Robert John "Golden Boy" Goldham (May 12, 1922 – September 6, 1991) 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 ...

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 ...

and broadcaster. He played two seasons for the Toronto Marlboros earning the name "Golden Boy". He was later called the "Second Goalie" because his fearless skills blocking the puck.

Playing career

Goldham started his

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 ...

career with the

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...

1941 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January–August – 10,072 men, women and children with mental and physical disabilities are asphyxiated with carbon monoxide in a gas chamber, at Hadamar Eu ...

after playing for the Hershey Bears in the AHL. He would return to the AHL after the 1942 Stanley Cup win to play on the AHL 2nd All–Star Team. Goldham served in the Royal Canadian Navy from 1942 through 1945. After the Second World War he returned to the Toronto Maple Leafs until 1947 when he was traded with four other Leafs to the Chicago Black Hawks for

Max Bentley Maxwell Herbert Lloyd Bentley (March 1, 1920 – January 19, 1984) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who played for the Chicago Black Hawks, Toronto Maple Leafs, and New York Rangers in the National Hockey League (NHL) as part of a pr ...

and

Cy Thomas Cyril James Thomas (August 5, 1926 — January 2, 2009) was a Welsh-born Canadian professional ice hockey player who played 14 games in the National Hockey League with the Chicago Black Hawks and Toronto Maple Leafs during the 1947–48 season. T ...

. In 1950, Goldham was traded to the

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...

earning their Assistant Captain position in 1952 and would retire after the

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim ...

season. In 1955, he was a member of the NHL 2nd All-Star Team and won five

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, an ...

s in his career in

1942 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Declaration by United Nations is signed by China, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and 22 other nations, in wh ...

, and

1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country in ...

with

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

and

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...

1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

, and

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

with

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

. Goldham played in the following NHL All-Star Games: 1942, 2nd All Star Team AHL. NHL 1947, 1949, 1950, 1952, 1954 and 2nd All Star Team 1955. Goldham coached the

Toronto St. Michael's Majors The Toronto St. Michael's Majors were a major junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey League, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The most recent franchise was revived on August 15, 1996. In 2007, the team relocated to Mississauga, Ontario an ...

during the 1959–60 season, then resigned and was succeeded by Father David Bauer.

Post-playing Career

After retiring, he worked for several years as a TV color commentator/studio analyst on ''

Hockey Night in Canada CBC Television has aired National Hockey League (NHL) broadcasts under the ''Hockey Night in Canada'' (often abbreviated ''Hockey Night'' or ''HNiC'') brand that is primarily associated with its Saturday night NHL broadcasts throughout its hi ...

'' on CBC and on the local midweek Toronto Maple Leaf broadcasts on Hamilton's

CHCH-TV CHCH-DT (channel 11) is an independent television station in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Owned by Channel Zero, the station maintains studios on Innovation Drive in the west end of Hamilton; prior to 2021, it was located near the corner of Jack ...

channel 11. Goldham was known as the First Little NHLer founded by Gordon Alcott in 1936, to make the NHL. Goldham was married to Eleanor, and they had three daughters: Patricia, Susan and Barbara. In 2015, he was posthumously inducted into the

Canada's Sports Hall of Fame Canada's Sports Hall of Fame (french: Panthéon des sports canadiens; sometimes referred to as the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame) is a Canadian sports hall of fame and museum in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Dedicated to the history of sports in Canad ...

Career statistics

References

External links

*
Bob Goldham's obituary on The New York Times
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldham, Bob 1922 births 1991 deaths Canadian military personnel from Ontario Canadian ice hockey coaches Canadian ice hockey defencemen Chicago Blackhawks players Detroit Red Wings players Hershey Bears players Ice hockey people from Ontario National Hockey League broadcasters People from Halton Hills Pittsburgh Hornets players Stanley Cup champions Toronto Maple Leafs announcers Toronto Maple Leafs players Toronto Marlboros players Toronto St. Michael's Majors coaches Washington Lions players Royal Canadian Navy personnel of World War II