Stan Mikita

Stanley Mikita (born Stanislav Guoth; May 20, 1940 – August 7, 2018) was a Slovak-born Canadian ice hockey player who played his entire 22-year National Hockey League (NHL) career with the Chicago Black Hawks.

Born in the Slovak Republic, Mikita was adopted and moved to Canada at the age of eight. After a few stellar seasons in the OHA, he was promoted to the Black Hawks in 1959. In the 1961 Stanley Cup playoffs, Mikita led the league in goals with six as the Black Hawks won the Stanley Cup, which made him the first Slovak-born player to win the Cup. The following season saw him named to his first All-Star Team on his first of fourteen consecutive 20-goal seasons. He won the first of four Art Ross Trophies as the leading point scorer in the season, which saw him record the most points four times in a span of five seasons. He won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy, Hart Memorial Trophy, and the Ross Trophy in the and seasons, the first and so far only time a player has won each award in the same season. In 1972, he was the sixth person to record 1,000 points and in 1977, he became the eighth player to score 500 goals in NHL history.

Generally regarded as the best centre of the 1960s, Mikita recorded over 500 goals and 900 assists in nearly 1,400 games. When he retired, he was one of only two players to record 500 goals and 900 assists for a career and he had recorded the most points for a player to have played with only one franchise. Mikita was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983 along with the Slovak Hockey Hall of Fame in 2002. He had his jersey retired by the Black Hawks in 1980, the first player to receive the honor in franchise history. In 2017, he was named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players.

Early life Mikita was born as Stanislav Guoth in Sokolče, Slovak Republic, during the brief period it was in existence as a client state of Nazi Germany. He was raised in a small farming community until 1948,

Playing career After three starring junior seasons with the St. Catharines Teepees of the Ontario Hockey Association, Mikita was promoted to the parent Chicago Black Hawks in . In his second full year, in 1961, the Black Hawks won their third Stanley Cup. The young centre led the entire league in goals during the playoffs, scoring a total of six.

The following season was his breakout year. Mikita became a star as centre of the famed "Scooter Line", with right wing Ken Wharram and left wingers Ab McDonald and Doug Mohns. Combining skilled defense and a reputation as one of the game's best faceoff men using his innovative curved stick, Mikita led the league in scoring four times in the decade, tying Bobby Hull's year-old single-season scoring mark in with 97 points (a mark broken two years later by former teammate Phil Esposito and currently held by Wayne Gretzky). The season, an 87-point effort from Mikita, was the last year a Chicago player won the scoring title until Patrick Kane's 106-point season.

In his early years, Mikita was among the most penalized players in the league, but he then decided to play a cleaner game and went on to win the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy for particularly sportsmanlike conduct combined with excellence twice. Mikita's drastic change in behavior came after he returned home from a road trip. His wife told him that while their daughter, Meg, was watching the Black Hawks' last road game on television, she turned and said, "Mommy, why does Daddy spend so much time sitting down?"

During his playing career, in 1973, Mikita teamed up with Chicago businessman Irv Tiahnybik to form the American Hearing Impaired Hockey Association (AHIHA), to bring together deaf and hard-of-hearing hockey players from all over the country, and he founded the Stan Mikita School for the Hearing Impaired, inspired by a friend's deaf son who was an aspiring goalie. He also helped bring the Special Olympics to Chicago, bringing his family out to volunteer at races.

Curved stick use Mikita and teammate Bobby Hull were a well-known forward duo in the 1960s, gaining notoriety for using sticks with curved blades. Such sticks gave a comparative advantage to shooters versus goaltenders. As a result, the NHL limited blade curvature to ½" in 1970. Mikita reportedly began the practice after his standard stick got caught in a bench door, bending the blade before he hit the ice; he soon was borrowing a propane torch from team trainers to create a deliberate curve.

Retirement

Mikita's later years were marred by chronic back injuries, leading to his retirement as an active player on April 14, 1980. At that time, only Gordie Howe and Phil Esposito had scored more points in the NHL, and just six players had appeared in more games. Mikita was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983, and into the Slovak Hockey Hall of Fame in 2002.

After retiring, Mikita became a golf pro at Kemper Lakes Golf Club. His other business interests, under Stan Mikita Enterprises, included making the small plastic sauce containers that accompany chicken nuggets at McDonald's.

Mikita provided the foreword to the children's book My Man Stan by Tim Wendel. Mikita is featured as a main character in the book.

He became a goodwill ambassador for the Blackhawks' organization, and in fall of 2011, the Blackhawks raised a statue honouring Mikita at Gate 3½ at Chicago's United Center. For three decades the Blackhawks Alumni Association has hosted an annual golf tournament named in Mikita's honour. and just three other players (Steve Yzerman, Alex Delvecchio, and Nicklas Lidström) have appeared in more games while playing for only one team over their careers.

Mikita appeared as himself in a cameo role in the 1992 film Wayne's World, which featured a "Stan Mikita" doughnut shop, spoofing the Canadian doughnut chain Tim Hortons (co-founded by Hockey Hall of Fame member Tim Horton). and at Paramount Carowinds in Charlotte.

Illness and death

On May 24, 2011, Mikita was diagnosed with oral cancer and began external beam radiation therapy. On January 30, 2015, the Chicago Tribune released this statement from his wife: "Stan has been diagnosed with suspected Lewy body dementia, a progressive disease, and was under the care of compassionate and understanding care givers". By June, it had been reported that Mikita had no memory of his former life and was being cared for by his wife Jill.

Mikita died at the age of 78 on August 7, 2018. He was survived by his wife, four children and nine grandchildren. Mikita's ashes are interred at Bronswood Cemetery in Oak Brook, Illinois. On September 14, 2019, it was reported by the Boston University CTE Center, that upon performing a posthumous study of Mikita's brain, it was found that he suffered from stage 3 chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, at the time of his death. This marked Mikita as the first Hall of Famer to ever have been diagnosed with the disease.

Career statistics Regular season and playoffs Regular seasonPlayoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1956–57 St. Catharines Teepees OHA 52 16 31 47 129 14 8 9 17 44 1957–58 St. Catharines Teepees OHA 52 31 47 78 146 8 4 5 9 46 1958–59 St. Catharines Teepees OHA 45 38 59 97 197 — — — — — 1958–59 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 3 0 1 1 4 — — — — — 1959–60 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 67 8 18 26 119 3 0 1 1 2 1960–61 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 66 19 34 53 100 12 6 5 11 21 1961–62 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 70 25 52 77 97 12 6 15 21 19 1962–63 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 65 31 45 76 69 6 3 2 5 2 1963–64 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 70 39 50 89 146 7 3 6 9 8 1964–65 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 70 28 59 87 154 14 3 7 10 53 1965–66 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 68 30 48 78 58 6 1 2 3 2 1966–67 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 70 35 62 97 12 6 2 2 4 2 1967–68 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 72 40 47 87 14 11 5 7 12 6 1968–69 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 74 30 67 97 52 — — — — — 1969–70 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 76 39 47 86 50 8 4 6 10 2 1970–71 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 74 24 48 72 85 18 5 13 18 16 1971–72 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 74 26 39 65 46 8 3 1 4 4 1972–73 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 57 27 56 83 32 15 7 13 20 8 1973–74 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 76 30 50 80 46 11 5 6 11 8 1974–75 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 79 36 50 86 48 8 3 4 7 12 1975–76 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 48 16 41 57 37 4 0 0 0 4 1976–77 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 57 19 30 49 20 2 0 1 1 0 1977–78 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 76 18 41 59 35 4 3 0 3 0 1978–79 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 65 19 36 55 34 — — — — — 1979–80 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 17 2 5 7 12 — — — — — NHL totals 1,394 541 926 1,467 1,270 155 59 91 150 169Statistics via HockeyDB

International Year Team Event GP G A Pts PIM 1972 Canada SS 2 0 1 1 0 Senior totals 2 0 1 1 0

Awards and accomplishments Ranked 14th all-time in points, 18th in assists, 31st in goals, and 40th in games played (at end of 2017-18 NHL season) Won the Hart Memorial Trophy as most valuable player in 1967 and 1968 Won the Art Ross Trophy as leading scorer in 1964, 1965, 1967, and 1968 Won the Lester Patrick Trophy in 1976 Mikita's number 21 was retired by the Blackhawks on October 19, 1980; he was the first player to have his jersey number retired by the Blackhawks Mikita was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983 In 2011, statues of Mikita and Bobby Hull were installed outside the United Center, where the Blackhawks currently play The first player of Slovak origin who won the Stanley Cup