Wally Grant

Wallace Daniel Grant (December 8, 1927 – November 5, 2014) was an American ice hockey player. Grant helped the University of Michigan win the first NCAA National Championship in 1948. He was inducted into the University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor in 1987 and the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 1994.

Minnesota state championship Grant was born and raised in Leonidas, Minnesota. Grant learned to skate on an ice rink that his father made by flooding a small grassy area near their home. Nicknamed "Cedar Legs" because of his bowed legs, Grant attended nearby Eveleth High School, where he was the left wing and captain of the hockey team that won the first Minnesota state hockey championship in 1945. Eveleth outscored the competition 30-3 in the inaugural tournament. Grant played most of the game in the finals against Thief River Falls and scored the game-tying and game-winning goals within a span of 61 seconds in the third period.

University of Michigan

After graduating from high school, Grant enrolled in at the University of Michigan, where he played four seasons of hockey between 1945 and 1950. He took one year off after his freshman year to serve in the U.S. Army. In 1948, he played on the first NCAA Frozen Four ice hockey championship team. Four teams were selected to play in the first NCAA ice hockey championship, held at the Broadmoor Hotel Ice Palace in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The four teams to play in the inaugural Frozen Four were Michigan, Boston College, Dartmouth and Colorado College. Grant played on Michigan's famous "G" line, which included Wally Gacek and Ted Greer. Each of the three linemates scored a third-period goal in Michigan's championship win over Dartmouth in 1948. Michigan's hockey title in 1948 capped off a year in which Michigan had also won the National Championship in football, and the conference basketball championship.

Grant was named an All-American three times, in 1948, 1949 and 1950, and captain of the 1950 team. In his four years at Michigan, Grant scored 63 goals and 83 assists for 146 career points.

Later years and honors Grant graduated from Michigan with a business degree in 1950 and worked for 37 years for General Motors, retiring in 1987 as comptroller of the Warren Division of Hydra-Matic. Grant died on November 5, 2014, at the age of 86. Award Year NCAA All-Tournament First Team 1948, 1949 AHCA First Team All-American 1948–49 NCAA All-Tournament Second Team 1950 and the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in 1994.