William Heindl Sr. (May 16, 1922 – April 13, 1979) was a Canadian

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

and

gridiron football Gridiron football,"Gridiron football"
''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Ret ...

player. As a hockey

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the la ...

from 1940 to 1957, he played on two

Memorial Cup The Memorial Cup () is the national championship of the Canadian Hockey League, a consortium of three major junior ice hockey leagues operating in Canada and parts of the United States. It is a four-team round-robin tournament played between t ...

championship teams in 1941 and 1942. In football, he played for the Vancouver Grizzlies (football), Vancouver Grizzlies in 1941 and the

Winnipeg Blue Bombers The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West division. They play their home games at IG Fiel ...

in 1942.

Early years

Heindl was born in 1922 at

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

, Manitoba. He grew up in Winnipeg and attended St. Paul's College High School and St. Paul's College.

Junior hockey and gridiron football

Heindl played junior hockey for the Winnipeg Rangers during the 1940-41 season during which the club won the

1941 Memorial Cup The 1941 Memorial Cup final was the 23rd junior ice hockey championship of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA). The George Richardson Memorial Trophy champions Montreal Royals of the Quebec Junior Hockey League in Eastern Canada co ...

. He also played for the

Portage Terriers The Portage Terriers are a Canadian junior "A" ice hockey team from Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, Canada. They are members of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League, a part of the Canadian Junior Hockey League. History The Portage Terriers were fou ...

during the 1941-42 season during which that club also won the

1942 Memorial Cup The 1942 Memorial Cup final was the 24th junior ice hockey championship of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA). The George Richardson Memorial Trophy champions Oshawa Generals of the Ontario Hockey Association in Eastern Canada competed ...

. ''The Winnipeg Tribune'' called him "the best man on the ice" in Portage's championship game and the team's "inspirational force." In postseason voting, he tied with Gord Bell as most valuable player of the 1941-42 Portage Terriers. ''The Winnipeg Tribune'' described his unusual checking technique as follows:

Willie is the No. 1 man on the Terrier backline . . . There has been a lot of discussion about the way Heindl takes out incoming forwards. His bodychecking has the tinge of a football block to it. He takes a man out of the play with the side of his body. Football men call it a straight cross-body block. Nobody seems to know whether it is legal or not on skates.

Heindl also played

gridiron football Gridiron football,"Gridiron football"
''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Ret ...

at St. Paul's College. In the summer of 1941,

Greg Kabat Gregory Stanley Kabat (May 21, 1911 – January 12, 1994) was an American gridiron football player and coach. He played Canadian football professionally as a running back for eight seasons with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football Le ...

, star player for the

, took the 19-year-old Heindl with him to play for the newly-formed Vancouver Grizzlies (football), Vancouver Grizzlies of the

Western Interprovincial Football Union The West Division is one of the two regional divisions of the Canadian Football League (CFL), its counterpart being the East Division. Although the CFL was not founded until 1958, the West Division and its clubs are descended from earlier leagu ...

, forerunner of the Canadian Football League West Division. Heindl played at the halfback position for the Grizzlies during the 1941 season. He threw a pass to Kabat for Vancouver's second touchdown of the 1941 season, described by ''The Vancouver Sun'' as follows:

Fifty yards in four plays carried the Grizzlies to their first score. Bill Heindl, who played a sweet chucking and plunging game in the backfield all night, heaved a long 25-yard forward to Gilkes, who scampered a few feet with it. Then Heindl grabbed a couple of yards on plunges, finally heaving to Kabat just over the Winnipeg goal line.

In September 1942, Heindl joined the

as a fullback.

Military service and post-war hockey career

Heindl's athletic career was interrupted by service in the

Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; french: Marine royale canadienne, ''MRC'') is the Navy, naval force of Canada. The RCN is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2021, the RCN operates 12 frigates, four attack s ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. After the war, Heindl played hockey for the

Ottawa Senators The Ottawa Senators (french: Sénateurs d'Ottawa), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a membe ...

(1945-1946), Sherbrooke St. Francis (1946-1949), Sherbrooke Saints (1949-1950), and

Saskatoon Quakers The Saskatoon Quakers were an ice hockey team that was based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. The team played in various senior ice hockey leagues, and later played in minor league professional hockey. The Quakers represented Canada in 1934 Worl ...

(1950-1954). In 1950, he jumped from Sherbrooke of the

Quebec Senior Hockey League The Quebec Senior Hockey League (QSHL) was an ice hockey league that operated from 1941 to 1959 , based in Quebec, Canada. The league played senior ice hockey under the jurisdiction of the Quebec Amateur Hockey Association until 1953, when it became ...

(QSHL) to Saskatoon of the

Western Canada Senior Hockey League The Western Canada Senior Hockey League was a senior ice hockey league that played six seasons in Alberta and Saskatchewan, from 1945 to 1951. The league produced the 1946 Allan Cup and the 1948 Allan Cup champions, and merged into the Pacific Coas ...

. The Sherbrooke club protested to the

Canadian Amateur Hockey Association The Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA; french: Association canadienne de hockey amateur) was the national governing body of amateur ice hockey in Canada from 1914 until 1994, when it merged with Hockey Canada. Its jurisdiction include ...

(CAHA). Sherbrooke relied on a prior ruling that players were not permitted to transfer without the consent of the prior team. The CAHA initially suspended Heindl, but Heindl appealed, and the full CAHA board of governors awarded Heindl to Saskatoon. In response to the ruling, the Sherbrooke club recommended that the QSHL withdraw from the CAHA. Heindl also served for five months as the coach of the

Trail Smoke Eaters The Trail Smoke Eaters are a junior A ice hockey team from Trail, British Columbia, Canada. They are a part of the British Columbia Hockey League. History The Smoke Eaters (aka ''Smokies'') have existed as both junior and senior teams since th ...

hockey club from February through June 1955.

Later years

Starting in 1954, Heindl was employed in the planning and designing department of the Manitoba Highways Department in Winnipeg. He died in 1979 at age 56 at the Grace Hospital in Winnipeg. Heindl and his wife, Lillian, had three sons. His son, Bill Heindl Jr., played 18 games in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

in the early 1970s.

Awards and achievements

* Turnbull Cup

MJHL The Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL) is a Junior 'A' ice hockey league operating in the Canadian province of Manitoba and one of nine member leagues of the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL). The MJHL consists of thirteen teams all based ...

Championship (1941 & 1942) *

QSHL The Quebec Senior Hockey League (QSHL) was an ice hockey league that operated from 1941 to 1959 , based in Quebec, Canada. The league played senior ice hockey under the jurisdiction of the Quebec Amateur Hockey Association until 1953, when it became ...

Second All-Star Team (1950) * WCSHL First All-Star Team (1951) * Honoured Member of the

Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame The Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame and Museum is a hall of fame and museum for ice hockey in Manitoba, located on the main level of the Canada Life Centre in downtown Winnipeg. It was established in 1985, when the first honoured members were named an ...

In 2004, Heindl was posthumously inducted into the

Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame The Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and Museum is a Canadian museum in Winnipeg, Manitoba, dedicated to honoring the history and achievements of sports in Manitoba. The organization began in 1980, and then opened a museum in The Forks in 1993. Afte ...

for his contributions as an all-around athlete.

References

External links

*
Bill Heindl Sr.'s biography
a

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heindl, Bill Sr. 1922 births 1979 deaths Canadian ice hockey defencemen Portage Terriers players Ice hockey people from Winnipeg Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame inductees