Dallas Black Hawks

Central Hockey League (1967-1982)

Tombstone

Born: 1967 – The St. Louis Braves relocate to Dallas, TX
Folded: May 19, 1982¹

First Game: October 14, 1967 (L 4-0 @ Fort Worth Wings)
Last Game: May 14, 1982 (L 5-1 @ Indianapolis Checkers)

Adams Cup Champions: 1969, 1972, 1974 and 1979

Arena

Fair Park Coliseum (7,928)²

Marketing

Team Colors: Red, White & Black³

Ownership & Affiliations

Owners:

????-????: Chicago Black Hawks (William Wirtz)

NHL Affiliations:⁴

1967-1978: Chicago Black Hawks
1976-1978: Toronto Maple Leafs
1978-1982: Vancouver Canucks
1978-1979: Edmonton Oilers (WHA)
1980-1981: Toronto Maple Leafs

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Background

The Dallas Black Hawks were a minor league hockey club that played 15 seasons in the Central Hockey League (1963-1984). From 1967 to 1978, Dallas was a farm club of the NHL’s Chicago Black Hawks.

From 1976 to 1978, Chicago shared sponsorship of the Dallas club with the Toronto Maple Leafs. During the summer of 1978, Chicago and Toronto jointly decided to leave Dallas in favor of establishing a shared farm team in Moncton, New Brunswick to play in the American Hockey League.

Despite Chicago’s departure, the Dallas CHL franchise kept the ‘Black Hawks’ name and soldiered on for four more seasons. During their final years, the Black Hawks served as a farm clun of the Vancouver Canucks, supplemented by brief partial affiliations with the Edmonton Oilers and the Maple Leafs.

Adams Cup Mainstays

The Black Hawks were a powerhouse in the Central League, appearing in the Adams Cup championship series in ten of their fifteen seasons. They won the championship four times: 1969, 1972, 1974 and 1979. The Black Hawks first three Adams Cup victories came under the direction of Head Coach Bobby Kromm, who helmed the club for eight seasons from 1967 to 1975. Kromm went on to the majors in 1975, coaching the Winnipeg Jets to a World Hockey Association championship in 1976. He later coached the Detroit Red Wings of the NHL from 1977 to 1980. Long-time minor league coach John Muckler was behind the bench when the Black Hawks won their fourth and final championship in 1979. Muckler would later coach the Edmonton Oilers to the Stanley Cup in 1990.

Another notable coach for the ‘Hawks was Roger Neilson. Neilson coached the team for one season only (1976-77) before moving on to the NHL, where he coached 1,000 games between 1977 and 2002. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2002.

The End

Throughout their history, the Black Hawks engaged in a heated rivalry with the Central League’s nearby Fort Worth franchise, which was known as the Wings from 1967-1974 and the Texans from 1974 to 1982. The Dallas and Fort Worth clubs both folded in the spring of 1982, ending the CHL’s greatest geographic rivalry and boding ill for the overall health of the league. The death knell for the Black Hawks was a May 1982 decision by its final NHL parent club, the Vancouver Canucks, not to renew their affiliation for the 1982-83 season.

The CHL itself folded two years later in May 1984.

Trivia

Black Hawks enforcer Randy Holt set the all-time CHL single season penaly minutes record (411) during the 1974-75 season. In 1979, as a member of the Los Angeles Kings, Holt established the NHL single-game penalty minutes record (67!), a feat that stands unsurpassed more than 40 years later.