Ned Harkness
Encyclopedia
Nevin D. "Ned" Harkness was a successful NCAA
head coach
of ice hockey
and lacrosse
at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
and Cornell University
and of ice hockey at Union College. Harkness was also head coach of the Detroit Red Wings
and later was the team's general manager. He was inducted into the Lake Placid Hall of Fame in 1993, the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame
in 2001 and into the RPI Hockey Ring of Honor in 2007. He is also a member of the United States Hockey Hall of Fame
in Eveleth, Minnesota
, having been inducted in 1994.
region north of Albany (Harkness became a naturalized American citizen in 1949 ). He graduated from the Worcester Academy
in 1939. In 1941, Harkness became a volunteer coach for a group of students at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
in Troy who were interested in forming a lacrosse club. Through that year and the next, the team practiced and scrimmaged with Harkness leading the way, eventually playing games against four varsity programs. World War II led to the disbanding of the team, but when the school formally established a varsity lacrosse program in 1945, Harkness was asked to become its first coach.
Within a year of its establishment, Ned Harkness had Rensselaer ranked among the best lacrosse teams in the country. In 1948, coming off an undefeated season of collegiate play, he took the team to the Olympic Games in London, England, where the team, representing the United States, would tie the British All-Star team before 60,000 at Wembley Stadium while amassing an 8–0–1 record in nine games played in England.
began looking for a way to re-establish hockey at the Institute, and Harkness was willing to lend his assistance. After the construction of the Houston Field House
was completed in late 1949, the team began play under Harkness in January 1950.
After leading the team to a 4–6–0 record in its first year, Harkness helped form the Tri-State League
, which would become the first attempt at league organization of college hockey in the east. Later that year, Harkness devised the RPI Holiday Tournament, which has taken place every year since 1951, making it the oldest in-season tournament in the nation.
Harkness coached both hockey and lacrosse at Rensselaer throughout most of the 1950s and continued coaching hockey into the 1960s. In 1952, while continuing to establish a serious hockey program, he coached the lacrosse team to an undefeated record and the national lacrosse championship, which predated the NCAA.
That same year, Harkness led the hockey team to its first Tri-State title with a 15–3 overall record, though the title was later revoked when the team was found to be using an ineligible player.
The team continued to improve rapidly on the ice under Harkness' guidance. In 1953, the team won its first official Tri-State championship and was invited to the NCAA Tournament
for the first time, winning third place. The next season, Harkness guided RPI to an 18–5 overall record, a second straight Tri-State title, and a second straight trip to Colorado Springs for the NCAA Tournament. Though heavy underdogs, Harkness and his team upset traditional powerhouses Michigan
and Minnesota
to win the 1954 NCAA Championship.
Harkness was the head coach of the men's ice hockey team at Rensselaer beginning with the 1949–1950 season through the 1962–1963 season. He led the team to a record of 176–96–7 and NCAA tournament appearances in 1953, 1954, and 1961, winning the NCAA title in 1954. His 1951–52 team averaged 8.28 goals per game, an NCAA record which stands today. He would leave the lacrosse team in 1958 to focus on RPI hockey after leading the team to a record of 112–26–2 in 14 years, and left RPI hockey in 1963 after three NCAA appearances, two Tri-State titles, one NCAA championship, and a record of 176–96–7 record in 14 years.
, where he replaced Paul Patten as the head coach of the hockey team. In his first year at Cornell, Harkness helped the team to a 12–10–1 record in the fledgling ECAC
league. His second season saw the team record improve to 19 wins. His stature rose to legendary status with the recruitment of Ken Dryden
.
In 1966, Harkness bested the previous year's total by winning 22 games while losing only 5 times. The following season, Ken Dryden came to Ithaca to play in net, and the team began reaping dividends immediately. The 1967 record was 27–1–1. Cornell participated in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history, with Harkness' second NCAA championship as the Big Red defeated North Dakota
and Boston University
for the title.
The domination continued for the remainder of Harkness' time at Cornell. The next season, Cornell again went to the NCAA Tournament, again with 27 victories, but would lose to North Dakota in the semifinals before defeating Boston College
for third place. Harkness again won 27 times in the 1968–69 campaign, the only regular season loss coming at the hands of his old team at Rensselaer in a game which later proved to save hockey at his old school a second time. Cornell would defeat Michigan Tech in the NCAA Tournament before dropping the championship game to the Denver Pioneers.
Seemingly with little opportunity to improve upon the team's success, Harkness and his Cornell team achieved a perfect record, undefeated and untied, in 1970. Cornell capped the 29–0–0 season with victories over Wisconsin
and Clarkson University
in the NCAA Tournament, bringing Harkness his third and final NCAA championship, and Cornell's second title in four years. Ironically, Harkness and his team accomplished this feat without Dryden, who is most often associated with the dominance of Cornell during the late 1960s.
While coaching ice hockey at Cornell, his overall record was 163–27–2 over seven seasons, and his teams won 2 NCAA
titles
, one in 1967 and one in 1970.
Amidst his success at Lynah Rink
, Harkness returned to coaching lacrosse, coaching the Cornell lacrosse team
to the 1966 and 1968 Ivy League
titles, and reaching an astounding 35–1 record during his three years at the helm. Following the 1970 NCAA championship, Harkness left Cornell on top to coach in the National Hockey League.
to become head coach on May 22, 1970. He replaced Sid Abel
, an interim replacement for Bill Gadsby
. Harkness was 12–22–4 with the Red Wings before Doug Barkley
was hired to complete the season. Harkness was promoted to general manager of the Red Wings in January 1971, where he remained for three seasons.
Despite his success in the college ranks, Harkness was not a successful coach or general manager in the National Hockey League
. Harkness had difficulty learning to coach veteran NHL players, and the team had problems with stability in the organization, going through a number of head coaches during his tenure.
Detroit fans still remember this era as "Darkness with Harkness", one of the worst periods in franchise history.
, where he had lived in Glens Falls and coached the RPI Engineers.
Union College had fielded a hockey team in the early 20th Century but had been unable to bounce back from the loss of the program during World War II. Harkness went to Union and helped create a new program from the ground up. Achilles Center
was built, and Harkness was made rink manager and the team's coach. The school began play in NCAA Division III and with Harkness behind the bench, the team was instantly successful. The Skating Dutchmen finished with a 20–4–1 record in the 1975–76 season, their first since the 1940s, with a roster full of freshmen. Harkness followed up this initial success with a 22–3–1 season, and the young program was well on its way to becoming a Division II powerhouse.
The 1977–78 season started off well for the Skating Dutchmen, as Harkness guided the team to a 4–1–1 record in their first 6 games. However, in late December, Harkness abruptly quit the team, and news began to leak that he had been having disputes with Union administration for quite some time. It was alleged that Harkness had violated NESCAC recruiting rules (and then lied to Union College President Thomas Bonner about it), but there was widespread suspicion on campus that admission standards for hockey players had been compromised. Many of the Union players had come in as freshmen well into their twenties, having played in Canadian Senior A teams (much like Harkness's Cornell protege Dick Bertrand, a Toronto cop who joined Harkness's squad in his late twenties, was a captain of the undefeated team, and then succeeded Harkness as Cornell coach, continuing in that capacity for 11 seasons); others were NHL draftees drawn by the chance to play for the legendary Harkness and his plan to jump the team to Division I. Upon hearing of their coach's decision to leave, the entire varsity roster of the Skating Dutchmen refused to play the remainder of the season in a show of solidarity with their coach. With a team made up of Junior Varsity and intramural players coached by an inexperienced coach, the Skating Dutchmen would lose their next game 19–1 and go on to lose every game remaining on their schedule.
head coach position that was ultimately given to John "Gino" Gaspirini.
Harkness later served as director of the Glens Falls Civic Center
and president of the New York Olympic Regional Development Authority
, which ran the facilities in Lake Placid, New York
which hosted the 1980 Olympic Winter Games. He was responsible for the construction of the US Olympic Training Center from 1989–1990. He retired from these duties in August 1993. In the spring of 2007 he moved to the suburb of Greece in Rochester, NY, where he very soon after married Patricia Murphy. He died on September 19, 2008, at the age of 89.
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
head coach
Head coach
A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches...
of ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
and lacrosse
Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...
at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Stephen Van Rensselaer established the Rensselaer School on November 5, 1824 with a letter to the Rev. Dr. Samuel Blatchford, in which van Rensselaer asked Blatchford to serve as the first president. Within the letter he set down several orders of business. He appointed Amos Eaton as the school's...
and Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
and of ice hockey at Union College. Harkness was also head coach of the Detroit Red Wings
Detroit Red Wings
The Detroit Red Wings are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League , and are one of the Original Six teams of the NHL, along with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, New York...
and later was the team's general manager. He was inducted into the Lake Placid Hall of Fame in 1993, the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame
Lacrosse Museum and National Hall of Fame
The US Lacrosse Museum and National Hall of Fame, located in Baltimore, Maryland, on the campus of Johns Hopkins University, is operated by US Lacrosse...
in 2001 and into the RPI Hockey Ring of Honor in 2007. He is also a member of the United States Hockey Hall of Fame
United States Hockey Hall of Fame
The United States Hockey Hall of Fame was established in 1973 with the goal of preserving the rich history of the game in the United States while recognizing the extraordinary contributions of select players, coaches, administrators, officials and teams....
in Eveleth, Minnesota
Eveleth, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 3,865 people, 1,717 households, and 971 families residing in the city. The population density was 611.0 people per square mile . There were 1,965 housing units at an average density of 310.6 per square mile...
, having been inducted in 1994.
Early years
Harkness grew up in Ontario, but before coming of age, his family moved to the Glens Falls, New YorkGlens Falls, New York
Glens Falls is a city in Warren County, New York, United States. Glens Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 14,700 at the 2010 census...
region north of Albany (Harkness became a naturalized American citizen in 1949 ). He graduated from the Worcester Academy
Worcester Academy
Worcester Academy is an independent coeducational preparatory school spread over in Worcester, Massachusetts in the United States. The school is divided into a middle school, serving approximately 150 students in grades six to eight, and an upper school, serving approximately 500 students in...
in 1939. In 1941, Harkness became a volunteer coach for a group of students at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Stephen Van Rensselaer established the Rensselaer School on November 5, 1824 with a letter to the Rev. Dr. Samuel Blatchford, in which van Rensselaer asked Blatchford to serve as the first president. Within the letter he set down several orders of business. He appointed Amos Eaton as the school's...
in Troy who were interested in forming a lacrosse club. Through that year and the next, the team practiced and scrimmaged with Harkness leading the way, eventually playing games against four varsity programs. World War II led to the disbanding of the team, but when the school formally established a varsity lacrosse program in 1945, Harkness was asked to become its first coach.
Within a year of its establishment, Ned Harkness had Rensselaer ranked among the best lacrosse teams in the country. In 1948, coming off an undefeated season of collegiate play, he took the team to the Olympic Games in London, England, where the team, representing the United States, would tie the British All-Star team before 60,000 at Wembley Stadium while amassing an 8–0–1 record in nine games played in England.
Reviving RPI Hockey
Following World War II, RPI President Livingston HoustonLivingston W. Houston
Livingston Waddell Houston was the eleventh president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He was born in 1891 in Wyoming, Ohio. He graduated from Rensselaer in 1913 with a degree in mechanical engineering and was a member of the engineering honor society Tau Beta Pi His first job out of school...
began looking for a way to re-establish hockey at the Institute, and Harkness was willing to lend his assistance. After the construction of the Houston Field House
Houston Field House
Houston Field House is a multi-purpose arena on the campus of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. It is the second oldest arena in the ECAC Hockey League behind Princeton University's Hobey Baker Memorial Rink.It is also the nations third oldest hockey rink behind Northeasterns...
was completed in late 1949, the team began play under Harkness in January 1950.
After leading the team to a 4–6–0 record in its first year, Harkness helped form the Tri-State League
Tri-State League
The Tri-State League was the name of five different circuits in American minor league baseball.-History:The first league of that name played for four years and consisted of teams in Ohio, Michigan and West Virginia....
, which would become the first attempt at league organization of college hockey in the east. Later that year, Harkness devised the RPI Holiday Tournament, which has taken place every year since 1951, making it the oldest in-season tournament in the nation.
Harkness coached both hockey and lacrosse at Rensselaer throughout most of the 1950s and continued coaching hockey into the 1960s. In 1952, while continuing to establish a serious hockey program, he coached the lacrosse team to an undefeated record and the national lacrosse championship, which predated the NCAA.
That same year, Harkness led the hockey team to its first Tri-State title with a 15–3 overall record, though the title was later revoked when the team was found to be using an ineligible player.
The team continued to improve rapidly on the ice under Harkness' guidance. In 1953, the team won its first official Tri-State championship and was invited to the NCAA Tournament
NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship
The annual NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship tournament determines the top men's ice hockey team in NCAA Division I and Division III. The semi-finals and finals of the Division I Championship are branded as the Frozen Four, a passing nod to the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship - known...
for the first time, winning third place. The next season, Harkness guided RPI to an 18–5 overall record, a second straight Tri-State title, and a second straight trip to Colorado Springs for the NCAA Tournament. Though heavy underdogs, Harkness and his team upset traditional powerhouses Michigan
Michigan Wolverines
The Michigan Wolverines comprise 27 varsity sports teams at the University of Michigan. These teams compete in the NCAA's Division I and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except men's ice hockey which competes in the NCAA D1 Central Collegiate Hockey Association, and women's water polo, which...
and Minnesota
Minnesota Golden Gophers
The Minnesota Golden Gophers are the college sports team for the University of Minnesota. The university fields both men's and women's teams in basketball, cross country, gymnastics, golf, ice hockey, swimming, tennis, and track and field. Men's-specific sports include baseball, football, and...
to win the 1954 NCAA Championship.
Harkness was the head coach of the men's ice hockey team at Rensselaer beginning with the 1949–1950 season through the 1962–1963 season. He led the team to a record of 176–96–7 and NCAA tournament appearances in 1953, 1954, and 1961, winning the NCAA title in 1954. His 1951–52 team averaged 8.28 goals per game, an NCAA record which stands today. He would leave the lacrosse team in 1958 to focus on RPI hockey after leading the team to a record of 112–26–2 in 14 years, and left RPI hockey in 1963 after three NCAA appearances, two Tri-State titles, one NCAA championship, and a record of 176–96–7 record in 14 years.
Moving to Ithaca
In 1963, Harkness moved to Cornell UniversityCornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
, where he replaced Paul Patten as the head coach of the hockey team. In his first year at Cornell, Harkness helped the team to a 12–10–1 record in the fledgling ECAC
ECAC Hockey League
ECAC Hockey is one of the five NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey conferences that compete in NCAA Division I ice hockey. The conference used to be affiliated with the Eastern College Athletic Conference, a consortium of over 300 colleges in the eastern United States. This relationship ended in...
league. His second season saw the team record improve to 19 wins. His stature rose to legendary status with the recruitment of Ken Dryden
Ken Dryden
Kenneth Wayne Dryden, PC, is a Canadian politician, lawyer, businessman, author, and former NHL goaltender. Dryden is married with two children and four grandchildren and is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame...
.
In 1966, Harkness bested the previous year's total by winning 22 games while losing only 5 times. The following season, Ken Dryden came to Ithaca to play in net, and the team began reaping dividends immediately. The 1967 record was 27–1–1. Cornell participated in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history, with Harkness' second NCAA championship as the Big Red defeated North Dakota
North Dakota Fighting Sioux
The North Dakota Fighting Sioux are the athletic teams of the University of North Dakota , which is located in the city of Grand Forks, North Dakota, in the United States. The logo is a Native American figure. The logo was designed by Bennett Brien, a local artist and UND graduate of Ojibwa...
and Boston University
Boston University Terriers
The Boston University Terriers are the nine men's and twelve women's varsity athletic teams representing Boston University in NCAA Division I competition. The men compete in basketball, cross country, ice hockey, rowing, soccer, swimming, tennis, indoor and outdoor track, and wrestling...
for the title.
The domination continued for the remainder of Harkness' time at Cornell. The next season, Cornell again went to the NCAA Tournament, again with 27 victories, but would lose to North Dakota in the semifinals before defeating Boston College
Boston College Eagles
The Boston College Eagles are the athletic teams representing Boston College. They compete in NCAA Division I as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference. The men's and women's ice hockey teams compete in Hockey East. The women's crew team competes in the Eastern Association of Women's Rowing...
for third place. Harkness again won 27 times in the 1968–69 campaign, the only regular season loss coming at the hands of his old team at Rensselaer in a game which later proved to save hockey at his old school a second time. Cornell would defeat Michigan Tech in the NCAA Tournament before dropping the championship game to the Denver Pioneers.
Seemingly with little opportunity to improve upon the team's success, Harkness and his Cornell team achieved a perfect record, undefeated and untied, in 1970. Cornell capped the 29–0–0 season with victories over Wisconsin
Wisconsin Badgers
The Wisconsin Badgers are the collegiate athletic teams from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. This NCAA Division I athletic program has teams in football, basketball, ice hockey, volleyball, soccer, cross country, tennis, swimming, wrestling, track and field, rowing, golf, and softball...
and Clarkson University
Clarkson University
-The Clarkson School:The Clarkson School, a special division of Clarkson University, was founded in 1978 as a unique educational opportunity. The School offers students an early entrance opportunity into college, replacing the typical senior year of high school with a year of college...
in the NCAA Tournament, bringing Harkness his third and final NCAA championship, and Cornell's second title in four years. Ironically, Harkness and his team accomplished this feat without Dryden, who is most often associated with the dominance of Cornell during the late 1960s.
While coaching ice hockey at Cornell, his overall record was 163–27–2 over seven seasons, and his teams won 2 NCAA
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
titles
NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship
The annual NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship tournament determines the top men's ice hockey team in NCAA Division I and Division III. The semi-finals and finals of the Division I Championship are branded as the Frozen Four, a passing nod to the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship - known...
, one in 1967 and one in 1970.
Amidst his success at Lynah Rink
Lynah Rink
Lynah Rink is a 4,267-seat hockey arena at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, that opened in 1957. Named after James Lynah, Class of 1905, who was the director of Cornell athletics from 1935-1943, it is home to the Big Red men's and women's ice hockey teams.Lynah has been home to hockey greats...
, Harkness returned to coaching lacrosse, coaching the Cornell lacrosse team
Cornell Big Red men's lacrosse
The Cornell Big Red Men's Lacrosse team represents Cornell University in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I men's lacrosse. Cornell competes as a member of the Ivy League, of which they have won 23 conference championships. The Big Red have appeared in the NCAA tournament 22...
to the 1966 and 1968 Ivy League
Ivy League
The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...
titles, and reaching an astounding 35–1 record during his three years at the helm. Following the 1970 NCAA championship, Harkness left Cornell on top to coach in the National Hockey League.
The NHL
Ned Harkness was hired by the Detroit Red WingsDetroit Red Wings
The Detroit Red Wings are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League , and are one of the Original Six teams of the NHL, along with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, New York...
to become head coach on May 22, 1970. He replaced Sid Abel
Sid Abel
Sidney Gerald Abel was a Canadian professional hockey player and later coach in the National Hockey League...
, an interim replacement for Bill Gadsby
Bill Gadsby
William Alexander Gadsby was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who played for the Chicago Black Hawks, New York Rangers, and Detroit Red Wings in the National Hockey League....
. Harkness was 12–22–4 with the Red Wings before Doug Barkley
Doug Barkley
Norman Douglas Barkley is a former professional ice hockey defenceman. After his playing career he was the head coach of the Detroit Red Wings for two separate occasions.-Playing career:...
was hired to complete the season. Harkness was promoted to general manager of the Red Wings in January 1971, where he remained for three seasons.
Despite his success in the college ranks, Harkness was not a successful coach or general manager in the National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
. Harkness had difficulty learning to coach veteran NHL players, and the team had problems with stability in the organization, going through a number of head coaches during his tenure.
Detroit fans still remember this era as "Darkness with Harkness", one of the worst periods in franchise history.
Union College
After his departure from the NHL, Harkness set his sights on college hockey once again. He returned to New York's Capital DistrictCapital District
New York's Capital District, also known as the Capital Region, is a region in upstate New York that generally refers to the four counties surrounding Albany, the capital of the state: Albany County, Schenectady County, Rensselaer County, and Saratoga County...
, where he had lived in Glens Falls and coached the RPI Engineers.
Union College had fielded a hockey team in the early 20th Century but had been unable to bounce back from the loss of the program during World War II. Harkness went to Union and helped create a new program from the ground up. Achilles Center
Achilles Rink
The Frank L. Messa Rink at Achilles Center is a 2,225-seat multi-purpose arena in Schenectady, New York. It is home to the Union College Dutchmen ice hockey and Dutchwomen ice hockey teams, members of the ECAC Hockey League. In 2004, it was renovated and renamed Frank L. Messa Rink at Achilles...
was built, and Harkness was made rink manager and the team's coach. The school began play in NCAA Division III and with Harkness behind the bench, the team was instantly successful. The Skating Dutchmen finished with a 20–4–1 record in the 1975–76 season, their first since the 1940s, with a roster full of freshmen. Harkness followed up this initial success with a 22–3–1 season, and the young program was well on its way to becoming a Division II powerhouse.
The 1977–78 season started off well for the Skating Dutchmen, as Harkness guided the team to a 4–1–1 record in their first 6 games. However, in late December, Harkness abruptly quit the team, and news began to leak that he had been having disputes with Union administration for quite some time. It was alleged that Harkness had violated NESCAC recruiting rules (and then lied to Union College President Thomas Bonner about it), but there was widespread suspicion on campus that admission standards for hockey players had been compromised. Many of the Union players had come in as freshmen well into their twenties, having played in Canadian Senior A teams (much like Harkness's Cornell protege Dick Bertrand, a Toronto cop who joined Harkness's squad in his late twenties, was a captain of the undefeated team, and then succeeded Harkness as Cornell coach, continuing in that capacity for 11 seasons); others were NHL draftees drawn by the chance to play for the legendary Harkness and his plan to jump the team to Division I. Upon hearing of their coach's decision to leave, the entire varsity roster of the Skating Dutchmen refused to play the remainder of the season in a show of solidarity with their coach. With a team made up of Junior Varsity and intramural players coached by an inexperienced coach, the Skating Dutchmen would lose their next game 19–1 and go on to lose every game remaining on their schedule.
Later years
In the spring of 1978, Harkness was a finalist for the North DakotaNorth Dakota Fighting Sioux
The North Dakota Fighting Sioux are the athletic teams of the University of North Dakota , which is located in the city of Grand Forks, North Dakota, in the United States. The logo is a Native American figure. The logo was designed by Bennett Brien, a local artist and UND graduate of Ojibwa...
head coach position that was ultimately given to John "Gino" Gaspirini.
Harkness later served as director of the Glens Falls Civic Center
Glens Falls Civic Center
Glens Falls Civic Center is a 4,806-seat multi-purpose arena, located in downtown Glens Falls, New York, that currently serves as the home of the Adirondack Phantoms, of the AHL. Built in 1979, it was originally the home of the Adirondack Red Wings, AHL affiliate of the Detroit Red Wings.On June...
and president of the New York Olympic Regional Development Authority
Olympic Regional Development Authority
The Olympic Regional Development Authority is a New York State public benefit corporations, created by the State of New York to manage the facilities used during the 1980 Olympic Winter Games at Lake Placid, New York...
, which ran the facilities in Lake Placid, New York
Lake Placid, New York
Lake Placid is a village in the Adirondack Mountains in Essex County, New York, United States. As of the 2000 census, the village had a population of 2,638....
which hosted the 1980 Olympic Winter Games. He was responsible for the construction of the US Olympic Training Center from 1989–1990. He retired from these duties in August 1993. In the spring of 2007 he moved to the suburb of Greece in Rochester, NY, where he very soon after married Patricia Murphy. He died on September 19, 2008, at the age of 89.
See also
- List of members of the United States Hockey Hall of Fame
- List of college men's ice hockey coaches with 300 career wins