Francis Joseph "Frank, Duke" McCurry (June 13, 1900 – November 8, 1965) was a Canadian professional

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 ...

left winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

who played 145 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 ...

, with the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

between 1925 and 1929.

Playing career

Born in

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 ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, McCurry played his

junior hockey Junior hockey is a level of competitive ice hockey generally for players between 16 and 21 years of age. Junior hockey leagues in the United States and Canada are considered amateur (with some exceptions) and operate within regions of each cou ...

with the

Toronto Canoe Club Paddlers The Argonaut Rowing Club is an amateur rowing club in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The club was founded in 1872. The current junior head coach is Connor Elsdon. In the past, the club fielded teams in ice hockey and football, and the football team c ...

in 1919-20 and led them to the

1920 Memorial Cup The 1920 Memorial Cup final was the second junior ice hockey championship of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association. The George Richardson Memorial Trophy champions Toronto Canoe Club Paddlers of the Ontario Hockey Association competed against the ...

win with 21 goals and 32 points in 12 games. He also played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

for the

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario ...

from 1922 to 1923, as well as captaining several baseball teams. McCurry was also a member of the all-star Canadian lacrosse team from 1920 to 1922, and was the welter-weight

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

champion of Canada in 1916. From 1923 to 1925 he played in Pittsburgh with the USAHA's

Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets was the name of three separate ice hockey teams based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The original team was part of the United States Amateur Hockey Association (USAHA) from 1920 to 1925 and developed from predecessors dating ...

. In September 1925, McCurry was signed as a free agent when the Yellow Jackets became the

Pittsburgh Pirates, scoring 17 points in 36 games. McCurry remained with the Pirates for another three years but gradually lost his scoring touch, and in September 1929, the Pirates dealt him to the

Montreal Maroons The Montreal Maroons (officially the Montreal Professional Hockey Club) were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL). They played in the NHL from 1924 to 1938, winning the Stanley Cup in 1926 and 1935. They were the la ...

for cash. However, McCurry refused to report to Montreal and he sat out the entire season. Although it was evident the Pirates did not want him, he liked the city of Pittsburgh and signed a one-year pact with the Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets, now playing in the IHL. He retired from hockey after the 1930-31 season.

Post-playing career

After his athletic career, he retired to become a doctor. McCurry moved to

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, and took up

dentistry Dentistry, also known as dental medicine and oral medicine, is the branch of medicine focused on the teeth, gums, and mouth. It consists of the study, diagnosis, prevention, management, and treatment of diseases, disorders, and conditions o ...

, before returning to Toronto, in the 1930s. McCurry died in 1965 at the St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, Ontario.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

External links

* * 1900 births 1965 deaths Canadian ice hockey left wingers Ice hockey people from Ontario People from Old Toronto Pittsburgh Pirates (NHL) players Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets (IHL) players Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets (USAHA) players Players of Canadian football from Ontario {{canada-icehockey-winger-1900s-stub