John Edward Mayasich (born May 22, 1933) is an American 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 hock ...

player of Croatian descent. He was a member of the U.S. ice hockey team that won a silver medal at 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 ...

and a gold medal at the

1960 Winter Olympics The 1960 Winter Olympics (officially the VIII Olympic Winter Games and also known as Squaw Valley 1960) were a winter multi-sport event held from February 18 to 28, 1960, at the Squaw Valley Resort (now known as Palisades Tahoe) in Squaw Vall ...

. He also played for Team USA at the IIHF World Championships in 1958, 1961, 1962 (when he was voted best defenseman), 1966 and 1969. While attending the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

, Mayasich set 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 ...

tournament record for most points scored in a game with eight against

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

in 1954. Mayasich won the

Western Collegiate Hockey Association The Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) is a college athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as a women's ice hockey-only conference. From 1951 to 1999, it operated a ...

scoring title in 1954 and 1955 and was an All-American three years in a row at his university. Mayasich was inducted into the

United States Hockey Hall of Fame The United States Hockey Hall of Fame was established in 1973 with the goal of preserving the history of ice hockey in the United States while recognizing the extraordinary contributions of select players, coaches, administrators, officials and ...

in 1976 and the Wisconsin Hockey Hall of Fame in 1989. Number 8 has been retired in his honor by the

Minnesota Golden Gophers men's ice hockey The Minnesota Golden Gophers men's ice hockey team is the college ice hockey team at the Twin Cities campus of the University of Minnesota. They are members of the Big Ten Conference and compete in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) ...

program, the only former Golden Gopher to be so honored. In 2011, Mayasich was ranked No 1 on the Minneapolis Star Tribune's list of "Minnesota's 100 Greatest Players in High School Hockey History".

Career

Mayasich was born in Minnesota, to Croatian parents who had immigrated from the former

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

.Dražen Brajdić, Zoran Vitas (August 26, 2016
Ja sam Hrvatica, ali u majici s austrijskim grbom
Večernji list. Retrieved December 26, 2016 He attended Eveleth High School in Eveleth, Minnesota and participated in a number of sports. During his high school hockey career he set many individual records and helped his team achieve additional team records that stand even today. Among those records are the 46 total points he recorded at numerous state tournament games and helping his team win four consecutive state championships from 1948 to 1951. Mayasich played on both the 1956 Olympic silver medal team in

Cortina d'Ampezzo Cortina d'Ampezzo (; lld, Anpezo, ; historical de-AT, Hayden) is a town and ''comune'' in the heart of the southern (Dolomitic) Alps in the Province of Belluno, in the Veneto region of Northern Italy. Situated on the Boite river, in an alp ...

, Italy and the 1960 Olympic Gold Medal team in Squaw Valley,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. He is the Minnesota Gophers' all-time leading scorer with 144 goals and 154 assists in 111 games played, an average of about 1.3 goals per game. Mayasich also held scoring records in the high school ranks. While he still holds most state tournament records, a pair of Gophers, Dave Spehar and

John Pohl John August "Johnny" Pohl (born June 29, 1979) is an American former professional ice hockey center who played in the National Hockey League (NHL). Playing career Pohl played for the University of Minnesota where he helped lead the team to the ...

, have since broken his all-time career scoring mark. Coach Doug Woog pointed out, "We drew the parallel with Dave Spehar," Woog said. "He (Spehar) was the most contemporary state tournament phenom; he had three hat tricks. John had seven. His numbers are phenomenal." Despite his stellar accomplishments in college and international hockey, Mayasich never got any offers to pursue an

NHL 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 ...

career. "It wasn't a source of bitterness, since no college players were being given a chance," he later told

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

in 1999,"but there's still regret, even to this day, not knowing if I could have done it." Mayasich did briefly play some minor league hockey for the St.Paul Saints and

Minneapolis Millers The Minneapolis Millers were an American professional minor league baseball team that played in Minneapolis, Minnesota, through 1960. In the 19th century a different Minneapolis Millers were part of the Western League. The team played first in ...

as well as permanently for the amateur

Green Bay Bobcats The Green Bay Gamblers are a Tier I junior ice hockey team in the Eastern Conference of the United States Hockey League (USHL). They play in Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin, at the Resch Center. History Professional hockey in Green Bay The first profess ...

, earning extra money, but his professional career was in the broadcasting industry. After earlier positions, John joined Hubbard Broadcasting, Inc. (St. Paul) as General Manager of KS95 FM, guiding its growth to become one of the highest rated major market FMs in the country. In 1983, Mayasich was promoted to President of Hubbard's radio division, and served in that position until his retirement in 1997. He has remained active as a consultant to Hubbard.

Awards and honors

References

20 great Minnesotans in hockey
by John McGourty, NHL.com. (January 16, 2004)
U hockey program will retire John Mayasich's number this weekend
by Tim Nichols, The Minnesota Daily. (November 13, 1998)

External links

Gopher Hockey History Player Info
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mayasich, John 1933 births Living people AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans American men's ice hockey centers American people of Croatian descent Ice hockey players from Minnesota Ice hockey players at the 1956 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 1960 Winter Olympics IIHF Hall of Fame inductees Lester Patrick Trophy recipients Minnesota Golden Gophers men's ice hockey players Minneapolis Millers (IHL) players Medalists at the 1956 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1960 Winter Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in ice hockey Olympic silver medalists for the United States in ice hockey Sportspeople from Eveleth, Minnesota United States Hockey Hall of Fame inductees

Career

Awards and honors

See also

References

External links