Part IX of A History of the Green Bay Bobcats

On Dec. 6, 1958, 24-year-old John Mayasich, player-coach of the St. Paul Capitols, flew in to Green Bay to help the Green Bay Bobcats in their weekend series against the United States Nationals. Not wanting to be embarrassed in the series against the U.S. team, Bobcats general manager Jim Gallagher and coach Tony Bukovich worked the phones and brought in Mayasich along with four Canadian players—Fred Perlini, Carmen Scarfone, Bernie Cano and Phil Ferroni—to help the Bobcats against the better-conditioned and more talented U.S. team. Thanks in part to two, late-week articles by Green Bay Press-Gazette sportswriter Lee Remmel, the weekend series attracted nearly 5,000 fans to Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena—the fledgling team’s first big-gate weekend. The Bobcats got beat twice during the Saturday night-Sunday afternoon matches (7-2, 11-7), but Green Bay got its first look at the player who would become the face of the team in the 1960s, and the team's megastar: John Mayasich.

Writing about the two-game U.S. sweep in the Monday, Dec. 8 edition of the Press-Gazette, Remmel beautifully captured what young Mayasich was on that weekend in Green Bay, calling him “a stickout on a rink swarming with stars.” And Remmel tagged Mayasich with what would become Remmel’s soon-to-be-common print introduction: “the nation’s No. 1 American-born player.”

Mayasich was all of that, and more. It was not only Mayasich’s play that made him shine, but as the years rolled on in Green Bay, he became known to his teammates and the Green Bay community as a leader who was an appealing blend of breathtaking talent wrapped in a veneer of unpretentious humility. He was a leader in every way someone can be. In one Green Bay Press-Gazette picture of Mayasich in the 1960s, the photo showed Mayasich bringing the puck up the ice and the chosen cutline (the words a Press-Gazette copywriter selected to describe the picture) tagged him as “General John.” After that picture appeared, my brothers and I began to refer to Mayasich as General John when we talked about the Bobcats, or pretended to be him during road hockey games or at the Fisk or Colburn Park rinks. General John. He was that, completely. It’s my hope that as this History of the Green Bay Bobcats unfolds in the coming months, you’ll discover what his teammates and friends grew to know and appreciate about the young man who first learned the game as a skinny kid in Eveleth, Minnesota.

The story (and Mayasich file sidebar) which follows appeared in the Feb. 14, 1995 of The Free Press of Mankato, Minnesota. At the time, I was employed at The Free Press as a sportswriter and columnist. Mayasich and Herb Brooks came to Mankato on Feb. 3, 1995 to drop the first puck in the inaugural hockey game played in the Mankato Civic Center featuring Mankato State University, as it was then known, and the University of Alabama – Huntsville.

Mayasich and Brooks as they appeared on Feb. 3, 1995 in Mankato Minnesota. Photo by Mankato Free Press photographer John Cross.

HEADLINE: Mayasich is Minnesota’s Hockey Star of the North

He dropped the first puck before the first game in the Mankato Civic Center on Feb. 3. During his remarkable career, he was America’s first and finest hockey player.

John Mayasich was impressed by Mankato’s $22 million jewel.

“This has to be one of the top three facilities in the state,” he said. “I’m embarrassed to I haven’t seen the (National Ice Center) in St. Cloud, both those who have seen both say this is probably is the better facility of the two, especially from a spectator’s perspective.”

When Mayasich was growing up in the northern Minnesota town of Eveleth, buildings like Mankato’s were beyond dreams.

Born in 1933, John and his twin brother were cabooses of a dozen-child train engineered by Frank and Mary Mayasich. Frank was a Croatian immigrant who worked the mines beneath Eveleth. Mary ran the family’s house on Summit Street.

Both came to America in 1914.

Everyone, kids included, worked hard to carve a life in post-Depression Minnesota. But sometime in the 1930s, John picked up a hockey stick—or what passed for it—and began to play.

“Just sticks and a piece of coal, a chunk of ice or if somebody had a puck,” Mayasich said. “We spent a lot of hours fooling around like that.”

A couple of winters of boot hockey sufficed until Mayasich got his first pair of real skates. There were made for girls, but they worked.

During his career, Mayasich wrapped the blade of his hockey stick with white tape. Today, most players still prefer black tape. Mayasich’s fondness for white tape had mischievous origins.

“We had a big kitchen with a linoleum floor,” Mayasich said. When my parents went to bed, I fired mason jar caps through the doorway. We had black tape on our sticks and marked up the floor. We ended up scrubbing it the next night. I went to white tape after that.”

Eveleth didn’t have much-organized hockey. The kids ran the show.

“It was choosing sides at the outdoor rink,” Mayasich said. “It was close enough so I can just skate from the house up through the alley and up to the rink.”

Every Eveleth neighborhood had a rink. The Summit Street rink had a warming shack, a floodlight and a slick surface.

“The ice was always great,” Mayasich said. “We didn’t have boards, which was the reason we did a lot of stickhandling. There wasn’t any raising of the puck because you’d spend most of the time looking for it in the snow.”

Mayasich and his friends played cadet and midget hockey at the Eveleth Hippodrome on Saturdays. Everything else was outside.

Photo: Mayasich (center) at age 13 on Eveleth's JV hockey team.

HIGH SCHOOL DAYS

Eveleth was fairly prosperous before World War II. The mining boom let the town’s school system build first-rate swimming pools for each sex. The football field was the star of the north.

“You couldn’t get better facilities,” Mayasich said. “It probably resembled more of a small college environment than a high school. The tax dollars provide us with more than other communities in the state had.”

Mayasich played high school hockey for four years. Eveleth won every game he played in—a 79-game winning streak ended the year after Mayasich graduated—and the Golden Bears won four state championships.

A football scholarship brought Mayasich to the University of Minnesota. Iron Rangers who saw Mayasich play in high school swear he could chuck a football 75 yards in the air.

When Mayasich finished high school in 1951, he had gone to state tournaments in four sports: baseball, tennis, track and hockey. As a senior, Mayasich stood 5-foot-11 and weighed 175 pounds. How great of an athlete was he?

“He was a natural,” said Bruce Shutte, who played high school, college and semi-professional hockey with Mayasich. “John was not only a hockey player, he was a helluva good football player, pitcher for baseball and softball, excellent swimmer and tennis player.”

“The kid had everything and was a helluva good student, too.”

Said Mayasich: “I wasn’t really the fastest skater, but it’s the shiftiness and the dekes and … being able to handle the puck the head up and being able to see the ice. Those things came easy, and again I attribute it back to the time we spent at the outdoor rinks playing with and against some pretty good competition.”

“We really didn’t feel it was something special to play hockey. It was another time of the year and another sport. When we were through with football, next week we were skating. It was no big deal.”

GOLDEN BEAR TO GOLDEN GOPHER

Former NHLer Doc Romnes coached the Gophers during Mayasich’s freshman season.

“He was probably one of the best I played for as far as an offensive player,” Mayasich said. “He not only told you how to do it but showed you how to do it and worked on you. He refined the skills I had, the fine points of passing, the flip passes, backhand passes, leading the man and all of that. The great part of success I had I attribute to Doc Romnes.”

John Mariucci began coaching the Gophers during Mayasich’s sophomore season. Mariucci believed in defense and polished that part of Mayasich’s game.

Mayasich fired 144 mason jar caps past Minnesota foes in four years. He led the WCHA in scoring three times. He was unstoppable.

“They used to put guys on him like a shadow, and he’d still come up with hat tricks,” Shutte said. “His ability was so far above many players. He could score, make the plays and skate.”

Mayasich graduated from Minnesota in 1955. A year later, he helped the United States win a silver medal in the Winter Olympics at Cortina, Italy. In 1960, the medal would have a different hue.

OLYMPIC GOLD

In 1960, Mayasich was 26 years old and had matured to 6-1 and 200 pounds. He was player/coach of a semi-pro team that played in the Central Hockey League. At that time, the Central Hockey League was cradle to some of the best American senior talent.

During the winter of 1959-60, Mayasich’s team, the Green Bay Bobcats, beat three Olympic teams that were tuning up for the Games being held in Squaw Valley, Calif. The Bobcats beat the U.S. team 6-3 and followed that with wins over West Germany (8-7) and Japan (10-4).

All great players shed light on their teammates. Mayasich made the Golden Bears, Golden Gophers and Bobcats better.

“You looked up to him,” Shutte said. “When you were with him, you knew damn well he’d come through.”

The Bobcats wrapped up the Central Hockey League title in Rochester a week before the Squaw Valley games began. It was understood that Mayasich would join the U.S. team once Green Bay’s season ended.

Said Mayasich: “The season was over and it was like, ‘Well, I guess I’ll go up to Squaw Valley and have another week of hockey.’ I certainly never expected to do what we did.”

The Squaw Valley arena was unconventional.

“Overhead we were covered, but one side of the facility was open,” Mayasich said. “It was distracting. The sun would come in that side and melt the ice on that side of the rink.”

On the way to the gold-medal game, the U.S. beat Sweden, Canada and the Soviet Union. Mayasich, owner of a hard, low slapshot, blasted one on Canadian goalie Don Head. Paul Johnson buried the rebound to give the Americans a 2-1 win.

“That game was a big turning point,” Mayasich said. “It gave us incentive or confidence to continue on.”

Mayasich was one of four defensemen on the U.S. team. Coach Jack Riley told the smooth-skating Mayasich to stay home and play defense.

“We had a great goaltender in [Jack] McCarten. We figured that if we gave him help, we’d be in most of the games,” Mayasich said.

The Americans beat the Russians Saturday evening, then played the Czechoslovakians Sunday at 8 a.m. for the gold medal.

“Not too many of us slept after beating the Russians knowing one more game to go and you could have it all,” Mayasich said.

Down 5-4 to the Czechs after two periods, the Americans surged in the third and won 9-5.

The son of Crotian immigrants was asked about what he’d remember most about the 1960 Olympics.

“The strongest moment is hearing the national anthem, it sort of breaks you up,” Mayasich said, his voice wobbling in memory. “You don’t’ realize the impact. It’s probably emotionally the biggest thing that could happen to somebody.”

“We didn’t have a big celebration. We met in some little room, they handed us the medals and everybody went their own way.”

Mayasich, 61, is the president of the radio division of Hubbard Broadcasting.

More than 2,000 people, including his family, showed up at Green Bay's Austin Straubel Airfield to greet gold medalist John Mayasich when he returned from the 1960 Winter Olympic games. Mayasich stands over oldest son, Mike, who is holding the gold medal. To the left of young Mike is his sister, Cherri. His brother, Patrick, is seated on the floor. Carol Mayasich, John's wife, stands to the right of her husband.

THE MAYASICH FILE

John Mayasich’s Minnesota hockey tournament records:

Points in career: 46
Goals in career: 36
Hat tricks in career: 7
Points in tournament (three games): 18
Goals in tournament: 15
Points in game: 8
Goals in game: 7
Points in one period: 4

Mayasich led the University of Minnesota in scoring for four years—1952-55—and the WCHA in scoring from 1953-55. He totaled 298 points (144 goals, 154 assists) in 111 games. He was an All-American from 1953-55.

Mayasich performed with eight U.S. Olympic/National teams, helping the United States to a silver medal in 1956 and gold in 1960.

Mayasich concluded his hockey career as player/coach of the Green Bay Bobcats, a semi-professional team. He amassed 520 points on 206 goals and 314 assists.

Jan. 14, 2018 Author's Note: A week after this story appeared in the Mankato Free Press in 1995, I wrote a feature on a high school hockey player from Le Sueur Minnesota named John Paul (JP) Prenevost. Asked to name what era he would like to have played youth hockey in, given the power of choice, Prenevost said he wished he could have grown up on Summit Street and been boyhood friends with John Mayasich.

One of my favorite General John moments occurred at the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, California. Around 14:35 into this video, the United States takes a 3-2, third-period lead against the Soviet Union. Watch Mayasich, wearing No. 4, skate into the mass of joyous American players and refocus his team by breaking up the celebration. Mayasich seemed to be telling his teammates that nothing was won yet and there was more game to play.

PUCK PATTER

Carol Doheny Mayasich, John's wife, passed away on Oct. 14, 2009 after a long battle with PSP, a form of Parkinson's. The author remembers Carol as perpetually happy and caring.

For further reading on John Mayasich, Sports Illustrated journalist E.M. Swift capsulated Mayasich's career in a 1990s essay. Copy and paste the following link:https://www.si.com/vault/1999/12/13/8113045/the-quiet-american-john-mayasich-was-a-wizard-on-ice-but-never-got-a-shot-to-prove-it-in-the-nhl

A documentary of the 1960 U.S. Olympic hockey team came out in 2010, the 50th anniversary of the United States' 1960 gold medal win. Called "The Forgotten Miracle," the film is excellent and available here: https://www.amazon.com/Forgotten-Miracle-John-Mayasich/dp/B002ZTY7C6

Mayasich led the United States in scoring at the 1956 Olympic games in Cortina Italy. Mayasich scored six goals (including the hat trick in the 4-1 win over Canada) and added four assists as the U.S. won the silver medal. In the 1960 games, Mayasich finished second on the team in scoring with 12 points coming on seven goals and five assists, including three goals and 2 assists in his first game with the team, a qualifying win over Czechoslovakia.

Mayasich, 84, is still into winter sports, participating several times a week in a curling league in the Virginia/Eveleth area. He is the captain of his team.

My thanks to Jim Rueda, sports editor of The Free Press of Mankato for giving permission to reprint the Feb. 14, 1995 story on Mayasich.
I'm grateful for the help of Cherri Mayasich Vierthaler, John and Carol Mayasich's oldest daughter, for supplying photographs of her Dad's early and professional life.

SOURCES

The Green Bay Press-Gazette
The Free Press of Mankato, Minn.
Newspapers.com
Sports Illustrated
ABC Television
Wikepedia
The United States Hockey Hall of Fame
St. Paul Pioneer Press

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