Frank Calder
| Frank Calder | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| 1st President of the National Hockey League | |
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In office 1917–1943 |
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| Succeeded by | Red Dutton |
| President of the National Hockey Association | |
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In office 1917–1917 |
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| Preceded by | Frank Robinson |
| Succeeded by | None – league replaced by NHL and Calder as President of NHL |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Frank Sellick Calder November 17, 1877 Bristol, England |
| Died | February 4, 1943 (aged 65) Montreal, Quebec |
| Nationality | Canadian |
Frank Sellick Calder (November 17, 1877 – February 4, 1943) was an ice hockey executive, a journalist and athlete. He is most notable for serving as the first president of the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1917 until his death in 1943. He was the last president of the NHL's predecessor league, the National Hockey Association (NHA) and was instrumental in the transition from the NHA to the NHL, a transition made to expel a franchise owner. He presided over the expansion of the NHL from Canada into the United States while at the same time fending off of rivals to the NHL's status as the premier ice hockey league.
Frank Calder was born to Scottish parents in Bristol, England on November 17, 1877. Calder participated in many English sports as a youth, including rugby, cricket, handball, golf, and soccer. As a young man, he immigrated to Canada and became a teacher at a private school. Before leaving the United Kingdom, he flipped a coin to decide whether he should immigrate to Canada or to the United States.
He married a fellow teacher, Amelia Cole, and they had three sons and one daughter.
Calder worked as a sports editor at the Montreal Witness. From there, he moved to the Montreal Herald and Daily Telegraph. After that, he passed the role of sports editor to Elmer Ferguson so that he could move on to take the financial editor's chair, in which capacity he covered what was Canada's largest market at that time: the . He maintained his interest in sports, creating the Montreal School Rugby League. He was the secretary-treasurer of the Montreal Football (Soccer) Association in 1903 and remained in that position until at least 1911, when he represented the organization at the time of the founding of the Province of Quebec Football (Soccer) Association. He was elected a member of the executive committee of the PQFA in 1911 and 1912. Earlier he was a referee and had refereed the game between the Montreal All-Stars and the touring Corinthians from England in 1906.
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