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Adams Park
Former names	Causeway Stadium (sponsored name 2003–2006)
Location	Hillbottom Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire
Coordinates	51°37′50″N 0°48′1″W / 51.63056°N 0.80028°W / 51.63056; -0.80028Coordinates: 51°37′50″N 0°48′1″W / 51.63056°N 0.80028°W / 51.63056; -0.80028
Opened	1990
Expanded	1996, 2001
Owner	Wycombe Wanderers Football Club
Surface	Desso GrassMaster
Construction cost	£3.5m originally
Capacity	10,284 (for football) 10,516 (for rugby) [1]
Tenants
Wycombe Wanderers F.C. London Wasps RUFC

Adams Park is a football stadium in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. Built in 1990, it is the home ground of Wycombe Wanderers F.C. and the Aviva Premiership Rugby Union club London Wasps.

Between 2003 and 2006, the stadium was known as The Causeway Stadium under a naming rights deal, before reverting to its traditional name.

History[link]

Opening match (Thursday 9 August 1990) - Wycombe Wanderers v Nottingham Forest

1990 – Situated right on the edge of the Sands Industrial Estate in High Wycombe, the stadium was opened in time for the 1990/91 season, originally having a capacity of 6,000 with 1,267 seats in the Main Stand. The move was financed almost solely by the sale of the club's former stadium Loakes Park to the health authorities to facilitate the expansion of Wycombe General Hospital. It had come after a period of 30 years in which a site had been sought for a new stadium after Loakes Park had been earmarked for the site of the hospital development. Due to High Wycombe's hilly geography finding a suitably flat piece of ground that was also in a convenient place was not easy.

The new stadium coincided with an upturn in the club's fortunes as, under the guidance of Martin O'Neill, they won the FA Trophy at Wembley thanks to a 2–1 win over Kidderminster Harriers. This was no doubt helped by the fact the club had no loans to service due to the stadium construction.

A few months after entering the Football League in 1993, the crush barriers on the terraces at Adams Park were upgraded, taking the capacity not far shy of the 10,000 mark. In the summer of 1996 the 4,990-seater Woodlands Stand was built on the hill behind the erstwhile Woodlands Terrace. The Hillbottom Road end, where the visiting fans are accommodated, was seated, thus reducing its capacity from well over 2,000 standing spaces to 1,049 seats. The latter development had created problems when large amounts of visiting fans came to the ground, outstripping the supply of seats in that end when sides like Watford, Birmingham City and Manchester City came to town.

The capacity of the stadium was fixed at 10,000 to comply with council regulations, as the positioning of the stadium on a dead-end road was leading to problems when large crowds were leaving the ground, particularly with parking cars in the streets of the nearby residential suburb of Sands. This has hampered the ground since the club has been getting crowds over the 4 to 5,000 mark.

In the summer of 2001 the Hillbottom Road end was extended by an extra 977 seats to take the capacity to 2,026. This was done mainly to be able to accommodate more away fans in one place when the need arose. However, the capacity was kept at 10,000 by reducing the official capacity of the standing areas at the Valley End and on the paddock in front of the main stand.

In 2002, the successful rugby union team from Sudbury, London Wasps, became tenants to Wycombe Wanderers at Adams Park after losing their previous groundsharing agreement with Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road.

In 2003 the stadium was rebranded as The Causeway Stadium. For £100,000 over three years local technology company Causeway bought the naming rights to the ground. This caused some anger amongst fans as ^[2]the ground was named Adams Park in honour of benefactor and former captain Frank Adams. Adams had bought the former ground Loakes Park for the club, whose sale financed the move to the stadium named after him. The Causeway Technologies sponsorship expired at the end of the 2005–06 season and the ground name has reverted back to Adams Park. The club is seeking a new ground sponsor, but has stated that it will only sell the name if the supporters approve. It has been rumoured that the sports (mainly rugby union including London Wasps) clothing company Canterbury of New Zealand may be the next sponsor.^{[citation needed]}

In July 2005, the crowd was officially recorded as a full-to-capacity 10,000 for the first time, when Premiership champions Chelsea brought team to play Wycombe in a pre-season friendly.

It was during this season that the idea that Adams Park would be further expanded was mooted by senior figures at Wycombe Wanderers and Wasps so that it can comply to the Rugby Football Union regulations for Premiership grounds in the future. These stipulate that stadia must have a capacity of at least 12,000 by 2007/08. It was initially suggested that a stand identical to the Woodlands Stand be built where the Main Stand is currently situated, though this would also require a large amount of road building to solve the current access difficulties. These plans never came to fruition, with the two clubs now exploring extending the Valley End of the stadium instead. In whichever form it was to take, expansion was definitely on the cards as Wasps signed an agreement that extends their stay in South Buckinghamshire by another two years, with a view to extending it long-term to 20 years afterwards.

Wycombe District Council also outlined long-term plans for the regeneration of the Abbey Barn area of the town which include a possible 20,000 capacity stadium near the current site of the Wycombe Heights dry ski slope. These would be plans are in the very early stages and are not intended to be realised for around 20 years.

April 2006 – Planning permission is given for a new club shop, on 2 April 2006, to be built in the summer to replace the current one housed in a large portable building. This will be joined onto the offices in the back of the old main stand and free up space in the lower carpark. Plans were also announced for a, much needed, new front pedestrian entrance alongside the main vehicle front gates.

July 2006 – Plans are also afoot at London Wasps for a new access route to the ground, allowing the expansion up to 15,000. Plans were handed over to WWFC by Wasps for expansion plans in July 2006. They include adding two tiers of seating onto the back of the existing Valley End terrace with them filling in the corner round to the large Woodlands Stand enclosing that section of the ground. The capacity will rise to 15,000 with this building work. There is also a revised access route planned to allow the safety certificate to let the extra 5,000 people in and out. The single access currently allows no more than 10,000 people in the ground regardless of the actual capacity. Costs for the expansion are put at between £4–5 million.

When, or indeed ever were this project to be realised it would render the surrounding area of splendid green-belt countryside unrecognisable to what it was some 16 years ago, when the construction of the stadium first took place.

New club shop and office plans were submitted to Wycombe District Council at the same time. The revised plans include a second storey of offices for joint use between WWFC and London Wasps.

October 2006 – Work has started on the new club shop and offices with the foundations going in. It is understood that Wasps will not be using the offices initially and that the new pedestrian entrance and car park layout may be added later, once the initial building work is complete (due by Christmas 2006). There may also be a, much needed, match day bar added under the Dreams Stand, where there is currently car parking. Plans for the new 1st floor club offices were rejected on 19 October by a Wycombe District Council committee. The new club shop will be built and is expect to be open in December. [1] Also, the promised ground expansion plans that were due to be released in October failed to materialize, and, at the time of writing, the clubs have yet to elaborate on their plans for the redevelopment of the Valley End.

December 2006 – The new club shop opens, allowing the old cabins to be removed, as their planning consent had expired. The shop was officially opened on the 7th by players and members of staff of both Wycombe Wanderers and Wasps. Stadium expansion plans are now due in the 'new year' according to David Davies (Wasps CEO) at a stadium travel plan meeting.

February 2007 – Update on Wasps stadium expansion plans at the London Wasps fans forum in Twickenham. The plans were altered after receiving comments from the Safety Advisory Group (SAG) & the modified plans are currently being considered by SAG. Once they've approved the plans they will go to WWFC for final approval. At this point the Club will need to consider how & when to submit the plans for outline planning permission.

August 2007 – At a WWFC fans forum CEO Steve Hayes announces plans to build a new stadium in the High Wycombe area, with a capacity of 17,000 – 20,000 and to be the first UK stadium in modern times to have terracing. The new stadium would be joint owned by WWFC, London Wasps and Wycombe District Council. It will share a site with retail outlets, a hotel and conference facilities. Formal plans should be expected in 2 years, meaning if proceeded with the new complex would open in 2012.

April 2008 – The stadium land is taken out of the Green Belt by a Government inspector meaning the land value rises from £4,000 per acre to £1,000,000 per acre, giving a better resale value if required. It also allows additional stands, permanent or temporary, to be constructed to gain the 12,500 capacity required by London Wasps under Guinness Premiership regulations for the coming season. However, the main problem of access still remains, and until a new road is built, or the existing hillbottom road widened, speculation as to whether Wycombe Wanderers and Wasps will remain at Adams Park will continue to be rife.

January 2011 – Steve Hayes has announced his intentions to build a new stadium for Wanderers and Wasps at Booker, just up the road from Adams park. There is large support and opposition from various groups, to the plans which currently show very little other than the stadium will be between 15,000-20,000 and include terracing. There may be a hotel and retail complex to support the stadium and pay some of the cost. This should be covered by a separate entry to Wikipedia. As it stands Adams Park has changed little since April 2008. The club shop has reduced in size by 50% in order for larger offices to accommodate Wasps staff at the ground.

Stands[link]

[edit] Bucks New University Stand (North)

Looking towards the Bucks New University Stand at Adams Park

Built: 1990
Capacity: 1,267 (but see note below regarding the paddock.)
Seats: 1,267
Contains the club offices and information centre, changing rooms, team facilities, club shop, Scores Sports Bar, Vere Suite, and space for journalists and radio.
There is additional space for 232 standing spectators in the paddock at the front of this stand, for London Wasps matches only. For Wycombe Wanderers matches, spectators may only stand here if they already have a valid seat ticket.

Dreams Stand (East)[link]

Built: 1990
Expanded: 2001
Capacity: 2,053
Seats: 2,043, plus 10 disabled wheelchair places.
The away supporters' end for football matches.
Originally terraced when the ground was built, the stand became all-seater in 1996 before being doubled in size to the current 2,053 capacity.

Frank Adams Stand / NHS Choose Well Stand (South)[link]

Built: 1990
Expanded: 1996
Capacity: 4,990
Seats: Upper Tier (Frank Adams Stand) = 2,842
Lower Tier (NHS Choose Well Stand) = 1,738, plus 50 disabled wheelchair places.
Executive Box Level = 360 (20 boxes, plus Woodlands Suite.)
Originally a single level terrace, like the Greene King IPA Terrace currently, this stand was expanded into a two-tier unit in 1996. This added boxes for corporate hospitality, and greatly increased seating capacity, with the lower tier (now the NHS Choose Well Stand) being designated as the stadium's Family Stand.

Greene King IPA Terrace (West)[link]

The Greene King IPA Terrace at Adams Park

Built: 1990
Capacity: 1,974
Seats: None
The home supporters' end for football matches, and the only remaining terrace in the stadium.

Facilities[link]

Vere Suite[link]

The Vere Suite is named after the Vere family who own and run the Verco furniture company based in High Wycombe, which was the Wanderers main sponsor when the ground was opened. Incorporated into the Bucks New University stand, towards the western end.

Scores Sports Bar[link]

This bar used to be known as The Centre Spot. Incorporated centrally into the back of the Bucks New University stand.

Woodlands Suite[link]

Situated on the Executive Box level of the Frank Adams / NHS Choose Well stand, towards the western end, the suite is available for hosting many events on both match and non-match days.

Club Shop[link]

The new club shop was opened in 2006, replacing the portakabins that had housed it for the previous few years. The original club shop at the ground was situated where the current Ticket Office 1 is situated, in the corner of the ground between the Bucks New University and Dreams stands.

See also[link]

• Ground improvements to football stadia in England

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Adams Park

• The Adams Park Website
• Wycombe Wanderers FC
• London Wasps
• Expansion 'key to Wasps future'

Juan Carlos Lemus

Juan Carlos Lemus (left) facing Siegfried Mehnert at a boxing tournament in Berlin, 1989
Personal information
Full name	Juan Carlos Lemus García
Nationality	Cuba
Born	(1965-05-06) May 6, 1965 (age 47)
Height	1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight	71 kilograms (160 lb)
Sport
Sport	Boxing
Rated at	Light Middleweight
Medal record Olympic Games Gold 1992 Barcelona Light Middleweight World Amateur Championships Gold 1991 Sydney Light Middleweight Pan American Games Gold 1987 Indianapolis Welterweight Gold 1991 Havana Light Middleweight Central American and Caribbean Games Gold 1993 Ponce Light Middleweight

Juan Carlos Lemus Garcia (born May 6, 1965) is a Cuban boxer, who won the gold medal in the men's Light Middleweight (71 kg) category at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.

Lemus also was awarded the gold medal at the 1987 Pan American Games, as well as the World Amateur Boxing Championships in 1991, beating the reigning champion at that time, Israel Akopkochyan.

Recently he resides in Canary Islands.

Olympic results[link]

• Defeated Arkadiy Topayev (Unified Team) 11-0
• Defeated Markus Beyer (Germany) RSCH 1 (0:44)
• Defeated Igors Saplavskis (Latvia) 12-2
• Defeated György Mizsei (Hungary) 10-2
• Defeated Orhan Delibaş (Netherlands) 6-1

Boxan gold medal Pre-olympics Barcelona 1992 and best boxer of the tournament also, with Oscar de la Hoya.

References[link]

• Sports-Reference

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This article about a Cuban Olympic medalist is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Noel Blake (born 12 January 1962) is a retired footballer and current head coach of the England national under-19 football team. He played in the Football League for Aston Villa, Shrewsbury Town, Birmingham City, Portsmouth, Leeds United, Stoke City, Bradford City and Exeter City, and in the Scottish Football League for Dundee.^[1]

Playing career[link]

Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Blake moved to England and played football with non-league side Sutton Coldfield Town. He was spotted by scouts at Aston Villa who signed Blake a year later. He struggled to force his way into the Villa side and went out on loan to Shrewsbury Town in 1982. He left Villa upon his return and joined local rivals Birmingham City. He quickly became a fan favourite with Birmingham as he scored against Villa in December 1982.^[2] He spent two years with Birmingham before signing with Portsmouth on the south coast. Whilst he did enjoy some success at 'Pompey' winning promotion in 1987, Blake had problems with racial abuse from his own supporters.^[3] After making over 150 appearances with Portsmouth, Blake joined Leeds United on a free transfer and he helped to club to promotion in the 1988–89 season. However his opportunities were limited the following season and so he was sold to Stoke City.^[4]

Blake's old manager at Portsmouth Alan Ball tempted Blake to join him at Stoke City in 1990. Ball was sacked in February 1991 as Stoke went on to record their worst league position of 14th in the third tier. Stoke's new manager Lou Macari only used Blake sparingly and later joined Bradford City on loan in 1992.^[1] He was the successful manager of the youth team at Stoke City. He joined Bradford permanently and latter played for Scottish side Dundee before ending his playing career with Exeter City.^[5]

Managerial career[link]

A qualified coach, holder of the UEFA Pro Licence,^[6] Blake was appointed in February 2007 as one of the Football Association's National Coaches to work with players in England's youth teams and to assist with coach education.^[7]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Noel Blake career stats at Soccerbase
• Noel Blake management career stats at Soccerbase

Roderick Haig-Brown (February 21, 1908 — October 9, 1976) was a Canadian writer and conservationist.

Early life[link]

Born in Lancing, Sussex, England his father, Alan Haig-Brown, was a teacher and a prolific writer who published hundreds of articles and poems on sports, the military and educational issues in various periodicals. His paternal grandfather, William, was headmaster of the Charterhouse School for thirty-three years. Alan was also an officer in the British Army during World War I. In 1918 he was killed in action in France. Roderick had a high regard for his father and describes him in an essay entitled “Alan Roderick Haig Brown” as “an Edwardian: one of the young, the strong, the brave and the fair who had faith in their nation, their world and themselves” (27).

His mother, Violet Mary Pope, was one of fifteen children of Alfred Pope, a wealthy Dorset brewer. After the war ended Roderick, his mother and his two sisters went to live with her family. His grandfather Pope was an industrious man with very strong Victorian values of “service, fair play, decency and acceptance of the obligations that follow with the privilege of class and education” (Robertson 6). He was a friend of Thomas Hardy and took young Roderick to tea there on at least one occasion. Roderick later noted in his essay “Hardy’s Dorset” that he regretted not having elicited more information from Hardy about being a writer, but he was sixteen then and was passionate about fishing and shooting. Life on his grandfather's country estate on the Frome River was more fascinating to him than “the past or its old men” (“Hardy’s Dorset” 43). His many uncles loved sport and taught him to fish and shoot, but it was a family friend, Major Greenhill, who served as Roderick’s sporting mentor and taught him both the skills and the ethics of sportsmanship. The estate's gamekeepers, particularly "Old Fox", introduced him to the importance of conservation and the complexity of the environment. In 1921 Roderick entered Charterhouse where his grandfather Haig-Brown had been headmaster.

His physical and social childhood environment contributed, according to biographer Anthony Robertson, to Roderick’s code of conduct. Throughout his life he adhered to an ideal balanced between reason and passion, an ideal infused with knowledge and tempered by responsibility, decency and fair play. This code “invoke[d] a mental and physical discipline that [went] beyond making a successful catch or kill; its central virtue [was] knowledge, intimate and thorough, transcending pursuit” (8).

Writing career[link]

Haig-Brown found his way to British Columbia, Canada through a series of unexpected events. After he was expelled from Charterhouse School for drinking and sneaking out, he joined his father’s regiment for a short while, but found that army life was too restrictive. The family decided that the British Colonial Civil Service might be a more agreeable alternative but he was too young to write the exams. He went, in the meantime to Seattle, Washington at the invitation of an uncle who had married a Seattle woman, promising his mother he would come back when he was eligible for the civil service. He worked at a logging camp in Washington, then crossed the border to Canada because his U.S. visa had expired. He remained in British Columbia for three years to work at Nimpkish Lake on Vancouver Island as a logger, a commercial fisherman and an occasional guide to visiting anglers. He returned to England in 1931 and enjoyed the fast-paced life of London. But images of British Columbia haunted him while he wrote his first book, Silver: The Life of an Atlantic Salmon (1931) as well as part of Pool and Rapid (1932). He returned to BC at the end of the year and planned his third book, Panther (1934). He married Ann Elmore of Seattle after publishing Panther, and the couple settled on the banks of the Campbell River where they lived for the rest of their lives, raising three daughters and a son.

From the year of his return to British Columbia to 1976, the year of his death, Roderick Haig-Brown published twenty-three books (five more were published posthumously), wrote numerous articles and essays, and created several series of talks and historical dramas for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He is most famous internationally for his writing on fly fishing and the natural world. He joined the Canadian Army as a personnel officer in 1943 and was later seconded for several months to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police which allowed him to travel across Canada and to the Arctic. He was magistrate for the town of Campbell River from 1941 until 1974. He became a trustee of the Nature Conservancy of Canada, an advisor to the BC Wildlife Federation, a senior advisor to Trout Unlimited and the Federation of Flyfishers, and a member of the Federal Fisheries Development Council and the International Pacific Salmon Fisheries Commission. He was also Chancellor of University of Victoria from 1970 to 1973. He served three times on the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission for British Columbia. These many responsibilities prevented him from devoting much time to writing in the last decade of his life. He retired from the bench a year before his death and was planning to get back to writing as the pressure of his other commitments gradually eased off. His life in his mature years features in many of his books, especially "A River Never Sleeps" and "Measure of the Year".

Recognition[link]

In 1953 Haig-Brown received an honourary LLD (Doctor of Laws) from the University of British Columbia. His books for younger readers won several awards, including the Governor General's Award for "Saltwater Summer" (based on his experience salmon fishing off northern Vancouver Island). The Haig-Brown's sold their family home and property on the banks of the Campbell River to the BC government to be preserved as greenbelt land in 1974, retaining a lifetime tenancy. The house is now home to a Canada Council sponsored Writer in Residence in the winter months and bed-and-breakfast in the summer. Haig-Brown's literary and judicial papers are in Special Collections in the library of the University of British Columbia and at the University of Victoria. Other family papers are in The Museum at Campbell River.

Legacy[link]

A large-sized Residence Hall at the University of Victoria is named after Roderick Haig-Brown.

Roderick Haig-Brown Provincial Park near Kamloops is named in recognition of the major work Haig-Brown did to preserve the Fraser River and its tributaries as Pacific salmon habitat, especially spawning grounds. This included lobbying to stop major hydropower projects such as the Moran Dam. The Adams River which runs through the Park is home to a major sockeye salmon run.

Mt. Haig-Brown in Strathcona Park on Vancouver Island is named for Roderick and his wife, Ann, in recognition of their efforts to preserve the Park, especially the battle in the 1950s to keep Buttle Lake from being flooded. The battle was lost but the process made many British Columbians aware of the need to be vigilant about their parks and the natural environment.

Bibliography[link]

• Silver: The Life Story of an Atlantic Salmon (1931)
• Pool and Rapid (1932)
• Panther (1934)
• The Western Angler (1939)
• Return to the River (1941)
• Timber (1942)
• Starbuck Valley Winter (1943)
• A River Never Sleeps (1946)
• Saltwater Summer (1948)
• On the Highest Hill (1949)
• Measure of the Year (1950)
• Fisherman's Spring (1951)
• Fisherman's Winter (1954)
• Mounted Police Patrol (1954)
• Captain of the Discovery (1956)
• Fisherman's Summer (1959)
• The Farthest Shores (1960)
• The Living Land (1961)
• Fur and Gold (1962)
• The Whale People (1962)
• A Primer of Fly-Fishing (1964)
• Fisherman's Fall (1964)
• The Salmon (1974)
• Bright Waters, Bright Fish (1980)
• Alison's Fishing Birds (1980)
• Woods and River Tales (1980)
• The Master and His Fish (1981)
• Writings and Reflections (1982)

See also[link]

• Roderick Haig-Brown Provincial Park
• Alan Haig-Brown
• A Fly Fishing Mentor

References[link]

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (October 2009)

• Roderick Haig-Brown. “Alan Roderick Haig Brown.” Writings and Reflections. Ed. Valerie Haig-Brown. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1982. 27-36.
• Roderick Haig-Brown. “Hardy’s Dorset.” Writings and Reflections. Ed. Valerie Haig-Brown. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1982. 37-47.
• Robertson, Anthony Robertson . Above Tide: Reflections on Roderick Haig-Brown. Madeira Park, B.C.: Harbour, 1984.
• Valerie Haig-Brown. "Deep Currents: Roderick and Ann Haig-Brown". Victoria, B.C.: Orca Book Publishers, 1997.
• Robert Cave. "Roderick Haig-Brown: A Descriptive Bibliography ". Citrus Heights, CA: published by the author, 2000.

External links[link]

• Roderick Haig-Brown entry in The Canadian Encyclopedia

Brad Park
Born	(1948-07-06) July 6, 1948 (age 63) Toronto, ON, CAN
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight	190 lb (86 kg; 13 st 8 lb)
Position	Defence
Shot	Left
Played for	New York Rangers Boston Bruins Detroit Red Wings
National team	Canada
NHL Draft	2nd overall, 1966 New York Rangers
Playing career	1968–1985
Hall of Fame, 1988

Douglas Bradford Park (born July 6, 1948) is a retired ice hockey defenceman who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the New York Rangers, Boston Bruins and Detroit Red Wings. He is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame. His autobiography, Straight Shooter: The Brad Park Story, is scheduled for release in August, 2012.^[1]

Playing career[link]

Park was drafted by the New York Rangers in the first round (2nd overall) in the 1966 NHL Amateur Draft and, after a brief stint with the minor-league Buffalo Bisons of the AHL, began playing for the Rangers in 1968.

New York Rangers[link]

Park quickly became the Rangers' best defenceman and drew comparisons with the great Bobby Orr, as both were credited with revolutionizing the "offensive" defenceman. Park's offensive skill, stickhandling and pugnacity attracted much attention from fans. Park and Orr occasionally fought each other on ice, and fans and sportswriters fueled the rivalry by making frequent comparisons, not least as the Rangers and Boston Bruins were bitter opponents. Years afterward, Park remarked "I saw no reason to be upset because I was rated second to Bobby Orr. After all, Orr not only was the top defenseman in the game but he was considered the best player ever to put on a pair of skates. There was nothing insulting about being rated number two to such a super superstar."^[2]

Park was made the alternate captain of the Rangers and briefly served as their captain. In 1972, despite the loss of leading team scorer Jean Ratelle with a broken ankle, Park led his team to defeat the defending champions Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the playoffs. The Rangers advanced to the Stanley Cup finals where they lost to Orr and the Boston Bruins, and Park finished runner-up for the Norris Trophy. When the upstart World Hockey Association tried to lure Park away, the Rangers re-signed him to a $200,000-a-year contract that made him, briefly, the highest-paid player in the NHL.^[3]

In the 1972 Summit Series, with Orr unable to play due to injury, Park emerged as a key contributor to Team Canada's series over the Soviets, being named the MVP of the deciding Game Eight and named Best Defenceman of the series.

In 1975–76, the Rangers got off to their worst start in ten years and the team began getting rid of their high-priced veterans. On November 7, 1975, one of the biggest trades of the era was made. Park, star centre Jean Ratelle and minor-leaguer Joe Zanussi were traded to Boston for superstar scoring champion Phil Esposito and defenceman Carol Vadnais. The New York press and public had felt that Park, 27 at the time, was overweight, overpaid, and over the hill, as he was facing comparisons to the New York Islanders' Denis Potvin.^[4]

Boston Bruins[link]

While Esposito and Vadnais remained effective players for the Rangers, that team remained mired at the bottom of the division after the trade, and Rangers general manager Emile Francis was eventually fired. Contrary to expectations that the Rangers had gotten the better end of the trade, the struggling Bruins were instantly rejuvenated and soon again became one of the NHL's best teams, despite the departures of Phil Esposito and Bobby Orr.^[5]

Taking over the mantle of leadership from Orr, whose career was threatened by injury and who would soon leave the team, Park continued his great success under coach Don Cherry. Park had previously been an end-to-end rushing player attempting to imitate Orr, but with the Bruins he was told by Cherry to concentrate on defence.^[4] Getting over his unpopularity in Boston when he was a member of the arch-rival Rangers, Park settled in well with the Bruins,^[6] even hitch-hiking a ride from two teenagers at 1 am after his car ran out of gas, and Park later rewarded them with free tickets to the next Boston home game.^[5]

From 1977-79, Cherry's "lunch-pail gang" captured three division titles for the Bruins. Park earned two First All-Star Team selections, while coming in second in the Norris Trophy race twice in a Bruins' uniform, with 1977-78 being considered one of his finest seasons.^[2] In 1977 and 1978, Park was a key contributor to Boston's back-to-back appearances in the Stanley Cup Finals where they lost to the Montreal Canadiens both times. His last hurrah with Boston was in the 1983 playoffs, when he scored a long-remembered overtime goal to beat the Buffalo Sabres in the seventh game of their playoff series.

Detroit Red Wings[link]

The following season Park signed with the Detroit Red Wings as a free agent and won the Bill Masterton Trophy for perseverance that same year, having set a record for assists by a Red Wings' defenceman. After the 1985 season, still an effective player but hobbled by repeated knee injuries, he announced his retirement. The next year he briefly served as Detroit's coach.

Retirement and personal life[link]

In 1988, Park was elected in his first year of eligibility to the Hockey Hall of Fame in his hometown of Toronto.

Park has resided on the North Shore of Massachusetts for almost 30 years, with his wife Gerry. He has five children and four grandchildren. His autobiography, Straight Shooter: The Brad Park Story, is scheduled for release in August, 2012.

Honors and achievements[link]

• Named to the First All-Star Team in 1970, 1972, 1974, 1976 and 1978.
• Named to the Second All-Star Team in 1971 and 1973.
• Runner up in Norris Trophy voting in 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1976 and 1978
• Received both the most First Team All-Star nominations (other than Earl Seibert, who retired before the trophy was awarded) and was runner-up for the Norris more times without winning the Norris than any other defenceman in NHL history.
• Played in the NHL All-Star Game in 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977 and 1978.
• The book 'Play the Man' (Dodd, Mead, & Co.) written by Brad Park and Stan Fischler was published in 1971.
• Retired as the leading defence scorer in Rangers' history and the second leading defence scorer in Bruins' history to Bobby Orr.
• At the time of his retirement, had played the most seasons in league history for a player never missing the playoffs.
• Currently 13th all-time in NHL history in defence scoring.
• Elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1988, in his first year of eligibility.
• Along with Butch Goring, one of the last two active players who had played in the 1960s.
• In 1998, he was ranked number 49 on The Hockey News' list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players.
• Ranked No. 11 on the all-time list of New York Rangers in the book 100 Ranger Greats (John Wiley & Sons, 2009).

Career statistics[link]

See also[link]

• List of members of the Hockey Hall of Fame
• List of NHL players with 1000 games played
• Captain (ice hockey)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Brad Park's biography at Legends of Hockey
• Brad Park's career stats at The Internet Hockey Database