Walter Lewis Bush, Jr. (September 25, 1929 – September 22, 2016) was an American

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two o ...

administrator. He was born in

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with list of lakes in Minneapolis, thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the List of U.S. states and territories by population, 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minne ...

. In 1955, he helped start the

Central Hockey League The Central Hockey League (CHL) was a North American mid-level minor professional ice hockey league which operated from 1992 until 2014. It was founded by Ray Miron and Bill Levins and later sold to Global Entertainment Corporation, which opera ...

, which turned into one of the few successful minor professional hockey leagues of that era. In 1960, he organized and promoted a semi-pro Northwestern League consisting of 6 teams in Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska sanctioned under the auspices of the Amateur Hockey Association of the United States (AHAUS), and that included several former college players, including Doug Woog of the University of Minnesota who played for both St. Paul and Lincoln, and Canadian center Billy Colpitts of the University of North Dakota who played for Sioux City. Also skating one season for the Sioux City Eagles was 1960 Olympic Gold Medalist Bob Owen. This league was notable for the fact that it was responsible for developing a very strong fan base in the host cities of Edina, St. Paul, Omaha, Sioux City and Lincoln, many of which subsequently became the homes of the oldest franchises in the United States Hockey League's (USHL) Western Division. He was also instrumental in bringing

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranke ...

hockey to his home state with the

Minnesota North Stars The Minnesota North Stars were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL) for 26 seasons, from 1967 to 1993. The North Stars played their home games at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minnesota, and the team's colors fo ...

as a minority owner. As the president of

USA Hockey USA Hockey is the national ice hockey organization in the United States. It is recognized by the International Olympic Committee and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee as the governing body for organized ice hockey in the United ...

for nearly two decades, he was instrumental in the efforts that brought women's hockey into the Olympic program in 1998. He assumed in June 2003 the position of USA Hockey's chairman of the board, a position he was still holding in May 2009. Bush was vice-president 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 Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland, and ...

(IIHF) in 1996, when he and

Kimmo Leinonen Kimmo Leinonen (born 30 August 1949) is a Finnish ice hockey executive and writer. He was the director of public relations and marketing for the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) from 1995 to 2007, and held similar positions for SM-l ...

led efforts to establish 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 Origina ...

. From 1996 to 2001, he was the owner and chairman of the board of the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the le ...

's Kentucky Thoroughblades. He was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 1980 and later inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2000. He was awarded the

Olympic Order The Olympic Order, established in 1975, is the highest award of the Olympic Movement. It is awarded for particularly distinguished contributions to the Olympic Movement, i.e. recognition of efforts worthy of merit in the cause of sport. Traditi ...

in 2002, and was inducted into the

in 2009. He was portrayed in the

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

film ''

Miracle A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divi ...

'' by Sean McCann. Bush died on September 22, 2016, at the age of 86.

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* 1929 births 2016 deaths Dartmouth College alumni Hockey Hall of Fame inductees Ice hockey people from Minnesota IIHF Hall of Fame inductees International Ice Hockey Federation executives Lester Patrick Trophy recipients Minnesota North Stars executives Recipients of the Olympic Order Sportspeople from Minneapolis United States Hockey Hall of Fame inductees USA Hockey {{US-icehockey-bio-stub

See also

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