Bio

Herb's journey into hockey began when his son, Dan, started playing at Winterland in 1968. Shortly after that, the City of Creve Coeur opened the Creve Coeur Ice Rink (an outdoor rink at the time) and so began Herb's involvement in amateur ice hockey. He started like all other parents, simply watching his son play. Within another year he began to play in an adult league as well as starting his coaching career. Over the course of then next 25 plus years, Herb made a substantial impact on amateur hockey in St. Louis. He served for many years as both President of Creve Coeur Hockey Club and President of Missouri Amateur Ice Hockey. As President of Creve Coeur Hockey Club he started the House Program, where his daughter Tina became one of the first female hockey players, and helped many other local clubs start their own house programs. He also saw a need to continue hockey throughout the summer and brought Stars Hockey to the Creve Coeur Rink over many summers. All monies raised from the Stars Program went back into Amateur Hockey in the St. Louis Area including many scholarships for children who had a love for the game but could not afford to play. As President of Missouri Amateur Ice Hockey, Herb learned of the Elite Pee Wee tournament held in Quebec Canada and thought that would be a good thing to elevate the level of play in our area. At the time, a team needed to be sponsored by an NHL team in order to be able to enter the tournament. Herb met with the St. Louis Blues and convinced them to sponsor a team from St. Louis, the first of which was in 1987 coached by Bruce Aflec and Blake Dunlop, both Blues Alumni. St. Louis has entered a team in this tournament every year since. In 1985 Herb was presented the Lynn Patrick Memorial Award for Outstanding Service to Amateur Hockey. He was inducted into the Creve Coeur Hockey Hall of Fame in 1989 in recognition of outstanding contributions to Creve Coeur Hockey and amateur hockey in St. Louis. In 1990 he received an award from the Amateur Hockey Association of the United States in honor and recognition of his tireless and unselfish dedication to Youth Hockey.