This Day in Hockey History – August 11, 1914 – The Rise of Rudy

Aug 11, 2019

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Rudolf Pilous was born in Rosser, a municipality of Winnipeg Centre, Manitoba on August 11, 1914, the son of immigrant parents Anton Pilous and Theresa Tropp, who had arrived in Canada in 1903. Rudy’s father was a carpenter, making a living for his wife and six children.

Like most Canadian boys, Rudy was a hockey player, playing his own junior ice hockey in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League. Briefly a New York Rangers prospect, he never made it to the NHL. During the 1937-38 season he suited up with the minor league New York Rovers of the Eastern Hockey League and then spent the next three seasons playing senior hockey in the Ontario Hockey Association Senior division.

By 1943, Pilous turned his attention to an involvement in hockey off the ice, co-founding the St. Catherines Falcons—a junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey Association. He would return to St. Catherines more than once and for the final time in his waning years to coach the St. Catherines Saints from 1983 to 1986. During the interim 40 years, Pilous wore many hats in many leagues.

While scouting for the Buffalo Bisons of the American Hockey League, he spent a couple of years with the United States Hockey League (a reincarnation of the American Hockey Association which folded in 1942) and saw his team in Houston take home the championship in 1948. From there he spent a bit of time in the Pacific Coast Hockey League, where once again his team—the San Diego Skyhawks—won their championship in 1949. He then signed on as the coach of the USHL’s Louisville

“The man probably most eager for the start of Louisville’s hockey season arrived here yesterday [August 11, 1949]. Rudy Pilous, the Blades new coach, had two reasons for celebrating: he became 35 years old and he was coach of a team before the season started. The Winnipeg, Manitoba, native has directed two Pacific Coast League teams to playoff championships after accepting the reins in mid-season. In both cases, Pilous’ charges were mired in the second division when he took over. Now he has an opportunity to see what he can accomplish with a complete season at his disposal,” reported The Courier-Journal on August 12, 1949.

After the collapse of the PCHL, Poulis returned to St. Catherine’s where he took his place behind the bench of the St. Catherines TeePees (the new name of the junior team he helped found) helping them to a Memorial Cup in 1954. He was general manager of the team when they again won the Memorial Cup in 1960.

And while Pilous couldn’t make it to the NHL as a player, he would spend five years coaching the Chicago Black Hawks, earning himself a place on the Stanley Cup, and in Hawks history, as he coached the Black Hawks to their Stanley Cup victory in 1961. With their win in six games against the Detroit Red Wings, Chicago reclaimed the silver chalice for the first time in 23 years.

From Chicago, Pilous headed to Denver where he coached the Denver Invaders to the Western Hockey League’s Governor’s Trophy in 1964. In 1967, he was hired as general manager of the NHL expansion Oakland Seals, though his time was short with them, before returning to the WHL where he joined the staff of the Denver Spurs.

Pilous wasn’t done finding teams to mold, coaching the Brandon Wheat Kings before ultimately coaching the World Hockey Association’s Winnipeg Jets. After becoming the Jets general manager, he helped lead them to claim the Avco World Trophy in 1976, 1978, and 1979.

Having taken so many teams in so many leagues all the way to their league championships, it was not surprising that Pilous was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1985 under the builder category.

While in Louisville in 1949, reporter Dave Kennedy, rather prophetically, wrote, “Should Rudy Pilous ever decide to quit the hockey business, which isn’t likely before 1994, there are two other professions in which he undoubtedly could succeed. They are politics and the theater. The Blades’ coach has done a little bit of everything in hockey. He’s been Buffalo’s main trouble shooter and chief scout, has ‘handled’ training camps, coached, written publicity, acted as trainer, officiated and sharpened skates.”

Though Pilous officially retired from coaching in 1986, he retired from life in 1994, at the age of 80, on December 6th.

“A good friend died Tuesday, and my paper mentioned it almost in passing. I’m upset,” wrote Ernie Fedoruk, columnist for the Times Colonist. “Not because my friend deserved special treatment, but because Rudy Pilous is one of the greatest ambassadors ever to serve hockey. He always has been Mr. Hockey in St. Catharines, is revered in Chicago as the last one to pilot a Stanely Cup winner there, has his rightful place in the Hall of Fame, and was Winnipeg’s choice when that city joined the majors with the Jets of the old World Hockey Association. Pilon served hockey well, wherever he went, but no one could top him as an after-dinner speaker. Winnipeg-reared, he was a master of many dialects. He was funny and spontaneous.”

It would take the Blackhawks another 39 years after their win in 1961 to reclaim the Stanley Cup. Of course, then then went on to win it three times in the space of six years: 2010, 2013, and 2015.

Additional Sources:

“Toe Blake Will Coach Houston,” The Windsor Star (Windsor, Ontario), Monday, Feb. 2, 1948, p. 5
“Pilous To Pilot Louisville Team,” Edmonton Journal (Edmonton, Alberta), July 25, 1949, p. 10
Dave Kennedy, “Enthused Pilous Ready for Season, Blades’ New Coach to Pilot Ice Team First Time from Scratch,” The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky), Friday, August 12, 1949, p. 18.
Dave Kennedy, “Rudy Pilous, the mentor of Louisville’s new hockey team, knows his way around in the various phases of the sport,” The Courier-Journal Magazine (Louisville, Kentucky), Sunday, October 23, 1949, p. 19.
Ernie Fedoruk, “Rudy Pilous dealt hockey fans winners along with laughs,” Times Colonist (Victoria, British Columbia), Thursday, December 8, 1994, p. B5.
Library and Archives Canada. Sixth Census of Canada, 1921. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Library and Archives Canada, 2013. Series RG31. Statistics Canada Fonds, Folder 30, p. 5, as found on Ancestry.com.