Quick now, hockey fans, what do George Lewis Rickard, Madison Square Garden, and the New York Rangers ice hockey team have in common?
I was looking for a current sports column idea recently, and I came across several pieces of information that, put together, create an interesting and very timely “behind the headlines” story about the New York Rangers, who are playing in the 2014 Stanley Cup finals of the National Hockey League.
Some of you out there probably remember “Tex” Rickard as an adventurer, mercenary, gold rush tycoon, gambler, and casino owner, and prizefighting promoter. He gained fame and wealth by promoting the epic “Great White Hope” fight between Jim Jeffries and Jack Johnson in 1910, later made a boxing legend out of Jack Dempsey, and commercialized, and legitimized, the sport of boxing.
But did you know that Rickard also founded the Rangers, helped in the early development of the National Hockey League, and “rebuilt” Madison Square Garden in New York City?
In 1916, Rickard was a widely known and popular boxing promoter. But he needed his own venue, an arena, in which he could consistently stage sports and entertainment events. He found it at Madison Square Garden, which was then located at Madison Square in Manhatten. He leased the facility from the New York Life Insurance Company, which controlled it at the time. He began staging boxing matches there and eventually staged so many of them that the phrase “Friday Night Fights” was created by the press.
But soon came trouble. New York Life decided to demolish the Garden in 1924. Rickard promptly rounded up a syndicate, raised $5 million, and built a new arena at Eighth Avenue and 50th Street. It quickly became known as “The House that Tex Built, or Rebuilt.” and was officially recognized as Madison Square Garden. According to sports historian Brad Herzog, it was actually Madison Square Garden III, being the third such facility since it was first raised in 1874.
Now, Rickard, with the new title of President of MSG, discovered the entertainment and financial potential of an ice rink. He built one in his new Garden and founded his own hockey team, which he called “Tex’s Rangers.” These activities brought him to the attention of the National Hockey League, which in the early 1920s was expanding the first professional hockey league in North America – the National Hockey League. In 1926, Rickard, now controlling one of the best and most popular sports venues in the nation, was awarded one of the first six expansion franchises by the NHL. Fittingly, it was known as the New York Rangers, a name that remains prominent in the 30-team NHL today.
The other members of the “original six” of the NHL are the Chicago Blackhawks, Boston Bruins, Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Detroit Red Wings.
The NHL was the first professional sports organization in America to stage a multi-team tournament to determine its annual champion.
The Rangers, in only their second year of existence in 1928, became the first American-based pro hockey team to win the Stanley Cup, known as the Holy Grail of hockey. They have won three more Cups since, and are trying for their fifth one this month. Rickard also is credited with playing a role in creating the diagonal “Rangers” lettering on the hockey jerseys that remains the distinctive Rangers logo to this day. The Rangers, who have always featured red, white, and blue uniforms, also were dubbed “Broadway Blueshirts” because their venue was so close to one of the nation’s most famous thoroughfares.
Madison Square Garden IV was rebuilt above Penn Station in New York City in the late 1960s, and today it is a household word in sports and entertainment circles. Rickard never lived to see his arena and hockey flourish completely, however. He died in January, 1929, a few days after his 59th birthday, of complications from an appendicitis attack. His body was brought back to the Garden, and thousands paid their respects.
Tex Rickard spread his legacy into three cultures – boxing, big-time entertainment, and pro hockey.
