Historical Hockey Memorabilia Auction Spring 2013
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 6/18/2013
Forget if these walls could talk, how about if this suite of office furniture from longtime NHL president Clarence Campbell were to reveal all of the amazing hockey business conducted in its presence! A Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, Campbell served as an NHL referee during the 1930s. League president Frank Calder was grooming Campbell to become his successor when World War II broke out. Campbell enlisted in the Canadian army and prosecuted Nazis for crimes against humanity. When he came home from Europe in 1946 he took over the league presidency from Red Dutton, who had succeeded Calder following the latter's death in 1943. Campbell ruled over the National Hockey League with absolute power from the league's head office in Montreal's Sun Life Building for the next 31 years until his retirement in 1977. During his tenure the NHL tripled in size, increasing from six to a dozen teams with the 1967 expansion followed by three sets of two-team expansions in the 1970s that brought the league to 18 teams. Of all the discipline Campbell meted out during his tenure his 1955 suspension of Maurice "Rocket" Richard for the balance of the regular season and the entire playoffs stands alone in hockey history. Campbell's suite of office furniture offered was originally obtained by NHL senior VP of hockey operations Jim Gregory in 1980. Included are Campbell's massive desk with drawers on either side, two leather chairs, a credenza, coffee table, filing cabinet and two bureaus. Special shipping arrangements will be necessary for this historic lot which comes with Jim Gregory's signed letter of provenance for the Campbell desk.
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