Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets
Encyclopedia
The Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets was an amateur hockey
team that existed between (1915–1925, 1930–1932) . They evolved from being an amateur to a semi-pro team and are one the earliest sports organizations in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
. The Yellow Jackets played primarily in the United States Amateur Hockey Association (USAHA). After winning the USAHA Championship in 1924 and 1925 the Yellow Jackets were sold to attorney James Callahan
and soon became the Pittsburgh Pirates
of the National Hockey League
. However after the demise of the Pirates in 1930, the Yellow Jackets became an IHL
club from 1930–1932.
. According to former sports reporter Paul Sullivan, who covered hockey for much of his life for the old Pittsburgh Gazette-Times, the USAHA wasn't a completely amateur league. Sullivan noted that even though the USAHA was called an amateur league, "They didn't come down from Canada because they thought Pittsburgh was a nice place." This leds one to believe that money was paid out to top players in the league.
The Jackets won the USAHA's championship in 1924 and 1925 under Dick Carroll
, who had coached the Toronto Arenas
to the Stanley Cup
in 1918. The Yellow Jackets of the Western Division were so dominant that they spun off another Pittsburgh team, the Fort Pitt Hornets, who played in the Eastern Division. The Yellow Jackets ended up defeating their cross-town rivals, 2-1, on April 11, 1925 to win their second USAHA championship. Captain
Lionel Conacher
scored in the first period on an end-to-end rush and Harold Cotton
scored the final goal in the team's history at the 13:00 mark of the first period by beating the Hornets' goalie Earl Miller
. The Yellow Jackets won three games and tied one against the Hornets due to solid goaltending from Roy Worters
.
, a lawyer from Pittsburgh's Lawrenceville
. Callahan wanted to move the team to a professional league. As a result he was granted an NHL team which became the Pittsburgh Pirates
, stealing the name from the baseball club
, something the new NFL team
also would also do eight years later.
The core of the Pirates was formed from the stars of the Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets. Among the Jackets-turned-Pirates were two Hockey Hall of Famers—Lionel Conacher, who would be named Canadian male athlete of the half century, and goalie Roy Worters. The Pirates would operate from 1925 until 1930.
in 1930, due to issues related to the Great Depression
and the failure to find a replacement for the aging Duquesne Gardens
. Shortly afterwards a second version of the Yellow Jackets returned to Pittsburgh after Schooley re-acquired the team. This team played in the IHL
. The team completely folded in 1937 when they were later purchased by Pittsburgh theatre chain owner, John Harris, who also purchased the Detroit Olympics
in October 1936. He later moved the Olympics to Pittsburgh and renamed them the Pittsburgh Hornets.
once referred to the color of the home jerseys as a "dingy mustard yellow." When the Yellow Jackets evolved into the City's first NHL team, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the color scheme followed. In fact when the City's second NHL team, the Pittsburgh Penguins
wanted to change their uniform colors from blue and white to black and gold, a move protested by the Boston Bruins
, the Pirates-Yellow Jackets jerseys were showcased as precedence for the move.
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...
team that existed between (1915–1925, 1930–1932) . They evolved from being an amateur to a semi-pro team and are one the earliest sports organizations in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
. The Yellow Jackets played primarily in the United States Amateur Hockey Association (USAHA). After winning the USAHA Championship in 1924 and 1925 the Yellow Jackets were sold to attorney James Callahan
James Callahan (Pittsburgh Pirates NHL)
James F. Callahan was the owner of the Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets and later the Pittsburgh Pirates of the National Hockey League. James, who had the reputation as a frugal businessman, was a lawyer from Pittsburgh's Lawrenceville neighborhood....
and soon became the Pittsburgh Pirates
Pittsburgh Pirates (NHL)
The Pittsburgh Pirates were an American professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League , based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from 1925–26 to 1929–30. The nickname comes from the baseball team also based in the city...
of 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...
. However after the demise of the Pirates in 1930, the Yellow Jackets became an IHL
International Hockey League (1929-36)
The International Hockey League was a professional ice hockey league operating in Canada and the United States from 1929 to 1936. It was a direct ancestor of the American Hockey League....
club from 1930–1932.
Yellow Jackets
The Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets, of the United States Amateur Hockey Association were formed in 1915. The organization's owner was a former referee named Roy SchooleyRoy Schooley
Roy D. Schooley was a former treasurer for the City of Pittsburgh, as well as the founder of the Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets hockey club, which later became the Pittsburgh Pirates of the National Hockey League. In 1920, he assembled the first U.S...
. According to former sports reporter Paul Sullivan, who covered hockey for much of his life for the old Pittsburgh Gazette-Times, the USAHA wasn't a completely amateur league. Sullivan noted that even though the USAHA was called an amateur league, "They didn't come down from Canada because they thought Pittsburgh was a nice place." This leds one to believe that money was paid out to top players in the league.
The Jackets won the USAHA's championship in 1924 and 1925 under Dick Carroll
Dick Carroll
Richard Leo "Dick" Carroll was a Canadian ice hockey coach, leading the Toronto team in the National Hockey League to the Stanley Cup championship in 1918 and the Toronto Canoe Club junior hockey team to the Memorial Cup in 1920....
, who had coached the Toronto Arenas
Toronto Arenas
The Toronto Arenas, Toronto Blueshirts or Torontos was a professional men's ice hockey team that played in the first two seasons of the National Hockey League . It was operated by the owner of the Arena Gardens, the Toronto Arena Company...
to the Stanley Cup
Stanley Cup
The Stanley Cup is an ice hockey club trophy, awarded annually to the National Hockey League playoffs champion after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Finals. It has been referred to as The Cup, Lord Stanley's Cup, The Holy Grail, or facetiously as Lord Stanley's Mug...
in 1918. The Yellow Jackets of the Western Division were so dominant that they spun off another Pittsburgh team, the Fort Pitt Hornets, who played in the Eastern Division. The Yellow Jackets ended up defeating their cross-town rivals, 2-1, on April 11, 1925 to win their second USAHA championship. Captain
Captain (ice hockey)
In ice hockey, each team can designate an official captain for each game. The player serving as captain during the game wears a "C" on his or her jersey...
Lionel Conacher
Lionel Conacher
Lionel Pretoria Conacher, MP , nicknamed "The Big Train", was a Canadian athlete and politician. Voted the country's top athlete of the first half of the 20th century, he won championships in numerous sports. His first passion was football; he was a member of the 1921 Grey Cup champion Toronto...
scored in the first period on an end-to-end rush and Harold Cotton
Harold Cotton (ice hockey)
William Harold "Baldy" Cotton was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who played 12 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Americans.-Playing career:...
scored the final goal in the team's history at the 13:00 mark of the first period by beating the Hornets' goalie Earl Miller
Earl Miller
Ernest Earl Miller was a professional ice hockey player who played 110 games in the National Hockey League. Born in Regina, Saskatchewan, he played with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Chicago Black Hawks. He won the Stanley Cup in 1932 with Toronto.-References:...
. The Yellow Jackets won three games and tied one against the Hornets due to solid goaltending from Roy Worters
Roy Worters
Roy "Shrimp" Worters was a Canadian professional Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender who played twelve seasons in the National Hockey League for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Montreal Canadiens and New York Americans, and was notable for recording 66 shutouts in his career and being, at 5'3" tall, the...
.
Pittsburgh Pirates
The Yellow Jackets stopped playing after the US Amateur Hockey Association folded at the end of the 1924–25 season. When Schooley encountered financial problems he sold the team to James CallahanJames Callahan (Pittsburgh Pirates NHL)
James F. Callahan was the owner of the Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets and later the Pittsburgh Pirates of the National Hockey League. James, who had the reputation as a frugal businessman, was a lawyer from Pittsburgh's Lawrenceville neighborhood....
, a lawyer from Pittsburgh's Lawrenceville
Lawrenceville (Pittsburgh)
Lawrenceville is one of the largest neighborhoods in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is located northeast of downtown, and like many of Pittsburgh's riverfront neighborhoods, it has an industrial past. Lawrenceville is bordered by the Allegheny River, Polish Hill, Bloomfield, the Strip District and...
. Callahan wanted to move the team to a professional league. As a result he was granted an NHL team which became the Pittsburgh Pirates
Pittsburgh Pirates (NHL)
The Pittsburgh Pirates were an American professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League , based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from 1925–26 to 1929–30. The nickname comes from the baseball team also based in the city...
, stealing the name from the baseball club
Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pittsburgh Pirates are a Major League Baseball club based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They play in the Central Division of the National League, and are five-time World Series Champions...
, something the new NFL team
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team currently belongs to the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Founded in , the Steelers are the oldest franchise in the AFC...
also would also do eight years later.
The core of the Pirates was formed from the stars of the Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets. Among the Jackets-turned-Pirates were two Hockey Hall of Famers—Lionel Conacher, who would be named Canadian male athlete of the half century, and goalie Roy Worters. The Pirates would operate from 1925 until 1930.
Yellow Jackets II
The Pirates left Pittsburgh and became the short-lived Philadelphia QuakersPhiladelphia Quakers (NHL)
The Philadelphia Quakers were an American professional ice hockey team that played only one full season in the National Hockey League , 1930–31, at the Philadelphia Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...
in 1930, due to issues related to the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
and the failure to find a replacement for the aging Duquesne Gardens
Duquesne Gardens
Duquesne Gardens was the main sports arena located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA during the first half of the 20th century. It opened 3 years after a fire destroyed the city's prior sports arena, the Schenley Park Casino, in 1896. The arena was the first hockey rink to use glass above the dasher...
. Shortly afterwards a second version of the Yellow Jackets returned to Pittsburgh after Schooley re-acquired the team. This team played in the IHL
International Hockey League (1929-36)
The International Hockey League was a professional ice hockey league operating in Canada and the United States from 1929 to 1936. It was a direct ancestor of the American Hockey League....
. The team completely folded in 1937 when they were later purchased by Pittsburgh theatre chain owner, John Harris, who also purchased the Detroit Olympics
Detroit Olympics
The Detroit Olympics were a minor league hockey team located in Detroit, Michigan that was a member of the Canadian Professional Hockey League 1927-29 and the International-American Hockey League 1929-36. The team played all of their home games at the Detroit Olympia...
in October 1936. He later moved the Olympics to Pittsburgh and renamed them the Pittsburgh Hornets.
Legacy
- Yellow Jackets goaltenderGoaltenderIn ice hockey, the goaltender is the player who defends his team's goal net by stopping shots of the puck from entering his team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring...
Frank BrimsekFrank BrimsekFrancis Charles "Mister Zero" Brimsek was an American professional ice hockey goaltender who played for the Boston Bruins and Chicago Black Hawks in the National Hockey League.-Playing career:...
, who won 252 games, held the record for winningest American-born netminder until Pittsburgh Penguins'Pittsburgh PenguinsThe Pittsburgh Penguins are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the first expansion teams during the league's original...
Tom BarrassoTom BarrassoThomas Patrick Barrasso is a retired American professional ice hockey goaltender who played 18 seasons for the Buffalo Sabres, Pittsburgh Penguins, Ottawa Senators, Carolina Hurricanes, Toronto Maple Leafs, and St...
broke the record on February 15, 1993 by beating the Winnipeg Jets.
- The core of the NHL's Pittsburgh Pirates were former-Yellow Jackets players who were considered an amateur team in 1925, but led the Pirates into the Stanley Cup semifinals within a year. And they were barely nudged out of the 1926 playoffs. Back then, the playoff series was just two games long, with total goals deciding the issue. The Pirates, who finished third in the seven-team NHL, lost to the Montreal MaroonsMontreal MaroonsThe Montreal Maroons was a professional men's ice hockey team in the National Hockey League . They played in the NHL from 1924 to 1938, winning the Stanley Cup in 1926 and 1935...
, 3-1, in the opener here and tied, 3-3, in Montreal. The Maroons' 6-4 edge in goals gave them the series and they went on to win the 1926 Stanley Cup.
Logos and Uniforms
The Yellow Jackets wore yellow wool jerseys with a "P" on the front of their jerseys in 1924. The wool jerseys featured black felt lettering would become the Pirates first set of jerseys. The team used the Pittsburgh's city crest emblems on the uniform sleeves. John McMahon, a sports writer for the Pittsburgh PressPittsburgh Press
The Pittsburgh Press is an online newspaper in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, currently owned and operated by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Historically, it was a major afternoon paper...
once referred to the color of the home jerseys as a "dingy mustard yellow." When the Yellow Jackets evolved into the City's first NHL team, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the color scheme followed. In fact when the City's second NHL team, the Pittsburgh Penguins
Pittsburgh Penguins
The Pittsburgh Penguins are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the first expansion teams during the league's original...
wanted to change their uniform colors from blue and white to black and gold, a move protested by the Boston Bruins
Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The team has been in existence since 1924, and is the league's third-oldest team and its oldest in the...
, the Pirates-Yellow Jackets jerseys were showcased as precedence for the move.
Hall of famers
- Frank BrimsekFrank BrimsekFrancis Charles "Mister Zero" Brimsek was an American professional ice hockey goaltender who played for the Boston Bruins and Chicago Black Hawks in the National Hockey League.-Playing career:...
(1966) - Lionel ConacherLionel ConacherLionel Pretoria Conacher, MP , nicknamed "The Big Train", was a Canadian athlete and politician. Voted the country's top athlete of the first half of the 20th century, he won championships in numerous sports. His first passion was football; he was a member of the 1921 Grey Cup champion Toronto...
(1994) - Gordie DrillonGordie DrillonGordon Arthur Drillon was a Canadian Hockey Hall of Fame ice hockey player. Born in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. From 1936 through to 1942 he was part of one of the NHL's most prolific scoring lines as a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs...
(1975) - Roy WortersRoy WortersRoy "Shrimp" Worters was a Canadian professional Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender who played twelve seasons in the National Hockey League for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Montreal Canadiens and New York Americans, and was notable for recording 66 shutouts in his career and being, at 5'3" tall, the...
(1969)
Other notable players
- Harold CottonHarold Cotton (ice hockey)William Harold "Baldy" Cotton was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who played 12 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Americans.-Playing career:...
- Hib MilksHib MilksHibbert Henry Milks was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward who played eight seasons in the National Hockey League with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Philadelphia Quakers, New York Rangers and Ottawa Senators....
- Doc Romnes