Athlete, coach, sports executive.
Born at Cartwright on 31 August 1921, one of eleven children of John T. “Jack” Robinson and Mary Catherine Pearl Macklem, he began playing hockey at the age of 12. A year later, he played on the teams formed by the late Father Levesque, and travelled through Europe. The teams were named after the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens. He was an outstanding centreman and played Junior Hockey with the Winnipeg Rangers and played on the 1941 Memorial Cup team. After winning the Memorial Cup, he joined the Royal Canadian Navy and played alongside Billy Mosienko with the Quebec Aces. He also won two Allan Cups with the Quebec Aces and another with the Ottawa Senators. He subsequently went to England and played for the Harringay Racers in London.
He then returned to Winnipeg and played with and coached the Winnipeg Maroons. He also coached the Winnipeg Warriors (1960-1961). From 1957 to 1970, he coached the University of Manitoba Bisons which, in 1965, won the Canadian collegiate championship. In 1972 he became the Director of Player Personnel of the original Winnipeg Jets hockey team. He was directly involved in the negotiations and signing of all hockey players during the formative years of the World Hockey Association. He was involved in starting the European invasion to Winnipeg, starting in the summer of 1974 with the signing of Swedes Anders Hedberg, Ulf Nilsson, Lars-Erik Sjoberg, and Curt Larsson and Finns Veli-Pekka Ketola and Hexi Riihiranta. He remained with the Jets until his retirement. He was inducted into the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame (1985).
He died at the Seven Oaks Hospital on 25 June 2008.
1921 Canada census, Ancestry.
Memories Along the Badger Revisited: Cartwright and District, 1885-1985 by Cartwright & District History Committee, 1985, page 434.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 2 July 2008.
“Manitobans’ legacy a better province” by Kevin Rollason, Winnipeg Free Press, 4 January 2009, page B2.
We thank Geoff Kirbyson for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 21 April 2024
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