Bill Chadwick, landmark hockey referee

Bill "The Big Whistle" Chadwick, who died Saturday at 94, was the first U.S.-born official in National Hockey League history and later a broadcaster for the New York Rangers.

His lasting impact was devising the system of hand signals to signify penalties.

"Bill Chadwick had the confidence and the creativity to introduce hand signals to officiating," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said.

Chadwick was blind in one eye. Playing at Madison Square Garden in 1935, Chadwick was struck in the right eye by an errant puck as he stepped onto the ice. He spent a week in the hospital, but doctors were unable to restore the vision in the eye.

Despite the injury, Chadwick continued to play hockey with the New York Rovers of the Eastern Hockey League. Then, early in the 1936-37 season, he was hit in his left eye by an opposing player's stick. The injury wasn't nearly as serious as the earlier one, but Chadwick knew his hockey-playing days were finished.

As a referee, Chadwick came up with the hand signals during a Stanley Cup finals because there was so much noise he had trouble talking with the penalty timekeeper.

His signals were not made official by the league until 1956, the year after he retired.

In 1964, Chadwick was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, only the fifth official, and the first American-born official, to be honored.

-- Associated Press

Photo: Bill Chadwick in 1955. Credit: Associated Press

Comments

[Adogatwn]

[This is not meant as any disrespect for Mr. Chadwick or his distinguished career.] Is it just me, or does anyone else think that a guy who was blind in one eye and had been hit by a hockey stick in the other may not have been the best candidate to become a referee?

[Keith Thursby]

Helene Elliott, The Times' hockey columnist, wrote in today's edition that Chadwick the broadcaster "made hockey come alive for a kid growing up in Brooklyn."

[Peter323]

When I started following the NHL in 1953, there were two referees who were respected above all others. They were Red Storey and Bill Chadwick. While Storey could be and was controversial, Chadwick was above all that. I remember a picture of him in the white sweater referees used to wear. His very presence on the ice commanded respect. He did just fine despite having only one good eye largely because he knew how to position himself to have the best view of play.