Henry Brabham passes away.

[royals119]

Not as well known as Pat Kelly, but Mr Brabham was even more instrumental in creating the ECHL. He owned three of the first five teams, and half of the fourth. He hired Pat Kelly, and paid his salary out of his other businesses. He was also a passionate fan of the game. I got to meet him and hear him speak several years ago, and some of the stuff he did as an owner makes Slapshot the movie look tame by comparison. He locked the refs in their dressing room during an intermissioin when he didn't like the way they were calling the game.

ECHL mourns loss of League co-founder, Hall of Fame member Henry Brabham

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[tarheelhockey]

It's incredible to imagine the risk Brabham took on pro hockey at a time when there was absolutely no reason to think it would pay off. I don't think that even he knew just how much he was the right guy at the right time. His investment to stand up a fly-by-night startup league ended up profoundly impacting the North American hockey landscape on both an industrial and cultural level.

 

[iamjs]

This has to be early with his time with the Chiefs.

a) the seats are full.
b) the slanted font on the Chiefs were limited to the back half of the 1987-88 AAHL season and the inaugural ECHL (1988-89) season. They switched to a different font in 1989-90.