John P. Riley Jr.

John Patrick "Jack" Riley (June 15, 1920 – February 3, 2016) was an American ice hockey player and coach. The hockey coach at West Point for more than 35 years, Riley coached the United States to the gold medal at the 1960 Squaw Valley Olympics, during which he cut future Olympic coach Herb Brooks at the last minute. He played for the U.S. Olympic team at the 1948 St. Moritz Olympics.

Jack Riley
Biographical details
Born(1920-06-15)June 15, 1920
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedFebruary 3, 2016(2016-02-03) (aged 95)
Sandwich, Massachusetts, U.S.
Playing career
1940–1942Dartmouth
1946–1947Dartmouth
1947–1949US National Team
1949–1950Boston Olympics
Position(s)Left Wing
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1950–1986Army
1959–1960US National Team
Head coaching record
Overall542–343–20 (.610)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
1960 Olympic Gold Medal
Awards
1957 Spencer Penrose Award
1960 Spencer Penrose Award
1979 US Hockey Hall of Fame
1986 Lester Patrick Award
1998 International Ice Hockey Hall of Fame
2002 Lester Patrick Award
2004 Army Sports Hall of Fame
Medal record
Men's Ice hockey
Representing the  USA
World Championships
1949 Sweden
Olympics
1960 Squaw Valley

Biography

Riley was born in Boston in 1920[1][2] and raised in Medford, Massachusetts. He played prep-school hockey at Tabor Academy and was graduated in 1939. He played college hockey at Dartmouth College (1940–1942 and 1946–47) as well as for the U.S. Naval Air Corps (1942–1946). In 1948 he was part of an American team that was disqualified as two rival teams arrived for the Americans at the St. Moritz Olympics. (See Ice hockey at the 1948 Winter Olympics.) He was then player-coach of the national team at the 1949 IIHF World Championship.

Riley began his Army coaching career in 1950, remaining the Cadets' head coach through 1986. During his tenure, he twice won the Spencer Penrose Award for NCAA Coach of the Year. He was replaced by one of his sons, Rob Riley in 1986. Another son, Brian Riley, took over the job from Rob in 2004. Rob's son Brett was named as the inaugural head coach at Long Island University in 2020.[3]

Riley's Americans surprised the hockey world going undefeated in winning the country's first Olympic gold medal and second ever.

Riley was inducted in the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 1979, and the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame in 1998. He is a two-time winner of the Lester Patrick Trophy, in 1986 (as a coach) and 2002 (as a member of the Olympic gold medal-winning United States hockey team of 1960).

In the 1960s, Riley ran the Eastern Hockey Clinic (a hockey camp for high school-age players) in Worcester, Massachusetts. The camp had many NHL players as coaches, including John Ferguson, Tommy Williams (the only American NHL player at the time), Jean Ratelle, and Charlie Hodge. He died on February 3, 2016 at a retirement home in Sandwich, Massachusetts.[1][4]

Head coaching record

Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Army Cadets[lower-alpha 1] (University Division Independent[lower-alpha 2]) (1950–1961)
1950-51 Army 2-10-1
1951-52 Army 3-12-0
1952-53 Army 8-8-0
1953-54 Army 10-7-0
1954-55 Army 8-8-0
1955-56 Army 11-5-0
1956-57 Army 14-4-0
1957-58 Army 15-4-1
1958-59 Army 9-10-1
1959-60 Army 16-5-1
1960-61 Army 17-8-0
Army: 113-81-4
Army Cadets[lower-alpha 1] (ECAC Hockey) (1961–1973)
1961-62 Army 17-6-114-4-15thECAC Quarterfinals
1962-63 Army 17-6-212-4-26thECAC Quarterfinals
1963-64 Army 20-8-017-4-02ndECAC Quarterfinals
1964-65[lower-alpha 3] Army 17-7-03-7-012th
1965-66 Army 17-7-13-6-111th
1966-67 Army 15-12-04-6-010th
1967-68 Army 14-10-05-7-012th
1968-69 Army 20-7-14-6-110th
1969-70 Army 13-12-05-8-011th
1970-71 Army 8-14-13-7-111th
1971-72 Army 11-14-01-9-017th
1972-73 Army 9-17-11-9-017th
Army: 178-120-772-77-6
Army Cadets (ECAC 2) (1973–1980)
1973-74[lower-alpha 4] Army 20-7-1
1974-75 Army 18-11-0
1975-76 Army 18-9-1
1976-77 Army 22-6-1
1977-78 Army 13-12-1
1978-79 Army 7-21-0
1979-80 Army 19-12-1
Army: 117-78-5
Army Cadets (ECAC Hockey) (1980–1986)
1980-81[lower-alpha 5] Army 21-13-1[lower-alpha 6][lower-alpha 6]
1981-82 Army 25-11-0[lower-alpha 6][lower-alpha 6]
1982-83 Army 25-11-1[lower-alpha 6][lower-alpha 6]
1983-84 Army 28-5-1[lower-alpha 6][lower-alpha 6]
1984-85 Army 17-13-00-11-012th
1985-86 Army 18-11-12-9-011th
Army: 134-64-42-20-0
Total:542-343-20

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

  1. Army now uses Black Knights as its primary athletic nickname, although "Cadets" is still acceptable.
  2. The NCAA did not split into divisions until the 1956–57 school year. At that time, it established the University Division, the precursor to today's Division I, and the College Division, itself split in 1973 to create today's Divisions II and III. Army became a University Division member at the time of the original split.
  3. Following the 1963–64 season, the ECAC split its hockey league into two divisions, with the primary ECAC league continuing in the University Division and its second level, known as ECAC 2, becoming the sport's first College Division conference. Army remained in the ECAC top flight through the 1972–73 season.
  4. With the establishment of the NCAA's current three-division setup in 1973, Army chose to move to Division II hockey, while remaining in Division I for most other sports.
  5. Army returned to D-I hockey in 1980, and has remained at that level ever since.
  6. While Army had been readmitted to the ECAC top flight, it did not play a conference schedule until the 1984–85 season.[5]

See also

References

  1. https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/02/03/jack-riley-who-coached-hockey-team-gold-dies/otgDTneWWuz8Uw34jsGz6J/story.html
  2. Many sources give 1922 as a year of birth, but 1920 is backed by the Society for International Hockey Research and the U.S. Public Records Index
  3. "Riley Announced as Inaugural Head Coach of Men's Hockey at LIU" (Press release). LIU Sharks. May 27, 2020. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
  4. http://www.dartmouthsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=11600&ATCLID=210684565
  5. "2011-12 Army Hockey Media Guide" (PDF). Go Army Sports. Retrieved 2014-07-17.
Awards and achievements
Preceded by
William Harrison
John Kelley
Spencer Penrose Award
1956–57
1959–60
Succeeded by
Harry Cleverly
Murray Armstrong
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