Featured Hockey Legend: Brian Leetch

Though he was born in the least likeliest of hockey hotbeds, Brian Leetch went on to become perhaps the best National Hockey League defenseman of his era.

Brian was born in Corpus Christie, Texas, but he did not live there long. His father was a Navy pilot, flying C-130 transports to Vietnam. In 1973, when Brian was about 5 years old, the navy decommissioned Leetch's squadron, and the family moved to San Francisco where Jack flew Boeing 707s for Pan Am. Later he was hired by Shell Oil, who stationed him first in Oregon then Connecticut, back close to the Leetch family.

Despite all the travel to unlikely hockey places, Brian had already fell in love with the game of hockey. His father passed that on to him. You see, Jack Leetch was quite the hockey player in his day, too. He was a walk on at Boston College and became an All American by 1963. Playing on the American national team, he was one of the last cuts for Team USA's entry to the 1964 Olympics.

Full Brian Leetch Biography