Dick Carroll had a nose for championships. He won two Stanley Cups, a Memorial Cup and even had success as a coach in baseball, football and boxing.
In 1914 he was the trainer of the Toronto Blueshirts (his brother Frank was the assistant trainer). The Blueshirts won the National Hockey Association championship that year and took on the Victoria Aristocrats in the final winning the Stanley Cup in three straight games. For the 1917-1918 season he was hired by the new Toronto franchise as their head coach. He marched that team (which didn’t even have a nickname) to the final where they defeated Cyclone Taylor and the Vancouver Millionaires three games to two to win the Stanley Cup.
In 1920 Carroll coached the Toronto Canoe Club to win just the second Memorial Cup ever awarded. Carroll’s team featured Lionel “The Big Train” Conacher who would be voted Canada’s top athlete of the first half of the 20 century.
The Guelph native, who lived his entire life on Metcalfe Street, had a long coaching resume with two U.S. Amateur Hockey Championships to his credit with the Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets and he even managed the Guelph Maple Leafs to the 1928 Intercounty Baseball Championship.
Carroll passed away January 20, 1952 but certainly left his mark on the hockey world at the highest levels.
Inducted into the Guelph Sports Hall of Fame – Builder category – on October 26, 2011
