Fred Kearney (May 19, 1897 – November 6, 1998) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

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 ...

player. Born in

Pembroke, Ontario Pembroke is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario at the confluence of the Muskrat River (Ontario), Muskrat River and the Ottawa River in the Ottawa Valley. Pembroke is the location of the administrative headquarters of Renfrew County, thoug ...

, on May 19, 1897, Kearney moved to Fort William in 1909. He began playing amateur hockey in Fort William amateur ranks beginning in 1913. Kearney was a member of the Lakehead Intermediate Hockey Team which won the 1924 Thunder Bay Intermediate League. The team then played for the Scotland Woollen Mills trophy. In 1927 Kearney played goal the Fort William senior hockey team winning the Western Canadian Senior Hockey Championships. The team then faced the Toronto Grads in the

Allan Cup The Allan Cup is the trophy awarded annually to the national senior amateur men's ice hockey champions of Canada. It was donated by Sir Montagu Allan of Ravenscrag, Montreal, and has been competed for since 1909. The current champions are the ...

finals in Vancouver. Fort William's "Thundering Herd were part of the most memorable finals in the history of the competition." The team lost to Toronto 2–1 in overtime; Kearney apparently displayed "incredible" skill during the game. From 1929 to 1931, Kearney played professional hockey for the St. Louis Flyers of the American Hockey Association. Making stops his teammates and opponents referred to as "impossible", more than once he had streaks of three shut-outs. He established a record of 103 stops in two games. Kearney rejoined the Fort William Senior Hockey Team as goalie following a mandatory three-year waiting period. The team won the Thunder Bay District League Championships in 1934, and the Western Canada Senior Championship. Kearney was inducted into the

Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame The Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame, established in 1978 in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, is dedicated to the people of Northwestern Ontario who have achieved greatness in sport. It is located on 219 South May Street in Downtown Fort W ...

on September 26, 1998.

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kearney, Fred 1897 births 1998 deaths Canadian centenarians Men centenarians Canadian ice hockey goaltenders Ice hockey people from Ontario Sportspeople from Pembroke, Ontario St. Louis Flyers players