Vintage Minnesota Hockey - History

JOHN P. (JACK) GARRITY
1986 United States Hockey Hall of Fame Enshrinee

Jack Garrity was an outstanding high school player who moved on to play both international and college hockey at the highest performance level.  A member of the Medford, Massachusetts High School state championship teams in 1942-43 and 1943-44, Garrity continued in Senior hockey after WWII service.  Coming off the roster of the Needham, Massachusetts Rockets, he was but one of three non-college players to make the 1948 United States Olympic Team.  The team narrowly missed the Bronze medal finishing with a 5-3 record.

Determined to secure a college education, Garrity entered Boston University in 1949 and was quickly named Freshman Team captain.  The following year, he broke the then existing NCAA single season scoring record with 51 goals and 33 assists as Boston University (BU) went all the way to the NCAA Final before bowing to Colorado College.  In 1951-52, he served as co-captain as BU again made the Final Four, but lost out in the semi-final game to Michigan.  Garrity was named an All American and All NCAA Tournament Team selection in both 1950-51 and 1951-52. Accelerating his educational program he graduated in 1952 and played the following year with the senior Boston Olympics where he was the second leading scorer on the team. Over the next thirteen years, he played senior hockey with various teams most notably Brockton and Rockland, Massachusetts who both won National Senior AHAUS Championships in 1958-59 and 1959-60 respectively.

During the period he played senior amateur hockey, the BU grad began another hockey career as an official on the amateur, high school, and college level. Garrity also coached at the high school and senior amateur levels as well as serving as an instructor in various Boston area hockey schools.

 KENNETH J YACKEL
1986 U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Enshrinee

Ken Yackel graduated as a three-sport star from Humbolt High School (St. Paul) in 1949 and went on to greatness at the University of Minnesota as both a defenseman and forward on the Gopher hockey team.  Minnesota was coached by fellow enshrinee John Mariucci, and reached the final four of the NCAA Tournament in both 1953 and 1954 with Yackel playing a major role. He was named to the All Tournament Team in 1954 while at the same time being selected to the All American Team.  Yackel was just one of two American-developed players to appear in the NHL in the decade of the 1950s, when he played with Boston in 1959.  His other professional play included service with Cleveland and Providence in the American League as well Saskatoon/St. Paul of the Western League.

In the early 1960s, Yackel coached and played in the (technically) amateur International League for the Minneapolis Millers.  In 1961, the Millers won the regular season championship, as Yackel garnered the league scoring title and first all-star team honors as the team’s player/coach.  

The following year, he had a career-high 50 goals and was named to the league all-star team at left wing.

In 1963, Yackel coached the Millers to the finals before losing to Fort Wayne, but his 100 point season was sufficient to gain second team all star honors at both left wing and coach.  Also active on the international scene, Yackel was a member of the 1952 United States Olympic Team that won a silver medal, losing only to Czechoslovakia and tying Canada.  In 1965, he coached the United States National Team in the world tournament at Tampere, Finland.

Then, in late 1971, he answered the call of his alma mater and filled in as interim coach for the balance of Minnesota’s season.  He remained active in the hockey community not only in his native Minnesota, but also nationally. He also devoted a lot of his hockey interests to the advancement of the John Mariucci Inner City Hockey Assoc., a program designed to encourage hockey development among inner-city youth.  He is one of Minnesota’s greatest all-around athletes.