season, he also made two top porter, the slant was mostly positive, no NHL had been looking further afield for ten scoring leader lists. The first was in matter what the infraction. But out-of- a new franchise and decided to base it 1919/1920 with the Toronto St. Pats and town reporters weren’t always so sym- in . When the 1926/1927 sea- the second in 1922/1923 with the Ham- pathetic to the feisty Icelander. Here’s son opened, Cully was a member of the ilton Tigers. Best of all, there were two an example. This poem was written by a brand new Black Hawks. Unfortunately, Stanley Cups. sports reporter for the Edmonton Jour- it was a dissapointing year for Cully Cully had always maintained a nal and published on February 27,1924 with only 8 goals and 4 assists. It would home in Seattle, and during many when Cully was playing in his first sea- be his last year in the NHL, but it wasn’t off-seasons he worked for Northwest son with the . the end of his career in hockey. Steamship Lines. After leaving the In 1927, at the age of 35, Chicago game, he worked as an Embarking Cully The Carver! traded Cully to the St. Paul Saints of the Checker for the company until his re- American Hockey Association (AHA). tirement. Cully took great pride in his It’s always struck me kind of queer that He spent three years with the Saints, home and yard, and over the years he accidents abound, the last two as both a player and Head became a skilled amateur horticulturist. and men get sliced from toe to ear The hands that laid many an opponent when Cully is around. low in the heat of the game now sculpt- It can’t be that he’s bold or rough, the ed beautiful backyard gardens. Roses Tigers ne’er were that. were his specialty. And yet we always find such stuff Cully wed twice. His first mar- wherever Wilson’s at. riage was to Sarah Jones and they had two children, John and Margaret. They It’s funny when upon home ice his stick divorced in 1921. Several years later, so soft and meek, Cully married Violet Thomson who was is knocked aside and takes a slice from originally from St. Catherines, Ontario, some poor beggar’s cheek. and became the stepfather to her two It’s funny too when harmlessly he’s children from a previous marriage. catting all about. Carol “Cully” Wilson passed away He slips, shoots out a sudden knee, and on July 6,1962 and is buried in Seat- lays a fellow out. tle. After his death, Violet donated his skates to the City of Seattle. At the time These accidents are funny things, of her donation she said, “You might be they’re most of them “repeats.” Coach. In 1930, he split the season be- interested in my husband’s skates. He Yet little Cully never swings upon Iron tween the San Francisco Tigers of the played for the Metropolitans in 1917.” Duke Keats. Cal-Pro League and the Duluth Hornets Violet Wilson was justly proud of her And little Cully is not loved in other of the AHA. The 1931/1932 season husband’s accomplishments — and so leagues he’s known, with the Kansas City Pla-Mors would are we. for from them he’s been gently shoved be Cully’s last. At age 40, it was time to — Cowtown loves him alone. hang up the skates. Wes and Elma are the children of When all was said and done, Cully Frank and Laura Wilson who farmed We don’t despise a man who’s tough Wilson enjoyed a storied career in hock- in Vidir, Manitoba. Frank’s father, Jo- and let the whole world know ey. Starting in 1909 with the Winnipeg hannes “Albert” and his wife Johanna we don’t despise a man who’s rough if Vikings to his retirement in 1932 with Goodman, homesteaded there in 1910. he will stand the show. the Kansas City Pla-Mors, he devoted Laura’s parents were Bjorn and Lara We like a man who smiles and sticks 23 years of his life to the game. Al- Sigvaldason of Arborg, Manitoba. despite each razzing yell. though he was never a candidate for the The authors would like to express But God we’ll never like those tricks Hall of Fame, Cully’s accomplishments their thanks and gratitude to Jeff Ober- that Cully knows so well. were considerable. He had the unique meyer at www.seattlehockey.net for his Whether one looks at this poem as opportunity to play professional hock- enthusiastic interest and for providing good press or bad, it proved to be better ey during its formative years in North information and archival material that than no press at all. Cully took a solid America and he witnessed and was part helped us greatly in the writing of this hip check with the ode but it endeared of many firsts in the game. He also had story.