Bobby Hull (left) and Jack "Tex" Evans
April 16, 1961: The NHL season comes to an end, as the Chicago Black Hawks beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-1 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit, in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals.
The Hawks were loaded. Glenn Hall was in the middle of a streak of 502 consecutive games played, still a record for a goaltender. The defense had Al Arbour, Pierre Pilote, Elmer "Moose" Vasko, Jack "Tex" Evans, and former Montreal Canadiens Cup-winner Dollard St. Laurent.
The Hawks had the man who was on his way to becoming the game's leading sniper, Bobby Hull, whose hair -- still real, not yet long and flowing, and not yet receding before becoming covered by hockey's most famous hairpiece -- and speed earned him the nickname "The Golden Jet." At this point, he was wearing uniform Number 16. The next season, he switched to 7. In 1963, as befitting his offensive prowess, he adopted the Number 9, which would eventually be retired for him.
The Chicago attack also included the speedy "Scooter Line": Stan Mikita, Ken Wharram and Alvin "Ab" McDonald. Also among the forwards were team captain Ed Litzenberger, Tod Sloan, Bill Hay, Reg Fleming and Murray Balfour.
Coached by Rudy Pilous, the Hawks finished 3rd in the 6-team NHL, and ended the 5-year Cup run of the Canadiens in the Semifinals, to earn their 1st Finals berth since 1944. They would face the Detroit Red Wings, the team already regarded as their arch-rivals.
The home team won each of the 1st 5 games: At the Chicago Stadium, the Hawks won Game 1, 3-2; Game 3, 3-1; and Game 5, 6-3; while, at the Olympia, the Wings won Game 2, 3-1; and Game 4, 2-1. But the Hawks broke the pattern in Game 6: The Wings led 1-0 after the 1st period, but Fleming and McDonald scored in the 2nd. Nesterenko put the game away a minute into the 3rd, followed by goals by Evans and Wharram. The Hawks won, 6-1.
Pilous, Hall, Hull, Mikita and Pilote would be elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame. So would Arbour, although that was due to his later accomplishments as head coach of the New York Islanders.
It was the Hawks' 1st Cup win since 1938. It would take until 2010 for them to win another. Losing Litzenberger and Sloan in an off-season trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs cost them. They lost in the Finals in 1962, 1965, 1971 and 1973 -- the last of these in part because Hull had feuded with Hawks management, and gone to the World Hockey Association.
They reached the Finals in 1992, and the Conference Finals in 1995, then went into a tailspin. It was only with the 2007 death of owner Bill Wirtz that his son, Rocky Wirtz, totally revamped the franchise, and led them to Cup wins in 2010, 2013 and 2015.
In 2001, in celebration of their 75th Anniversary, the Blackhawks named an All-Time Team. From the 1961 Cup winners, Bobby Hull, Glenn Hall, Pierre Pilote and Stan Mikita were selected. They, owner Art Wirtz, head coach Rudy Pilous, head coach Tommy Ivan, and defenseman Al Arbour were elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame. It should be noted that, while Arbour was an All-Star for the Hawks, he was elected for what he did as head coach of the New York Islanders in the 1980s.
From the 1971 and 1973 Stanley Cup Finalists, but not the '61 Cup winners, Tony Esposito, Keith Magnuson, and Dennis Hull, Bobby's brother, a.k.a. the Silver Jet, were selected for the 75th Anniversary Team.
From between the 1973 and 1992 Finalists, Denis Savard, Doug Wilson, Pat Stapleton, Bill White and Al Secord were chosen. From the 1992 Finalists, fans chose Ed Belfour, Chris Chelios, Jeremy Roenick and Steve Larmer. And they chose one player then with the team, Tony Amonte.
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April 16, 1961 was a Friday. Football was out of season. The NBA season had ended 6 days before, as the Boston Celtics beat the St. Louis Hawks, 121-112 at the Boston Garden, to take the Finals in 5 games.
And these baseball games were played:
* The Minnesota Twins swept a doubleheader from the Baltimore Orioles, 10-5 and 6-4 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. They did this without Harmon Killebrew playing in either game. Bob Allison hit 2 home runs in the opener. Zoilo Versalles won the nightcap with a home run in the top of the 11th inning. Over the 2 games, Brooks Robinson went 1-for-9 with an RBI.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Washington Senators, 3-2 at Griffith Stadium in Washington.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-3 at Busch Stadium (formerly Sportsman's Park) in St. Louis. Stan Musial went 0-for-2 with a walk, and had an RBI on a sacrifice fly. Frank Robinson went 0-for-4.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 13-6 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Tommy Davis, Wally Moon and Norm Sherry hit home runs. Duke Snider went 1-for-4 with a walk and an RBI, and Gil Hodges got a hit as a pinch-hitter. Roberto Clemente went 0-for-5.
* The San Francisco Giants beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-2 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Willie Mays went 1-for-3 with a walk.
* The New York Yankees and the Kansas City Athletics were rained out at Yankee Stadium. The game was made up the next day. The Yankees won, 3-0. Whitey Ford pitched a 3-hit shutout. Mickey Mantle went 3-for-3 with a home run, a walk, and 3 RBIs. It was his 1st homer of the season. He ended up with 54. Roger Maris went 0-for-3 with a walk against his former team. He would not hit his 1st home run until April 26. He ended up with 61.
* The Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Angels were rained out at Fenway Park in Boston. The game was made up the next day. The Sox won, 3-2. Carl Yastrzemski, in only his 3rd major league game, went 0-for-4.
* The Chicago White Sox and the Detroit Tigers were postponed due to cold weather at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on June 27. The ChiSox swept, 6-5 and 11-1. Al Kaline went 2-for-5 in the 1st game, but 0-for-4 in the 2nd game.
* And the Chicago Cubs and the Milwaukee Braves, at Wrigley Field in Chicago, were also postponed due to cold weather. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on August 2. The Braves won the 1st game, 4-2. The 2nd game went was tied 7-7 after 11 innings, when, at the last MLB stadium without lights, the umpires called the game due to darkness.
Over the 2 games, Hank Aaron went 1-for-8 with a home and a walk, and Ernie Banks went 1-for-10 with 2 RBIs, but each man's lone hit in the twinbill was a home run in the 2nd game. Aaron's was a grand slam. Billy Williams (twice), the Braves' Frank Thomas and the Cubs' Jack Curtis also homered in the 2nd game, while Williams and Ron Santo homered in the 1st game.
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