| Duquesne Athletic Club | |
|---|---|
| City | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
| League | Western Pennsylvania Hockey League |
| Founded | 1908 |
| Operated | 1908–1909 |
| Home arena | Duquesne Garden |
| General manager | J.G.S. Ramsey |
| Championships | |
| Regular season titles | 1 (1908–09) |
The Duquesne Athletic Club professional ice hockey team, based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, played for only one season in 1908–09. It won the final championship of the Western Pennsylvania Hockey League (WPHL).
History[edit]
The Duquesne Athletic Club (DAC) was established in 1908 in a new building leased from steel and real estate magnate Henry Phipps. Located on Duquesne Way in downtown Pittsburgh, the building featured a swimming pool, a gymnasium and Turkish baths. The new club promised to support a variety of sports and teams, including a WPHL ice hockey team to be "composed of stars".[1] The hockey team took the place in the league vacated by the defunct Pittsburgh Pirates.[2]
The club secured Alf Smith, former Ottawa Silver Seven star who began his professional career with the Pittsburgh Athletic Club, to captain the team and choose its players.[3][4] Though unable to retain Smith for more than a small part of the season,[5] the DAC finished with a 10–4–1 record to win the league title.[6] The championship came down to the last game of the season in which Duquesne beat the Pittsburgh Bankers 4–2.[7]
Three of the team's players, Harry McRobie, Tom Westwick and Joe Dennison, jumped their contracts in mid-season to play in Canada, but after a short time there, changed their minds and came back to the DAC. By analogy with the biblical parable of the prodigal son leaving home and returning, the Duquesne team was nicknamed the "Prodigals".[8][9] A broader pattern of WPHL players "jumping" to Canadian clubs forced the disbandment of one Pittsburgh team, the Lyceum, whose leftover players were then distributed among the league's three remaining teams. The official WPHL referee, Roy Schooley, questioned whether the "Prodigals" would have won the title had all of the teams that started the season finished intact, but praised the DAC's play through the turmoil. Schooley gave special credit to McRobie (who finished the season as captain), Westwick, Dennison, and Ray Robinson, the last of whom Schooley called "by far the best left wing in the league".[10]
References to uniform color are in reports of a game played December 19, 1908: The team was referred to in one newspaper as the "brown and white artists"[11] and in another as the "maroon jersey wearers".[12]
References[edit]
- ^ "New Athletic Club Meets with Success". The Pittsburgh Post. October 28, 1908. p. 12 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Pittsburg Expects Great Hockey Year". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. October 14, 1908. Picture and Sporting Sec., p. 5 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Western Pennsylvania Hockey League Season Opens Nov. 12". The Pittsburg Press. October 25, 1908. p. 19 – via Google News Archive.
- ^ "Canadian Hockeyists Are in Great Demand". The Winnipeg Tribune. October 16, 1908. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Alf Smith Goes to His Canadian Home". The Pittsburg Press. December 15, 1908. p. 15 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Fitzsimmons, Ernie (2000). "Early Professional, Early Senior WHA and Modern Minor Professional League Standings". In Diamond, Dan (ed.). Total Hockey. Total Sport Publishing. pp. 414–432. ISBN 1-892129-85-X.
- ^ "D.A.C. Defeats Bankers, 4 to 2, Capturing Hockey Championship". The Pittsburgh Sunday Post. February 7, 1909. Sec. 3, p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Prodigals Devour Calf P.A.C. the Victim". The Gazette Times. Pittsburgh. January 13, 1909. p. 9 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Indoor Skating Season to Close Saturday Night". The Pittsburg Press. January 31, 1909. Sporting sec., p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Schooley, Roy D. (February 14, 1909). "Hockey Season Reviewed by Roy D. Schooley". The Pittsburg Press. p. 13 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Bankers and D.A.C. Hockey Teams Victorious in Double-Header". The Pittsburgh Sunday Post. December 20, 1908. Sec. 3, p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Bargain Night at Duquesne Garden". The Pittsburg Press. December 20, 1908. Sporting Sec., p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.