Herbert Wendell Gallagher (January 30, 1911 – October 25, 1992) was an 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 ...

and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

coach and college athletics administrator. He served two stints as the head ice hockey coach at

Northeastern University Northeastern University (NU) is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Boston. Established in 1898, the university offers undergraduate and graduate programs on its main campus as well as satellite campuses in ...

, from 1936 to 1942 and 1946 to 1955. Gallagher was also the head baseball coach at Northeastern from 1938 to 1942 and from 1946 to 1955. He was the school's

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...

from 1955 to 1976 and a backfield coach for the football program.

Career

Gallagher arrived at

in 1929 after graduating from Newton High School and swiftly became a local sports legend. By the time he graduated in 1935 he had earned nine

letters Letter, letters, or literature may refer to: Characters typeface * Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech; any of the symbols of an alphabet. * Letterform, the graphic form of a letter of the alphabe ...

across three sports (

and

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

). Over the next year Gallagher played in both Provincial Baseball League and the

English National League The English National League was an early ice hockey league in England. It was founded in 1935 by most of the teams who had previously competed in the English League. It was suspended during the Second World War World War II or t ...

before accepting the coaching position with the Austrian national team for the

1936 Winter Olympics The 1936 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IV Olympic Winter Games (german: IV. Olympische Winterspiele) and commonly known as Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936 ( bar, Garmasch-Partakurch 1936), were a winter multi-sport event held from 6 to 16 ...

. Gallagher lead the team to the second round and a 7th-place finish in the 16-team field and had planned on staying in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

for the remainder of the decade but was convinced to return to the states due to the possibility of war. Gallagher returned to Northeastern as a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

physical education Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explorati ...

and

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

and took on three separate coaching roles with the hockey, baseball and football programs. He worked at the university for six years before leaving after the outbreak of

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 ...

. While baseball coach at Northeastern, he played summer baseball in the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thousan ...

. He pitched for

Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-on- ...

in 1938, and in 1939 returned to the league as Bourne's player-manager. He was a league all-star in 1939, playing infield and also pitching for Bourne. As a pitcher he possessed "fine control" and "an effective curve," and as an all-around ball player it was reported that "they don't come any headier or smarter than Gallagher." Gallagher joined the

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

and rose to the rank of

Lieutenant Commander Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander. The corresponding rank i ...

. He returned to

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

after the war and resumed his coaching duties in 1946. Gallagher was named as the New England hockey coach of the year in 1948 and shortly afterwards became one of the driving forces behind the formation of the

Beanpot A beanpot is a deep, wide-bellied, short-necked vessel used to cook bean-based dishes. Beanpots are typically made of ceramic, though some are made of other materials, such as cast iron. The relatively narrow mouth of the beanpot minimizes evapo ...

an annual ice hockey tournament held between the four Boston-area programs. In 1955 he was named as Athletic Director for NU and over the next twenty one years worked to raise the profile of the school's programs. In that time he was also on the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Ice Hockey Rules Committee and the USOC for the

1956 Winter Olympics The 1956 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VII Olympic Winter Games ( it, VII Giochi Olimpici invernali) and commonly known as Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956 ( lld, Anpezo 1956 or ), was a multi-sport event held in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, from ...

. Gallagher has been honored several times, including being inducted into the Northeastern University Athletic Hall of Fame in 1975, and receiving the Hobey Baker Legend of Hockey award in 1985 and the John "Snooks" Kelley Founders Award in 1991. An annual award named in his honor is given out by the New England Hockey Writers Association to the best forward in the region.

Head coaching record

Ice hockey

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gallagher, Herb 1911 births 1992 deaths American ice hockey coaches Cape Cod Baseball League players (pre-modern era) Cape Cod Baseball League coaches Harwich Mariners players Bourne Braves players Northeastern Huskies athletic directors Northeastern Huskies baseball coaches Northeastern Huskies football coaches Northeastern Huskies men's ice hockey coaches Northeastern Huskies men's ice hockey players Northeastern Huskies men's soccer players United States Navy personnel of World War II Association footballers not categorized by position United States Navy officers Association football players not categorized by nationality