King Clancy

56
King Clancy bigraphy, stories - Canadian ice hockey player

King Clancy : biography

February 25, 1903 – November 8, 1986

Francis Michael "King" Clancy (February 25, 1903 – November 10, 1986) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player, referee, coach and executive. Clancy played 16 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs. He was a member of three Stanley Cup championship teams and won All-Star honours. After he retired in 1937, he remained in hockey, becoming a coach for the Montreal Maroons. Clancy next worked as a referee for the NHL. He joined the Maple Leafs organization and worked in the organization as a coach and team executive until his death in 1986.

Clancy’s nickname "King" originates from his father, who was the first ‘King Clancy’ and played football for Ottawa. At the time the football was not snapped as is done today, but was ‘heeled’ back from the line. Frank’s father was very good at this and was named ‘King of the Heelers’ or ‘King’ for short.McFarlane, pg. 20 This nickname was eventually transferred to Frank.

Post-playing career

The season after his retirement as a player, Clancy briefly coached the Montreal Maroons before beginning an 11-year stint as an NHL referee. In 1949, the Montreal Canadiens hired Clancy to coach their American Hockey League farm team, the Cincinnati Mohawks. He was released after two losing seasons, and rejoined the Maple Leaf family as coach of the Leafs’ AHL affiliate, the Pittsburgh Hornets. The Hornets had two outstanding seasons under Clancy, winning the Calder Cup as league champions in 1951–52, and nearly repeating the following year, before losing the cup final in seven games.

On the strength of that performance, Clancy was made coach of the Maple Leafs for the 1953–54 season. He held the job for three years, but the team struggled, with each season worse than the one before it. He was then given the title assistant general manager by his friend, Conn Smythe, but his responsibilities often involved public relations at least as much as building a hockey team. Clancy was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1958.

After Harold Ballard took control of the Leafs during the 1971–72 season, Clancy and Ballard became inseparable friends. Former Leafs player, coach, and assistant general manager Hap Day would say that Clancy was paid to do nothing by both Smythe and Ballard.Ballard: A Portrait of Canada’s Most Controversial Sports Figure," William Houston, Summerhill Press, 1984, p. 86.

During the 1971–72 season, Clancy stepped behind the Leafs’ bench as acting coach for 15 games while head coach John McLellan recovered from a peptic ulcer.

He was the last surviving member of the 1922–23 Stanley Cup championship team (Ottawa Senators).

Clancy remained in the Leafs’ front office for the rest of his life. In 1986, he had an operation to remove his gallbladder. Infection from the gallbladder seeped into his body during the operation, and he went into septic shock. He died November 10, 1986, at age 83 and is buried in Mount Hope Catholic Cemetery in Toronto, Ontario.

Coaching record

Team Year Regular season Post season
G W L T Pts Finish Result
MTLM 1937–38 18 6 11 1 (30) 4th in Canadian (fired)
TOR 1953–54 70 32 24 14 78 3rd in NHL Lost in first round
TOR 1954–55 70 24 24 22 70 3rd in NHL Lost in first round
TOR 1955–56 70 24 33 13 61 4th in NHL Lost in first round

Personal

His son, Terry Clancy participated in ice hockey at the 1964 Winter Olympics and later played for the Toronto Maple Leafs. His great granddaugther, Laura Stacey won the silver medal at the 2011 IIHF Under 18 women’s hockey championshipshttp://www.hockeycanada.ca/index.php/ci_id/75137/la_id/1/season_id/151723/profile_id/151757/team_id/82634/ss_id/74005/ and was a member of the Canadian National Under 18 team that participated in a three game series vs. the USA in August 2011.http://www.hockeycanada.ca/index.php/ci_id/170168/la_id/1.htm She would go on to claim a gold medal for the Under 18 team at the 2012 IIHF Under 18 championships.