Sam Rothschild

Lightweight Sam Rothschild played 99 National Hockey League games (eight goals, fourteen points) with three teams that were long ago defunct - the Montreal Maroons, Pittsburgh Pirates and New York Americans.

The Sudbury, Ontario native was discovered by Montrealers while Rothschild was attending school at McGill University and playing for the famed Redmen. He studied Arts, though admittedly was for more interested in Athletics. He mostly went to school because his father insisted.

Rothschild returned to Sudbury upon graduation and starred on the local senior scene. But Cecil Hart of the newly formed Montreal Maroons remembered his days with McGill and brought him back to Montreal in 1924.

By doing so, Rothschild became the Jewish player in NHL history. That factoid plus his contribution to the 1926 Stanley Cup championship and the fact that he usually wore a cap on the ice to hide his balding head were the most notable footnotes in his four year NHL career.

In fact he became more notable in another sport altogether.

Rothschild returned to Sudbury in 1928 and became a prominent coach. He guided the 1932 Sudbury Wolves to the Memorial Cup.

At the same time he was becoming very prominent on the curling scene. He went on to become president of the Canadian Curling Association and a member of the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame.

Rothschild worked as a Seagram sales agent for Northern Ontario for over 40 years. Rothschild, who also sat on Sudbury's city council and was president of the Chamber of Commerce, convinced Seagram to become a major sponsor of many sporting events in the area over that time.

Sam Rothschild passed away in 1987.