Hans Dobida (born 13 May 1929) is an Austrian former

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 h ...

and

roller in-line hockey Roller inline hockey, or inline hockey is a variant of hockey played on a hard, smooth surface, with players using inline skates to move and ice hockey sticks to shoot a hard, plastic puck into their opponent's goal (sport), goal to score poi ...

administrator. He was involved with

ATSE Graz ATSE Graz is an ice hockey team in Graz, Austria. They play in the Eliteliga, the third level of ice hockey in Austria. History The club was founded in 1947, and won the Austrian Hockey League in 1975 and 1978. The club was merged with UEC Graz in ...

for almost 40 years, and served as president of the Austrian Ice Hockey Association from 1977 to 1996. He helped organize hosting duties for Austria in

ice hockey at the Olympic Games Ice hockey tournaments have been staged at the Olympic Games since 1920. The men's tournament was introduced at the 1920 Summer Olympics and was transferred permanently to the Winter Olympic Games program in 1924, in France. The women's tourname ...

, and the

Ice Hockey World Championships The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). First officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics, it is the sport's highest profile annual ...

. He was a member of the

International Ice Hockey Federation The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; french: Fédération internationale de hockey sur glace; german: Internationale Eishockey-Föderation) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 83 ...

council from 1986 to 2008, oversaw the

IIHF Continental Cup The Continental Cup is a second-level ice hockey tournament for European clubs (behind Champions Hockey League), begun in 1997 after the discontinuing of the European Cup. It was intended for teams from countries without representatives in the E ...

, and was part of the IIHF Inline Hockey World Championship committee. He was inducted into the

IIHF Hall of Fame The IIHF Hall of Fame is a hall of fame operated by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). It was founded in 1997, and has resided at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto since 1998. Prior to 1997, the IIHF housed exhibits at the Interna ...

, the

German Ice Hockey Hall of Fame The German Ice Hockey Hall of Fame, also called Eishockeymuseum in German, was founded in 1988 and is located in Augsburg. The hall honors individuals who have contributed to ice hockey in Germany, and displays memorabilia depicting contributions of ...

, the Slovenian Hockey Hall of Fame; and received the

Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria The Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria (german: Ehrenzeichen für Verdienste um die Republik Österreich) is a state decoration of the Republic of Austria. It is divided into 15 classes and is the highest award in the A ...

Early life

Dobida was born 13 May 1929, in Graz, Austria. As a youth in Graz, he played both ice hockey and handball. He played hockey with

for five seasons as a young adult, then later served as head of section at ATSE Graz for almost 40 years. During this time, the club was the Austrian Hockey League champion in 1975 and 1978. He remains in an advisory role with ATSE Graz as of 2019.

Austrian Ice Hockey Association

Dobida became vice-president of the Austrian Ice Hockey Association in 1962, then took over as its president in 1977, when Walter Wasservogel moved on to international ice hockey. During this time, he served on the organizing committees for the

1964 Winter Olympics The 1964 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IX Olympic Winter Games (german: IX. Olympische Winterspiele) and commonly known as Innsbruck 1964 ( bar, Innschbruck 1964, label=Austro-Bavarian), was a winter multi-sport event which was celebr ...

and the

1976 Winter Olympics The 1976 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XII Olympic Winter Games (german: XII. Olympische Winterspiele, french: XIIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver) and commonly known as Innsbruck 1976 ( bar, Innschbruck 1976, label= Austro-Bavarian), was a ...

; the

1967 World Ice Hockey Championships The 1967 Ice Hockey World Championships was the 34th edition of the Ice Hockey World Championships. The tournament was held in Vienna, Austria from March 18 to March 29, 1967. The Soviet Union won the tournament for the fifth straight year, Swede ...

, the

1973 Ice Hockey World Championships The 1973 Ice Hockey World Championships were the 40th Ice Hockey World Championships and the 51st European Championships of ice hockey. The tournament took place in the Soviet Union from 31 March to 15 April and the games were played at the Pal ...

Group B, the

1977 World Ice Hockey Championships The 1977 Ice Hockey World Championships took place in Vienna, Austria from 21 April to 8 May. Eight teams took part, first playing each other once, then the four best teams advancing to a new round. The tournament was also the 55th ice hockey ...

, the 1987 Ice Hockey World Championships and the 1996 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships. He was proud of the 1973 event for which all games involving the

Austria men's national ice hockey team The Austrian men's national hockey team is the national ice hockey team for Austria. The team is controlled by Österreichischer Eishockeyverband. As of 2022 the Austrian team is ranked 18th in the IIHF World Rankings. Austria has not won ...

were sold out, and an over-capacity crowd in the final at

Eisstadion Liebenau Eisstadion Liebenau is an indoor sporting arena located in Graz, Austria, which for sponsorship reasons is currently called Merkur Eisstadion. The capacity of the arena is 4,126 peoplemcg.atMesse Congress Graz/ref> and was built in 1963. It is ...

. He welcomed a new branch into the national association in 1994, when the Lower Austrian Ice Hockey Association separated from the

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

branch. He retired as president of the Austrian Ice Hockey Association in 1996, and was succeeded by Dieter Kalt Sr.

International Ice Hockey Federation

Dobida began in international hockey in 1977, as the delegate from the Austrian Ice Hockey Association to the

(IIHF). He later served on the IIHF council from 1986 to 2008, and was its treasurer from 1998 to 2008. He also served as an IIHF

auditor An auditor is a person or a firm appointed by a company to execute an audit.Practical Auditing, Kul Narsingh Shrestha, 2012, Nabin Prakashan, Nepal To act as an auditor, a person should be certified by the regulatory authority of accounting and a ...

, and participated in its strategic consulting group. He acted as chairman of approximately 50 tournaments including the

, and served as chairman of the

until 2018. He was chairman of the 2008 IIHF Inline Hockey World Championship committee in Bratislava. He stated that the IIHF's

program provided development opportunities for IIHF members, and has grown in popularity and credibility with organizational support from

Walter Bush Walter Lewis Bush, Jr. (September 25, 1929 – September 22, 2016) was an American ice hockey administrator. He was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In 1955, he helped start the Central Hockey League, which turned into one of the few successful mi ...

, and the participation of former

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 ...

players.

Honors and awards

Dobida was named an honorary president of the Austrian Ice Hockey Association on 29 June 1996. He was inducted into the

in 2004, and into the Slovenian Hockey Hall of Fame in the inaugural class of 2007. He was inducted into the

in 2007, in the builder category. The induction ceremony took place at the

2007 IIHF World Championship The 2007 IIHF World Championship was held between 27 April and 13 May 2007 in Moscow, Russia. It was the 71st annual world championship event run by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). The tournament was won by Canada with Rick N ...

in Moscow. He was later made a life member of the IIHF in 2008. He was given the Panathlon International Award in 2011, as a founding member of Club Graz. He is also an honorary member of the

Austrian Olympic Committee The Austrian Olympic Committee (ÖOC) (german: link=no, Österreichisches Olympisches Comité) is the non-profit organization representing Austrian athletes in the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The ÖOC also represents the selection of A ...

, and is a recipient of the "Gold Medal" class of the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dobida, Hans 1929 births Living people Auditors Austrian ice hockey administrators Austrian ice hockey players Austrian male handball players IIHF Continental Cup Inline hockey administrators International Ice Hockey Federation executives IIHF Hall of Fame inductees Olympic officials Recipients of the Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria Sportspeople from Graz