This is Dit Clapper. His name was actually Aubrey, but his parents called by his middle name Victor. As a kid his little sister could not pronounce the name Vic. It came out as Dit. The moniker has stuck since high school.Clapper was truly one of the all time greats. He was an all star at both right wing and on defense, playing way back in the 1930s and 1940s. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1947.
Nowadays Clapper is remembered mostly as the answer to a good trivia question. Clapper was the first hockey player to play in the National Hockey League for 20 seasons.
To survive in the NHL for 20 seasons you have to be incredibly durable. In fact, somehow, Clapper avoided stitches, a badge of honour for any true hockey player, until 1960, some 14 years after he retired.
On January 23, 1960 Clapper was cut for five stitches and had his glasses broken when he was struck by an errant puck while coaching the AHL's Buffalo Bisons!
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