George Armstrong (ice hockey)

Armstrong was born in 1930 in Skead, Ontario, to an Irish Canadian father, Frederick James Armstrong (1907-1990), and an Ojibway mother, Alice Decaire (1907-2005). The couple were married in Sudbury in 1929 and George arrived eleven months later.[1] He grew up in Falconbridge, Ontario where his father was a nickel miner. He had one sister, Lillian Ellen McCourt 1936-2016.[2] Sport was an important part of Armstrong's family as his father played soccer and his mother was a canoeist. The younger Armstrong developed a passion for hockey but was a poor skater, which his father believed was a consequence of a case of spinal meningitis George suffered at the age of six.[3]

While attending Sudbury High School, Armstrong played on the hockey team with Red McCarthy and Tim Horton. Inspired by a newspaper advertisement offering tryouts with the Copper Cliff Redmen of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey Association (NOJHA), Armstrong convinced Horton and McCarthy to join him in trying out. They made the team and Armstrong began his junior hockey career at age 16 in the 1946–47 season.[4] He recorded six goals and five assists in nine games and caught the attention of scouts for the National Hockey League (NHL)'s Toronto Maple Leafs who added him to their protected list.[5] He also played with the Prince Albert Blackhawks for part of that season.[6] Armstrong quit school in grade 11 to focus on his hockey career.[4]

Armstrong was announced as the head coach of his former junior team, the Toronto Marlboros, in July 1972.[28] Though he had preferred his previous role as a scout to coaching, Armstrong led the Marlboros to Memorial Cup victories on two occasions: in 1973 and 1975. In 1977, Armstrong's name circulated as a possible successor to Maple Leafs coach Red Kelly when the latter was fired by the team.[29] When approached by the organization with the prospect of assuming head coaching duties however, Armstrong rejected the possibility. His decision resulted in animosity from within the organization and subsequently led to his resignation as coach of the Marlboros that season to accept a scouting post with the Quebec Nordiques.[30]

Some 10 years later, Armstrong returned to the Maple Leafs organization in the dual capacities of assistant general manager and scout. During the 1988–89 season, and after management had fired head coach John Brophy, team owner Harold Ballard was adamant that Armstrong be named Brophy's replacement. Armstrong agreed to take the position, but increasingly delegated majority of his duties to assistant coach Garry Lariviere. The Maple Leafs finished with 17 wins in 47 Armstrong's games coached, falling just short of the fourth and final playoff berth in the Norris Division. Needing a win in their final regular season game, against the Chicago Blackhawks at Chicago Stadium, to capture the playoff berth, the Leafs would heartbreakingly lose to the Hawks in overtime. Armstrong was replaced by Doug Carpenter the following season and returned to his scouting capacities with the team. Armstrong remained a scout for the rest of his life.[30][31] In 1972–73, he was selected as Coach of the Year by his peers in the OHL (Toronto Marlboros).[32]

The Toronto Maple Leafs described Armstrong as being a "consistent, durable and hardworking" player throughout his 21-season career that spanned parts of four decades.[33] A consummate leader, Armstrong was lauded by owner Conn Smythe as "the best captain, as a captain, the Leafs have ever had".[10] His 713 career points were the second most all-time in Toronto franchise history at the time of his retirement,[2] and as of 2014 remains fifth-best.[34] His 1,187 NHL games are the most by any player in Toronto history, and he remains the franchise leader with 417 career assists and 713 points by a right wing.[6] The Maple Leafs named him the co-recipient, with Bob Pulford, of the J. P. Bickell Memorial Award in 1959. The award is presented to members of the organization who perform with a high standard of excellence.[33] In 1998, the franchise honoured his uniform number 10.[35] In 2013, he ranked number 14 on Sportsnet's list of the greatest Maple Leafs.[36] Armstrong was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1975 and the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 2010.[2][37]

Armstrong was a resident in Leaside, a neighbourhood in Toronto, for more than 55 years and often spent time with his family bike riding throughout the area. Aside from his coaching career in professional hockey, Armstrong coached sports teams around his community and contributed his time coaching the first floor hockey team for the Canadian Special Olympics. In Toronto, Beverley Street Public School was the foundation of this floor hockey team.[38]

Armstrong resided in Toronto with his wife Betty. The couple had four children: Brian, Betty-Ann, Fred and Lorne. He was the uncle of Dale McCourt, a former first overall draft pick by the Detroit Red Wings in the 1977 NHL amateur draft.[39] His nephew Dan McCourt, Dale's brother, officiated in excess of 1,700 NHL games.

When given a day with the Stanley Cup in 2005, Armstrong elected to have a family gathering with it at his son's home in Vaughan, Ontario.[39] His granddaughter Kalley was a team captain with the Harvard Crimson women's ice hockey program.[40] She joined Kelly Paton's coaching staff with the Western Mustangs women's ice hockey program in the autumn of 2016.

Armstrong was recognized by the NHL for his charitable efforts in 1969 when he was named the inaugural recipient of the Charlie Conacher Humanitarian Award.[41] Proud of his Native heritage, Armstrong often supported programs organized by both Indian and Northern Affairs and non-governmental agencies that aimed to promote positive role models for Native children.[42]

Armstrong had a brief film career, appearing as himself in the 1971 film Face-Off, a.k.a. "Winter Comes Early".[43]

Armstrong died on January 24, 2021, at age 90,[44] having suffered from heart complications in the time leading up to his death.[45]

Source: [46]

• List of NHL players who spent their entire career with one franchise

• Career statistics: "George Armstrong player card". National Hockey League. Retrieved February 2, 2014.

• Downey, Craig; Gogishvili, Aaron; Park, Pat, eds. (2013), 2013–14 Toronto Maple Leafs Media Guide, Toronto Maple Leafs Hockey Club
• Duplacey, James; Zweig, Eric (2010), Official Guide to the Players of the Hockey Hall of Fame, Firefly Books, ISBN 978-1-55407-662-8
• Griggs, Tim; Horton, Lori (1997), In Loving Memory: A Tribute to Tim Horton, ECW Press, ISBN 978-1-55022-319-4
• Marks, Don (2008), They Call Me Chief: Warriors on Ice, J. Gordon Shillingford Publishing Inc., ISBN 978-1-897289-34-1
• Meharg, Bruce (2005), Legends of the Leafs: Toronto's 200 Greatest Hockey Heroes, AuthorHouse, ISBN 978-1-4670-6931-1
• Mortillaro, Nicole (2011), Hockey Trailblazers, Scholastic Canada, ISBN 978-1-4431-0469-2
• Pincus, Arthur (2006), The Official Illustrated NHL History, Readers Digest, ISBN 0-88850-800-X
• Rogers, Edward; Smith, Donald (1994), Aboriginal Ontario: Historical Perspectives on the First Nations, Dundurn Press Ltd., ISBN 1-55002-209-1

Wikimedia Commons has media related to George Armstrong (ice hockey).

• Biographical information and career statistics from NHL.com, or Hockey-Reference.com, or Legends of Hockey, or The Internet Hockey Database
• George Armstrong at IMDb