HISTORY
The Miracle Before The Miracle on Ice John “Jack” Riley ’39 and the unsung heroes of American hockey By Eliott Grover ’06 “We hope to be the first American hockey team to beat the
and more,” read the blurb on his senior page. “To all of us
Russians and win an Olympic gold medal,” the coach told the
‘Slasher’ is Hockey, and Hockey is ‘Slasher.’”
reporters. The reporters chuckled. One of them asked the coach
Riley matriculated at Dartmouth College and quickly emerged
what he’d tell the experts who said he had a better chance of
as one of the best players on their team. In 1942, he left school
building a snowman on the equator. “We hope to be the first
and joined the war as a naval aviator. For the next four years,
American hockey team to beat the Russians and win an Olympic
Riley patrolled the Pacific in a twin-engine PBM bomber. He
gold medal,” he repeated in his Boston accent.
returned to Dartmouth after the war and was captain and high-
The coach, to be clear, is not Herb Brooks, the coach of the
“
legendary 1980 team that beat the Soviets and won a gold medal at Lake Placid. Brooks’ story is immor-
the architect of an earlier miracle. Riley was born in Boston in 1920. He attended Medford High School and starred on the
title. Conventional careers presented themselves upon graduation, but in his heart of hearts, Riley knew
WE HOPE TO BE
talized in the 2004 Disney film, Miracle. The coach in this story is John “Jack” Riley ’39,
scorer of the 1947 team that won the North American Hockey
where he wanted to spend his life. Not in an
THE FIRST AMERICAN
office, but on a thin layer of ice.
HOCKEY TEAM TO BEAT THE RUSSIANS AND WIN AN OLYMPIC GOLD MEDAL
hockey team, earning Greater Boston player of the year honors in 1938. He also attended
”
– Coach John “Jack” Riley ’39
Tabor’s summer program for two seasons, where his peers voted him “biggest roughhouser” and “best
He earned a spot on the 1948 Olympic squad that finished fourth in St. Moritz. The following year, he returned to the national team as a left-winger, but also assumed a new role: coach. Riley’s passion and hockey acumen
made him an ideal fit. As a player-coach at the 1949 World Championships in Stockholm, he led the
athlete.” Recognizing that a year of prep school would serve
Americans to a bronze medal with an upset win over Sweden. It
him well before college, he joined Tabor’s class of 1939. Riley
would not be the last time he shocked the hockey world.
was crushed to learn that the school disbanded its hockey program in 1936 due to inconsistent ice conditions––it didn’t return until 1962––but he made the most of his time in Marion. He was a key player on the soccer and baseball teams and did well in the classroom. The winter of 1939 was a cold one and he found a way to scratch his hockey itch. He lugged his skates to Wareham and carved across the crisp black ice of the cranberry bogs.
In 1950, Riley accepted the head coaching job at the US Military Academy in West Point, New York. He had his work cut out for him. Over the first two seasons, Army’s hockey team compiled 5 wins to 22 losses. Riley never relented. The team finished at .500 during his third year. By the 1959 season, they posted a 16-5-1 record. This turnaround did not go unnoticed. The Amateur Hockey Association of the United States, which today
It didn’t take long for Tabor Boys to learn that Riley, whom they
goes by the mercifully shorter USA Hockey, approached Riley
affectionately dubbed “Slasher,” worshipped at his sport’s altar.
about coaching the 1960 Olympic team. Although his plate was
“Just whisper the name of a hockey player and our one-man
full with his West Point job and a young family, four sons and a
sports information bureau is at your side giving you your dose
daughter, he couldn’t refuse.
16 TABOR TODAY | Spring 2021
