Herbert Joseph Drury (March 2, 1896 – July 30, 1965) was a Canadian-born American

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 ...

defenseman 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 ...

who played six seasons 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 ...

for 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 ...

and Philadelphia Quakers. Internationally he played for the American national team at the

1920 Summer Olympics The 1920 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1920; nl, Olympische Zomerspelen van 1920; german: Olympische Sommerspiele 1920), officially known as the Games of the VII Olympiad (french: Jeux de la VIIe olympiade; nl, Spelen van ...

and

1924 Winter Olympics The 1924 Winter Olympics, officially known as the I Olympic Winter Games (french: Iers Jeux olympiques d'hiver) and commonly known as Chamonix 1924 ( frp, Chamôni 1924), were a winter multi-sport event which was held in 1924 in Chamonix, France ...

, winning a silver medal both times.

Playing career

Drury was

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 ...

, he was born in Midland,

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 ...

in 1895. He came 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 ...

in 1916 to play for the Pittsburgh Athletic Association hockey team (which later became the

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 ...

of the

United States Amateur Hockey Association The United States Amateur Hockey Association (USAHA) was an ice hockey governing body in the United States from 1920 to 1925, which operated at an amateur level. The league was filled with predominantly Canadian-born players, but struggled to ach ...

) at the

Duquesne Gardens The Duquesne Gardens (officially Duquesne Garden until 1940 and The Gardens afterward) was the main sports arena located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, during the first half of the 20th century. Built in 1890, the building originally served as a tr ...

. From 1918 to 1919 he was called to military service for

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and did not resume his hockey career until 1920. That season, he represented the United States, as a naturalized citizen on the U.S. Olympic hockey team for the

. The 1920 Olympic Games, in

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, was the debut of hockey to the Olympics, which was added to the existing summer sports. Although the U.S. lost to Canada's

Winnipeg Falcons The Winnipeg Falcons were a senior men's amateur ice hockey team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Winnipeg Falcons won the 1920 Allan Cup. That team went on to represent Canada in the Ice hockey at the 1920 Summer Olympics, 1920 Olympic games he ...

in the finals, Drury returned to the Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets as a silver medalist. In 1924, Drury once again saw Olympic action as a member of the U.S. Olympic team that played in the first Winter Games at

Chamonix Chamonix-Mont-Blanc ( frp, Chamôni), more commonly known as Chamonix, is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of southeastern France. It was the site of the first Winter Olympics in 1924. In 2019, it had ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. As part of the opening ceremonies, Drury carried the U.S. flag for his adopted country. During the games, Drury recorded an astounding 22 goals along with 3 assists, for a total of 25 points in the tournament. After defeating team Sweden 20–0, the U.S. settled for the silver medal following a 6–1 defeat to Canada. Drury scored the lone American goal during the gold medal game. In October 1925 when Drury became the fifth former Yellow Jackets player sign with the National Hockey League's

. He played with the Pirates during all of the franchise's five seasons. In 1930, Drury relocated with the team to

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, where they were known as the

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abil ...

. The Quakers franchise later suspended operations after the

1930–31 NHL season The 1930–31 NHL season was the 14th season of the National Hockey League. Ten teams played 44 games each. The Montreal Canadiens beat the Chicago Black Hawks three games to two in the best-of-five Stanley Cup Finals for their second consecutiv ...

and later folded.

Post-career

Following his retirement from professional hockey Drury became a

steamfitter A pipefitter or steamfitter is a tradesman who installs, assembles, fabricates, maintains, and repairs mechanical piping systems. Pipefitters usually begin as helpers or apprentices. Journeyman pipefitters deal with industrial/commercial/marine pi ...

in Pittsburgh and lived there until his death. Drury died on July 30, 1965, aged 70, from undisclosed causes and was interred at Calvary Cemetery, Pittsburgh. In 2010, Herb Drury joined his late brother,

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

football legend Morley Drury, as an inductee of the Midland (Ontario) Sports Hall of Fame, in the Athlete category. Drury's 1924 silver medal and scrapbook documenting his career, are currently on display at the

Heinz History Center The Senator John Heinz History Center, an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, is the largest history museum in the Pennsylvania, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States. Named after U.S. Senator H. John Heinz III (1938–1991) from Pennsy ...

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Drury, Herbert 1896 births 1965 deaths American men's ice hockey defensemen American military personnel of World War I Burials at Calvary Catholic Cemetery (Pittsburgh) Canadian emigrants to the United States Canadian ice hockey defencemen Ice hockey people from Ontario Ice hockey players at the 1920 Summer Olympics Ice hockey players at the 1924 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1920 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1924 Winter Olympics Olympic silver medalists for the United States in ice hockey People from Midland, Ontario Philadelphia Quakers (NHL) players Pittsburgh Athletic Association ice hockey players Pittsburgh Pirates (NHL) players Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets (USAHA) players