Roman Neumayer

Roman Neumayer (1930/1931 – 23/24 December 2015) was an Austrian and German ice hockey executive. He served as the sport director of the German Ice Hockey Federation from 1970 to 1986, and as technical director for the International Ice Hockey Federation from 1986 to 1996. He received the Paul Loicq Award for services to international ice hockey, and was inducted into the German Ice Hockey Hall of Fame.

Early life Neumayer was born in 1930 or 1931, in the historical region of Bukovina in the Kingdom of Romania. Neumayer had traveled with the West Germany men's national team on a tour of Canada in 1973, The "Miracle of Innsbruck" team were all amateurs, and defeated the United States men's national team by a 4–1 score in their final game of the Olympic tournament. Neumayer arranged a nine-game tour in Canada following the 1976 Winter Olympics. He sought higher-level international competition, but was disappointed with the calibre of the junior ice hockey teams played from the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League and Alberta Junior Hockey League. In preparation for ice hockey at the 1980 Winter Olympics, Neumayer he arranged exhibition games versus the Adirondack Red Wings, University of Vermont, and Cornell University. The average age of players on the 1980 Olympics team was 21.5 years, drawing from the top tier of the Eishockey-Bundesliga, which scheduled a break to allow its players to complete in the Olympics.

In December 1980, Neumayer spoke out against teams in West German professional leagues stacking their rosters with more than the two allowed foreigner-born players, resulting in the West German Ice Hockey Federation suspending 50 players with invalid passports from German consulates in Canada.

International Ice Hockey Federation From 1986 to 1996, Neumayer served as the technical director for the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). He attended an international symposium on refereeing in hockey arranged by the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association in 1987, where discussion included consistency in the interpretation of rules, and dealing with on-ice violence. He helped investigate doping in sport in co-operation with the IIHF medical committee, and attended the Goodwill Games. In commenting about the 1992 IIHF Women's World Championship, he felt that China's play was a pleasant surprise and hoped it would encourage growth in the sport within Asia. After retiring from the IIHF, Neumayer remained in a technical advisory role at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, and served as chairman of other IIHF tournaments. The exhibits toured German cities including Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Mannheim, and Landshut until 1993; and were displayed during the 1993 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships in Munich. The exhibits were stored in Füssen until 1999, when Neumayer suggested a permanent museum in Augsburg. The IIHF since declared it was one of the four best ice hockey museums in Europe. In 1993, he delivered more than 4,000 items to the International Hockey Hall of Fame in Kingston.

Later hockey career and honors Neumayer received the Paul Loicq Award in 1999, in recognition for his service to the IIHF and promoting ice hockey worldwide. The Panthers donated jerseys and ice hockey equipment. Neumayer assisted in the planned construction of an arena, and used his connections to convince Bernd Haake from Germany to coach the team and set up a training camp playing against teams in South Africa.