The Silver Fox and other Patrick nomenclature

Having looked into when the Patricks were dubbed “Hockey’s Royal Family,” here is an exploration of Lester Patrick’s nicknames, of which he had a few, in various colour and animal combinations. He also shared a nickname with a player who eventually became synonymous with it, and had another that was bestowed posthumously and probably in error.

Silver Fox

Eric Whitehead wrote on page 174 of his book, The Patricks: Hockey’s Royal Family:

It was after one of Lester's press seminars in his Garden classroom that he got the name that stayed with him throughout his career and is now synonymous with his memory. “Yesterday,” wrote Ed Daley, sports editor of the New York Herald Tribune: “I spent a fascinating half hour in the lair of The Silver Fox …”

While I don’t have access to the Herald Tribune database to check this quote, this definitely wasn’t the origin of Lester’s nickname. (Also, the sports editor wasn’t Ed Daley, it was George Daley. He joined the Herald Tribune in 1931, although he worked for other New York papers before that. While he did not come up with The Silver Fox, Lester credited him with naming the Rangers, and implied he was also responsible for naming their minor league affiliates, the New York Rovers and Philadelphia Ramblers. “He may be said to have been the father of our three-R hockey system.”)

In fact, the first mention I can find alluding to Lester’s changing hair colour is in the Seattle Star of Nov. 12, 1921 in a story by Leo H. Lassen: “With the best team he has had in years, Lester Patrick, the silver-haired fox of the Victoria club ...”

Exactly one month later, the Vancouver Province wrote: “When Lester Patrick, the silver-haired fox of the Pacific Coast Hockey League, leads his Victoria Aristocrats on the ice at the Denman street arena tonight …”

That was followed by these references:

• The Vancouver Sun, Dec. 30, 1922: “Lester Patrick, the silver-haired fox of the Coast league, showed Vancouver a new card tonight …”

• Victoria Daily Times, Feb. 21, 1923: “The Saskatoon fans would like Lester Patrick to turn [Hec] Fowler over to them but the silver-haired fox says ‘no,’ loud and long, every time …”

• Edmonton Journal, Dec. 8, 1923: “Lester Patrick, the silver-haired fox of the Victoria hockey club, believes that he has turned the trick this winter …”

• Saskatoon Daily Star, Dec. 12, 1924: “Lester Patrick, boss of the Cougars, has one of the greatest aggregation of stars … and through good coaching and wise use of his strength, the silver locked fox has a great team.”

In each of these instances, “silver-haired fox” is in lowercase. It appears that it did take the move to New York in 1926 for Lester’s nickname to be capitalized and made more succinct.

• From The Vancouver Sun, Nov. 24, 1926: “Already the boys have draped an aura of mystery and intrigue over the fine form of Lester Patrick, whom they call the ‘Silver Fox.’”

• Headline in The Vancouver Sun, April 14, 1927: “Lester to remain in the east/Silver Fox of hockey not likely to accept berth on coast yet.”

Gray Fox, Old Grey Eagle

While no single writer appears to have been responsible for dubbing Lester the Silver Fox, Harold C. Burr of the Brooklyn Eagle was chiefly behind a couple variants that also reflected Lester’s hair.

• Burr in the Eagle, March 15, 1929: “But it wasn’t on Lester Patrick. The Gray Fox of the Rangers was infinitely more pleased at Murray’s showing …”

• Burr in the Eagle, Jan. 3, 1932: “‘The Rangers,’ quoth manager Lester Patrick … ‘are 10 per cent stronger.’ But the old gray eagle of the rinks was too conservative.”

Burr used the nickname “old gray eagle” many more times over the next two years, then took it up anew in 1943. Others started using it too, along with “Gray Fox.”

• Detroit Free Press, March 9, 1933: “The writers retained their opinion that Lester Patrick, of the Rangers, still is hockey’s greatest coach, selecting the ‘grey eagle’ in preference to Dick Irvin, of Toronto …”

• New York Daily News, March 28, 1933: “You ask Lester Patrick … The Gray Fox of the Rangers, however, points confidently to the defensive ability of Bun and Bill Cook …”

• Montreal Gazette, jan. 31, 1935: “The gray-haired fox of hockey is as permanent a fixture in New York as is Madison Square Garden …”

• The Vancouver Sun, Sept. 1, 1936: “Frost is not yet glistening the pumpkins but Lester Patrick, the ‘Grey Eagle’ of professional hockey, is clucking about his Madison Square Garden office today …”

• Bill Corum in a wire story published in the Oakland Post Enquirer, Dec. 23, 1936: “[I] don’t mean to [imply] that the Iron Gray Duke of Drummondville, Ont. [sic] invented the ice game or even that he introduced it to Manhattan.”

(This is the only use of “Iron Gray Duke” I can find, although a Canadian Press story published in the Ottawa Citizen of Feb. 9, 1934 noted that “Tonight the silver streaks were far more numerous in the iron-gray thatch of Lester.”)

• Brooklyn Eagle, Nov. 8, 1945: “‘Our vets aren’t in shape yet,’ concedes the Old Grey Eagle of the rinks.”

• The Times Record (Troy, NY), Feb. 22, 1946: “Frank Boucher, one of Patrick’s ‘boys,’ now succeeds the old Gray Eagle of the ice as manager.”

• Brooklyn Eagle, Jan. 3, 1947 (Harold Burr again): “‘Our American fans don’t look upon hockey as a game at all,’” said the old gray eagle of the rinks.”

• Oscar Fraley in the Staten Island Advance, Dec. 27, 1948: “Lester Patrick, the famed ‘Gray Fox’ of ice hockey, agreed that there was a lot of truth to the old adage ‘Like father, like son’ …”

The Gray (or Grey) Eagle was also a nickname given to baseball’s Tris Speaker.

Mr. Hockey

Many people have been called Mr. Hockey, Lester among them. In fact, maybe Lester was the first.

Eric Zweig, who has explored the subject in-depth, found the first use of the phrase in the Ottawa Journal of April 18, 1933 — wherein Conn Smyth was lecturing journalists that Lester Patrick was not Mr. Hockey. (Smythe’s antipathy would have resulted from Lester replacing him as founding coach and general manager of the New York Rangers.)

Zweig also found references to Art Ross, Eddie Shore, and Jack Adams being called Mr. Hockey. The best-known Mr. Hockey, Gordie Howe, was first tagged with that title in March 1953. Even so, it took until Adams’ death in 1968 for Howe to become the prime Mr. Hockey.

Praying Colonel

In his 1966 book Trail of the Stanley Cup, Charles Coleman wrote on p. 634:

During the 1922 season [Lester Patrick] delighted the Victoria fans by twice taking over the position of goalkeeper when Fowler was banished for fighting. The tender way in which he went to his knees to make stops earned him the title of “The Praying Colonel.”

Praying Colonels has long been the nickname of the football team at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky. It appears to come from US president James Garfield, who was called that while serving as a Civil War general.

Lester did indeed have a scrambling goaltending style that drew laughs and had him dubbed the “new ice comedian” by the Victoria Daily Times. But he was never called the Praying Colonel in his lifetime. It’s not clear how Coleman came to believe that he was, although he might have been getting mixed up with someone else.

The Saskatoon Star Phoenix of Jan. 8, 1925 called Red McCusker of the Regina Capitals the Praying Colonel because he “had a busy evening on his knees,” but I can’t find any other examples.

Former NHL referee and longtime Kingston Whig-Standard sports editor and columnist Mike Rodden claimed Ottawa and Montreal goaltender Clint Benedict was called the Praying Colonel, but I can find no mentions of it during Benedict’s career, which stretched from 1909 to 1931.

Rodden first wrote in the Whig-Standard on Jan. 2, 1946: “The only known way to stop one of [Babe Dye’s] drives was to stand erect and pray for luck. In fact it has been reported that this was one of the reasons that Clint Benedict … became known as the ‘Praying Colonel.’”

Twenty-five years later, Rodden mentioned the nickname again, twice in just over three months. On Jan. 19, 1971, he wrote: “Factually, it was owing to the inventiveness of Clint Benedict, who was known as the ‘Praying Colonel,’ that the rule permitting netmen to fall on the puck was introduced.” And then on April 21, 1971: “In dire emergencies — which were few — [Benedict] fell to his knees and thus became known as the ‘Praying Colonel.’”

If not a praying colonel, how about a praying mantis? Ray Collett wrote in the Edmonton Bulletin of Nov. 27, 1935 that Montreal’s Lorne Chabot was “on his knees as often as a praying mantis when attackers are swarming in.” But it was just a one-off description.

Master of Repertoire

This nickname didn’t gain traction, but upon Lester’s retirement as New York Rangers general manager, the Ottawa Citizen of Feb. 26, 1946 said: “Sports writers now hasten to pay tribute to Lester Patrick, known as the ‘Grey Eagle,’ ‘Mr. Hockey’ and the ‘Master of Repertoire.’” I can’t find any other Master of Repertoire mentions.

The John McGraw of Hockey

Another nickname that didn’t really catch on, but it was applied to both Frank and Lester Patrick and seemed to capture their essence, since McGraw, the longtime manager of the New York Giants, was regarded as one of baseball’s best minds.

Frank was called “the John McGraw of hockey” in The Vancouver Sun of May 15, 1926 and Lester in the same paper on March 21, 1927, in an item attributed to John Kiernan of the New York Times, although I can’t find the original. Further references to Lester by that nickname appeared in 1928, 1929, and 1936.  

However, several others were also given the title, among them Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets coach Dick Carroll (Pittsburgh Post, Dec. 14, 1924); New York Americans coach Tommy Gorman (Ottawa Journal, Dec. 8, 1925); former Vancouver Millionaire Alf Skinner (Waterloo Region Record, Feb. 3, 1931); and upon his death, longtime Detroit Red Wings executive Jack Adams (a Canadian Press story appearing in many newspapers in early May 1968).

The Judge Landis of Hockey

In addition to sharing the title of the John McGraw of Hockey with his brother, Frank Patrick had at least one other nickname, also borrowed from baseball.

A.P. Garvey wrote in the Vancouver Province, Oct. 21, 1921: “While eastern writers are speculating on the appointment of a commissioner who will become the Judge Landis of hockey, it is a pretty safe bet that when the selection is finally made that Frank Patrick … will be found filling the office.”

Kenesaw Mountain Landis (pictured), an American federal judge, was appointed the first commissioner of baseball in 1920 and ruled the game for nearly 25 years. (The real Judge Landis was supposed to see his first hockey game on Feb. 2, 1924 in Montreal, between the Canadiens and Ottawa Senators, but I’m not sure what he thought of it.)  

A few other references to Frank Patrick as the presumptive Judge Landis of hockey pop up in November 1921, but he didn’t get the job, for in January 1922, Stanley Cup trustee William Foran of Ottawa was named arbitrator between the PCHA and eastern leagues.

A final mention of Frank Patrick in this context appeared in The Vancouver Sun on May 15, 1926: “[T]he NHL magnates … wouldn’t be making any mistake if they elected him the Judge Landis of hockey, the game’s high commissioner.”

Frank did serve as the NHL’s managing director and chief disciplinarian, but not until 1933. He resigned after one season to become coach of the Boston Bruins. Historian J. Andrew Ross suggests in Joining the Clubs: The Business of the National Hockey League to 1945 that Frank was prompted to quit when it became apparent he wouldn’t be taking over from Frank Calder as league president anytime soon. (When Calder died in 1943, Lester was pressured to assume the role, but declined.)

In 1948, Windsor Star columnist Doug Vaughan said Clarence Campbell, by then NHL president, was well on his way to becoming the Judge Landis of hockey.

John McGovern was also said to have been the Judge Landis of hockey when he was made the arbiter of disputes for the United States Amateur Hockey Association in 1925.

Grand Old Man of Hockey

There were lots of candidates for this title. So many, in fact, that I’m only going to list a few. A letter in the Moncton Times-Transcript of Oct. 16, 1914 said it was Joe Crockett, a Maritime hockey legend.

The Winnipeg Tribune of Dec. 11, 1915 gave the title to Jack Marshall of the Montreal Wanderers, among other teams. The San Francisco Bulletin of Nov. 10, 1917 said it was Ernie Garon, a defenceman for many Montreal and New York clubs.

The Vancouver Province of Dec. 22, 1917, Toronto Star of July 11, 1920, and Montreal Star of July 12, 1920 all said it was Cyclone Taylor. But the Toronto Star of Dec. 7, 1918 said it was John Ross Robertson, honorary president of the Ontario Hockey Association.

According to the Saskatoon Daily Star of Feb. 8 and Sept. 17, 1921 and the Minneapolis Star of Oct. 13, 1928, it was Rusty Crawford, who played for many teams including Ottawa, Quebec, and Saskatoon. The Edmonton Journal of Jan. 11, 1922 and Toronto Star of Nov. 3, 1922 preferred Newsy Lalonde. To the Sault Star of July 28, 1922 it was Didier Pitre.

The first sign I can find of Lester Patrick being called “the Grand Old Man of Hockey” was in the Brooklyn Eagle of Feb. 1, 1928. Ed Baker, sports editor of the Ottawa Citizen, said on April 9, 1928 that “All the contenders for the ‘Grand Old Man’ championship in hockey were put in the shade” when Lester played in his famous game in net for the New York Rangers during the Stanley Cup final.”

But he did not have exclusive lock on it thereafter, as we see Bill Cook called the “Grand Old Man of Pro Hockey,” in an Associated Press dispatch published on Jan. 24, 1935. Bill Fitsell also wrote a book called James T. Sutherland: The Grand Old Man of Hockey. Sutherland was a player, coach, referee, and administrator in Ontario who helped found the Memorial Cup.

The Father of Hockey in Victoria

Victoria Daily Times, Oct. 28, 1926: “[Lester] was the father of hockey in Victoria …”

The Father of Professional Hockey in the West

Detroit Free Press, Dec. 4, 1926: “Lester Patrick, one of the fathers of professional hockey in the west …”

The Father of Modern Ice Hockey

This appeared as a two-line squib in many newspapers between Feb. 3 and Sept. 27, 1927: “Frank Patrick is recognized as the father of modern ice hockey.”

It also appeared in an incredibly long headline in The Vancouver Sun of May 15, 1933: “‘Father of modern hockey’ finds his genius at last recognized by millionaire eastern club owners who seek uniformity in code and amiability in operations.” The story said “That is part of the undertaking mutually agreed upon by the club-owning governors and the ‘Father of Modern Hockey’ …”

A Canadian Press story published April 23, 1958 said: “A testimonial dinner for Frank Patrick, one of the fathers of modern hockey, has been postponed …”

“The father of modern hockey” also appeared as a subheadline in a column Dink Carroll wrote in the Montreal Gazette of June 28, 1950, and it was brought out again for a column by Vern DeGeer published in the Montreal Gazette on July 1, 1960, upon Frank’s death.

The Father of Ice Hockey in Southern California

Los Angeles Times, Jan. 11, 1927, in a report on a California league game between Globe Ice Cream and Richfield: “Frank Patrick, called the father of ice hockey in Southern California, refereed the game.”

The Father of Ice Hockey on the West Coast

The Oregonian, Jan. 30, 1928: “Frank Patrick of Vancouver, father of ice hockey on the west coast, will have much to do with the league …”

The Father of Hockey in the United States

The Oregonian, Jun 14, 1937: “Frank Patrick comes pretty near being the father of ice hockey in the United States.”

Les Patrick

It sounds weird today, but Lester was sometimes called “Les Patrick” in the press. The first reference on newspapers.com is from 1907. A search on the same website for “Lester Patrick” plus “hockey” produces 95,793 matches, while a search for “Les Patrick” plus “hockey” produces 9,260. So “Lester” was still more than 10 times as common. 

A Google Ngram chart suggests “Les Patrick” use peaked in 1939-40, during the last season the New York Rangers won the Stanley Cup under his watch, although “Lester Patrick” was still used more than five times as often.

Lestergrams

This one is cute. Lester sent a series of messages to the Victoria Daily Times in February 1923 from Saskatchewan and Alberta while the Cougars were on a road trip, describing his feelings about each game. The newspaper called these messages “Lestergrams” (a play on telegram or lettergram). Eight were published over the space of nine days.

The term was resurrected once more on April 5, 1928, when Lester sent a Lestergram to the Times sports editor from Montreal, where his New York Rangers were about to open the Stanley Cup final. Coincidentally, this was two days before Lester appeared unexpectedly in goal for the Rangers, sealing his legend for all time.

Victoria Daily Times, Feb. 21, 1923

Updated on Feb. 14, 2025 to add the bit about George Daley possibly naming the New York Rangers.