Ronald Herbert Mason (January 14, 1940 – June 13, 2016) was a Canadian
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, head coach, and university executive. A head coach of various American universities, most notably
Michigan State University
Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...
(MSU), he was the most successful coach in
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 history between 1993 and 2012 with 924 wins, until
Jerry York
Jerry York (born July 25, 1945) is an American former ice hockey coach who was the men's ice hockey coach at Boston College. York is the winningest coach in NCAA hockey, and leads the all-time list as the only Division I head coach with over 1, ...
(Boston College) become the new winningest coach with his 925th career win on December 29, 2012.
Mason was athletic director at MSU from 2002 to 2008. He then served as senior advisor for the
USHL
The United States Hockey League (USHL) is the top junior ice hockey league sanctioned by USA Hockey. The league consists of 16 active teams located in the midwestern United States, for players between the ages of 16 and 21. The USHL is strictly ...
Muskegon Lumberjacks
The Muskegon Lumberjacks are a Tier I junior ice hockey team in the Eastern Conference of the United States Hockey League. They play in Muskegon, Michigan, at Mercy Health Arena. The Lumberjacks replaced the International Hockey League franchi ...
.
On December 2, 2013, Mason was inducted into the U.S Hockey Hall of Fame.
Family
Ron Mason was born the son of Harvey Mason, a salesman, and Agnes Mackay Mason, an elementary school teacher. He married the former Marion Bell on June 8, 1963. They had two daughters, Tracey (born 1963) and Cindy (born 1968) and two grandsons, Tyler and Travis.
Travis was a defenseman on the
Michigan State University
Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...
hockey team until his graduation in 2016.
Mason had one sister, Marion Mason Rowe.
Education
Mason earned a B.A. in physical education from
St. Lawrence University in 1964 and a Masters in physical education from the
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...
in 1965.
Michigan State University
Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...
awarded Mason an honorary doctorate in 2001.
Career as player
Mason played junior hockey with the Ontario Hockey Association’s
Peterborough Petes
The Peterborough Petes are a junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey League. The team has played at the Peterborough Memorial Centre in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, since 1956, and is the oldest continuously operating team in the league.
...
and the Ottawa Junior Canadians. From there Mason enrolled at
St. Lawrence University in the upstate town of
Canton, New York
Canton is an incorporated Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in St. Lawrence County, New York, St. Lawrence County, New York (state), New York. The population was 11,638 at the time of the 2020 census. The town contains two Administr ...
where he lettered in hockey for three years. In his first season at SLU in 1960–61, Mason and the
Skating Saints
The St. Lawrence Saints Men's Ice Hockey team, colloquially known as the "Skating Saints", is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college ice hockey program that represents St. Lawrence University. The Saints are a membe ...
were NCAA national finalists.
In 1961–62, Mason and SLU won the school's first
Eastern College Athletic Conference
The Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) is a college athletic conference comprising schools that compete in 15 sports (13 men's and 13 women's). It has 220 member institutions in NCAA Divisions I, II, and III, ranging in location fro ...
championship and made the NCAA
Frozen Four
The annual NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament is a college ice hockey tournament held in the United States by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to determine the top men's
team in Division I. Like other Division I cham ...
.
In his final season, SLU won a school-record 20 games
finishing 20–6–1. Mason lead the team in scoring twice
earning back-to-back first-team all league honors. Mason was St. Lawrence's only player to earn that distinction until
T. J. Trevelyan was named all league in 2005 and 2006.
Career as coach
Mason coached one
NAIA program,
Lake Superior State
Lake Superior State University (colloquially Lake State, Lake Superior State, Soo Tech, and LSSU) is a public college in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. It is enrolls approximately 2,000 students. Due to its proximity to the Canadian border, and th ...
, and two
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 ...
programs,
Bowling Green State and
Michigan State
Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...
in 36 seasons from 1966 to 2002. He won two national titles: NAIA in 1972 with Lake Superior State and NCAA in 1986 with Michigan State.
Ron Mason finished his coaching career as the all-time career victories leader in college hockey history with 924 wins. Boston College's
Jerry York
Jerry York (born July 25, 1945) is an American former ice hockey coach who was the men's ice hockey coach at Boston College. York is the winningest coach in NCAA hockey, and leads the all-time list as the only Division I head coach with over 1, ...
surpassed Mason's win total on December 31, 2012. Mason is also the career coaching victories leader at Michigan State with 635 wins. He is Bowling Green State's winningest coach by percentage winning over 71 percent of his 229 games at BGSU.
Mason had 33 seasons with a winning record, 30 seasons winning 20 or more games and 11 seasons winning 30 or more games. Mason won ten CCHA regular season championships and a record 13 CCHA tournament titles. He advanced his teams to the NCAA tournament 22 times—six times as the No. 1 seed—making the
Frozen Four
The annual NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament is a college ice hockey tournament held in the United States by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to determine the top men's
team in Division I. Like other Division I cham ...
eight times. Mason was the CCHA coach of the year six times. He won the
Spencer Penrose
Spencer Penrose (November 2, 1865 - December 7, 1939) was an American entrepreneur and philanthropist. He made his fortune from mining, ore processing, and real estate speculation in Colorado and other parts of the West. He founded the Utah Copper ...
Memorial Trophy as the national coach of the year in 1992.
On January 26, 2002, a media report stated Mason would step down as coach at Michigan State to take over the athletic director position at MSU. On January 28, 2002, Mason made it official he would leave his post as head ice hockey coach to become athletic director.
Lake Superior State
Mason started the hockey program at
Lake Superior State University
Lake Superior State University (colloquially Lake State, Lake Superior State, Soo Tech, and LSSU) is a public college in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. It is enrolls approximately 2,000 students. Due to its proximity to the Canadian border, and th ...
in 1966. In seven seasons at LSSU he produced four 20-win seasons and never lost more than 10 games. He guided the Lakers to the 1972
National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics
The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic scholarships to its stu ...
(NAIA) national championship.
Bowling Green State
In 1973 he moved to
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green State University (BGSU) is a public research university in Bowling Green, Ohio. The main academic and residential campus is south of Toledo, Ohio. The university has nationally recognized programs and research facilities in the ...
where he won three
Central Collegiate Hockey Association
The Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) is a college athletic conference that participates in the NCAA's Division I as a hockey-only conference. The current CCHA began play in the 2021–22 season; a previous incarnation, which the curre ...
regular season titles and three consecutive CCHA tournament titles in six seasons. In 1977 Bowling Green State earned their first berth in 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. The berth was a first for a team not from 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 ...
or
Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference in the NCAA tournament's 30 year history. It was the first of three consecutive NCAA tournaments under Mason. BGSU won the third-place game over defending national champion Wisconsin in the 1978 NCAA
Frozen Four
The annual NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament is a college ice hockey tournament held in the United States by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to determine the top men's
team in Division I. Like other Division I cham ...
. In 1978–79 Mason coached BGSU to a then NCAA record 37 wins.
The record would be broken in 1984-85 by Mason's own Michigan State team.
Michigan State
Michigan State University
Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...
Athletic Director
Joseph Kearney
Joseph L. Kearney (April 28, 1927 – May 5, 2010) was an American coach and sports administrator in university athletics. He served as athletic director at three major universities: the University of Washington (1969–1976), Michigan State Un ...
hired Mason to replace the retiring
Amo Bessone
Amos "Betts" Bessone (November 22, 1916 – January 9, 2010) was a collegiate ice hockey player and head coach.
Bessone was born in Sagamore, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod, and raised in West Springfield, Massachusetts, where he learned to play ho ...
on April 1, 1979.
In his third season at MSU, Mason guided Michigan State to their first NCAA tournament in 15 seasons. Four seasons later in 1986, Mason led Michigan State to the school's second national title.
Michigan State returned to the championship game the following season but lost to
North Dakota
North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the Native Americans in the United States, indigenous Dakota people, Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north a ...
. On March 12, 1993, with a 6-5 win over
Kent State, Mason passed former
Boston College
Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...
coach
Len Ceglarski
Leonard Stanley Ceglarski (June 27, 1926 – December 16, 2017) was an American ice hockey player and coach. He was an All-American left wing on Boston College's 1949 NCAA championship team, and was captain of the 1950–51 squad. He was also a ...
to become college hockey's all-time winningest coach with 674 wins.
While at MSU, Mason won a conference-record 10 CCHA tournament championships, including a conference-record four straight from 1982 to 1985. In addition, MSU under Mason won seven CCHA regular season titles, earned 19 NCAA tournament appearances, and earned seven NCAA Frozen Four appearances.
Career as athletic director
Ron Mason began his duties as athletic director on July 1, 2002.
Before he officially became athletic director, Mason chose
Rick Comley
Rick Comley (born January 20, 1947) is a former collegiate ice hockey player and former head coach at Michigan State University. He finished his 38-year coaching career with a 783–615–110 (.556) record. In 2007, he became the third coach in N ...
as his successor as hockey coach.
On November 4, 2002, after a disappointing season and a series of off-the-field incidents with players, Mason fired head football coach
Bobby Williams
Robert Vann Williams (born November 21, 1958) is an American football coach who most recently served as the special teams coordinator and tight ends coach at the University of Oregon from 2018 to 2021. Williams served as the head coach at Mich ...
with three games left in the season and eventually hired
John L. Smith away from Louisville as his permanent replacement.
Mason fired Smith after three consecutive losing seasons, and Mason then hired
Mark Dantonio
Mark Justin Dantonio (born March 9, 1956) is a former American football coach and player. He most recently served as the head football coach at Michigan State University, a position he had held from 2007 to 2019, presiding over one of the most ...
away from Cincinnati, who brought the Spartans to football prominence.
While athletic director, the Michigan State hockey team won the school's third national title in 2007. Mason is the only person to have won NCAA ice hockey titles as head coach and athletic director. Mason also placed a priority seat licensing program in Spartan Stadium based on years of holding season tickets, contribution to the
Ralph Young Fund, and a licensing fee for better seats on top of the price of season tickets. Further updates to increase revenue in Spartan Stadium included a $64 million
USD
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
expansion and improvements which include:
*24 luxury suites
*800 club seats
*The "Grand Entrance" featuring high ceilings, glass walls, marble floors and a new home for the original Sparty statue
* luxury concourse
*Office space for Career Services, University Advancement and the MSU Alumni Office
*State of the art recruiting lounge
*Upgraded stadium-wide bathroom and concourse renovations
*An increase of 3000 seats, bringing the total stadium capacity to 75,005
In September 2006, Michigan State University's Board of Trustees approved a contract extension for Mason extending his contract as MSU's athletic director through June 2008. He retired from the post of athletic director at
Michigan State University
Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...
on January 1, 2008, and was succeeded by
Mark Hollis.
Legacy with the CCHA
In addition to his success as a coach, Mason was involved in organizing the
Central Collegiate Hockey Association
The Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) is a college athletic conference that participates in the NCAA's Division I as a hockey-only conference. The current CCHA began play in the 2021–22 season; a previous incarnation, which the curre ...
(CCHA) and helping it to grow into one of the most powerful college hockey conferences of the 1980s, '90s, and 2000s.
When Mason began coaching in 1966 there were only two major conferences in the NCAA, the
Eastern College Athletic Conference
The Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) is a college athletic conference comprising schools that compete in 15 sports (13 men's and 13 women's). It has 220 member institutions in NCAA Divisions I, II, and III, ranging in location fro ...
and 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 ...
. While building the ice hockey program at Lake Superior State to Division I status, Mason found that his team was left without a conference. In 1972 Mason, along with Bowling Green State University's Jack Vivian, St. Louis University's Bill Selman, Ohio State University's Dave Chambers, Ohio University's John McComb and the CCHA's first commissioner Fred Jacoby, formed the
Central Collegiate Hockey Association
The Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) is a college athletic conference that participates in the NCAA's Division I as a hockey-only conference. The current CCHA began play in the 2021–22 season; a previous incarnation, which the curre ...
.
Mason's coaching tenure at Bowling Green State produced the CCHA's first NCAA tournament berth, first appearance in the NCAA Frozen Four, and first national No. 1 ranking.
For his contributions in helping build the CCHA, the conference renamed their tournament championship trophy as the
Mason Cup
The Mason Cup is the trophy awarded to the champion of the CCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament, the postseason championship event of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, an NCAA Division I college ice hockey league. The Cup was awarded from 200 ...
in 2000–01.
Philanthropy
Mason volunteered with the Sparrow Foundation where he established the Ron Mason Fund for Pediatric Rehabilitation which helps children with disabilities. The fund has raised $675,000 for the foundation since 1998.
He was also honorary chairperson for the
Children's Miracle Network
Children's Miracle Network Hospitals (CMN Hospitals) (French: Réseau Enfants-Santé (RES)) is a nonprofit organization that raises funds for children's hospitals in the U.S. and Canada. Donations support the health of 10 million children each ...
which has raised $19 million plus since 1989.
Death
Mason died on the morning of June 13, 2016 in Haslett, Michigan after suffering a heart attack. He was 76.
Notable players coached
In his 36 years, Mason coached a number of outstanding players.
Hobey Baker Award winners
Hobey Baker Award finalists
AHCA All-America
CCHA Player of the Year
NHL first round draft picks
Joe Murphy was first NCAA player selected first overall
Select NHL players
Olympians
Head coaching record
See also
*
List of college men's ice hockey coaches with 400 wins
Awards and honors
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mason, Ron
1940 births
2016 deaths
Bowling Green Falcons ice hockey coaches
Ice hockey people from Ontario
Lake Superior State Lakers men's ice hockey coaches
Michigan State Spartans athletic directors
Michigan State Spartans ice hockey coaches
People from Huron County, Ontario
Peterborough Petes (ice hockey) players
St. Lawrence Saints men's ice hockey players
United Hockey League coaches
University of Pittsburgh alumni