Historical Hockey Memorabilia Auction Spring 2011
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 6/21/2011
What a historic find! This photo-matched team-signed Hooley Smith game-used hockey stick from 1934’s Ace Bailey Benefit All-Star Game is the kind of artifact that one almost never sees outside of a museum! Smith was posthumously inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1972. The Montreal Maroons star used this stick and got it covered with 28 autographs from hockey’s royalty of the day, including 16 members of the Hockey Hall of Fame, when he took part in the special game organized by the NHL to raise money for Bailey and his family. The Toronto Maple Leafs forward suffered a near-fatal skull fracture in a game at Boston Garden on December 12, 1933. Bailey’s head struck the ice after he was sent flying on a hit by Boston’s Eddie Shore, who was out for vengeance and went after the wrong target after being dazed by a huge hit by Red Horner. Rushed to a Boston hospital, Bailey was at death’s door as neurosurgeons worked through the night to save his life. Fortunate to survive, Bailey made a steady recovery but his playing career had come to an abrupt end. At the suggestion of a Montreal newspaper sports editor, the league staged what proved to be its first version of an all-star game. The game was played at Maple Leaf Gardens on Valentine’s Day 1934 and pitted Bailey’s Maple Leafs teammates against a squad composed of the league’s greatest stars of the day, including Smith, Howie Morenz, Nels Stewart and Bill Cook, to name just a few. Shore was also invited to take part and the Gardens crowd of 14,074 was hushed to silence when he was introduced prior to the game. The Bruins’ legendary defenseman skated over to Bailey, who touched off a huge ovation when he shook hands with Shore. Offered here is the actual hockey stick used by Hooley Smith during the Ace Bailey Benefit Game. Smith wore #10 on his special NHL All-Star sweater as Busher Jackson and Andy Blair each contributed three points to lead the Leafs to a 7-3 win. Smith is shown holding this stick seated third from the left in the front row of the NHL All-Stars team photo taken at Maple Leaf Gardens on February 14, 1934. This vintage “H.A. Proulx” stick has been positively matched by over half a dozen distinctive black marks on the lower shaft, from Bailey’s autograph down to the Joe Primeau autograph at the heel, which are clear to see in the All-Star team photo. Digital images of the photo-match will be included. Both sides of the shaft are covered with priceless autographs collected at the historic game. Moving from top to bottom, George Hainsworth, Pep Kelly, Hec Kilrea, Blair, Bailey, Bill Thoms, Jackson, Charlie Conacher, Hap Day, Art Ross, Harold Cotton, Horner, Buzz Boll, Flash Hollett and Primeau signed along one side. Rangers great Cook signed on the back of the shaft, his autograph partially hidden by Smith’s tape job on the knob, which has shifted down along the handle. The other side of the shaft is signed by Normie Himes, Jimmy Ward, Stewart, Herbie Lewis, Larry Aurie, Morenz, Smith, Lester Patrick, Shore, King Clancy, Leo Dandurand and Ken Doraty. Though the autographs are less-than-perfect, they are all easily legible, with the Shore and Doraty examples among the paler ones. H.A. Proulx is stamped on both sides of the shaft, with one side now very pale. Also stamped on both sides of the shaft is "Auditorium, Ottawa, Ont", which is where stick purveyor Hermes A. Proulx kept shop at the Senators’ arena. His "HAP Hand Made To Order" logo is stamped on both sides of the blade, which has Smith’s original tape job removed. All of the research and documentation compiled by our consignor will accompany this incredibly rare stick, along with a new 12” x 18” print of the Maple Leafs posed in the “Ace” sweaters they wore for what is widely considered the NHL’s first All-Star game.
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