Roger Allen Christian (December 1, 1935 – November 9, 2011) was an American professional

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 ...

player. Christian played for the American 1960 Winter Olympics and

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 ...

ice hockey teams, winning a gold medal in 1960. He 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 1989. He was also a co-founder of Christian Brother's Hockey Sticks, along with his brother Bill Christian and brother-in-law Hal Bakke.

Early life

Born in

Warroad, Minnesota Warroad is a city in Roseau County, Minnesota, United States, at the southwest corner of Lake of the Woods, south of Canada. The population was 1,781 at the 2010 census. Warroad had its own newspaper before it was incorporated in 1901. Minne ...

, Christian began playing hockey at a young age. He would play on the roads, lakes, and outdoor rinks with his friends for up to five hours each day. Growing up he and brother, Billy, would use magazines as padding. They only had one pair of skates between the two of them and would share that pair each time they would go skating. Christian also played organized hockey at

Warroad High School Warroad High School is a public high school in Warroad, Minnesota, United States. Despite the small size of the community, the school has produced several successful hockey players. Academics 21% of Warroad students participate in the school's A ...

. He began playing at Warroad in 1950 and was the leading scorer within two years. During the 1953 season, Christian led Warroad to the State Tournament. He was later selected to the All-State Team, and was named All Region twice.

Career

Christian international hockey for the U.S. In 1958 he led the U.S. National team in scoring, under Coach Cal Marvin and Manager Don Clark. Roger played together with Billy and a third brother, Gordon, on the 1958 United States national team. Roger played on the renowned Gold Medal winning Olympic Team, alongside his brother. He would go on to play on five U.S. National teams altogether. After that Roger went on to play for nearly 20 years with his hometown Warroad Lakers, an amateur dynasty, where his number 7 Jersey was later retired from the Lakers roster in 1974.

Christian Brothers'

After receiving gold medals, the two Christian brothers returned to their hometown of Warroad and established Christian Brothers Hockey Stick Manufacturing. The idea of this business was to produce a line of customized American hockey sticks. The slogan for this company was, "Hockey Sticks by Hockey Players." They refurbished an old building off of the highway Warroad and this was home to the first Christian Brother hockey stick plant. In the early years of the company they saw success, and expanded into a new stick manufacturing plant in Warroad. They officially moved to this new plant in 1969 and operated there for many years. During the

1980 Winter Olympics The 1980 Winter Olympics, officially the XIII Olympic Winter Games and also known as Lake Placid 1980, were an international multi-sport event held from February 13 to 24, 1980, in Lake Placid, New York, United States. Lake Placid was elected ...

, the business received additional attention. Roger's nephew Dave Christian led the U.S. team in assists and brought another gold medal to Warroad. This was not only a great accomplishment for Dave but this was beneficial for the family's company. After this, sales boomed to up to 40% more sticks. This was mainly because Dave was using a Christian Bros stick while he successfully received the gold medal. Christian and his brother sold their company in 2002 because of changes in materials, multi-national competition, and increased licensing fees.

Personal life

Christian and his wife, Jean, had three sons. He died on November 9, 2011 in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

References

External links