Memphis Wings

Central Professional Hockey League (1964-1967)

Background

The Memphis Wings hockey team was the first pro sports team to take up residence in Memphis’ newly-constructed 10,000-seat Mid-South Coliseum during the winter of 1964. In fact, the Coliseum wasn’t quite finished yet when the Central Professional Hockey League schedule kicked off in October. So the Wings’ were forced to play their first six weeks on the road before making their home debut before an estimated Coliseum crowd of 3,500 on December 2nd, 1964.²Thillen, Vincent. “Omaha Spoils Wings’ Home Debut On Late Goal”. The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN). December 3, 1964

The Wings were a directly owned farm club of the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings. The club landed in Memphis in 1964 as an indirect result of an horrific propane gas explosion that killed 74 people at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum on Halloween night 1963. The tragedy wrecked the Coliseum and displaced Detroit’s Indianapolis farm team, who were then forced to play the rest of their season on an emergency basis in Cincinnati.  It was this Indianapolis/Cincinnati club that Red Wings owner Bruce Norris moved to Memphis in April 1964.

On The Ice

At the time the Wings joined the CPHL in 1964, the league had a rule that teams must carry 10 players under the age of 23 on their roster. 13 of the 17 players on Memphis’ initial roster for the 1964-65 season were 23 or younger. But despite that regulation, a number of accomplished NHL veterans would suit up for the Memphis Wings over the next three seasons. Wingers Ab McDonald and Andre Provonost, for example, both had four Stanley Cup championships on their respective resumes, mostly with the Montreal Canadiens dynasty of the 1950’s.

Other notable players included  Pat Quinn (Wings ’65-’66) and Glen Sather (Wings ’64-’65), both of whom would earn election to the Hockey Hall of Fame in the “Builder” category, for their later coaching and front office accomplishments. Sather famously won four Stanley Cups during the 1980’s as coach of the Wayne Gretzky-era Edmonton Oilers.

Death of Butch Paul

Though the Wings developed a large number of future NHL and WHA regulars, the team never fared particularly well in Central Hockey League competition. Memphis missed the playoffs in each of its first two years and lost in the first round at the end of the Wings’ final season in 1966-67.

The conclusion of the 1965-66 season was marked by tragedy. On March 25th, 1966 the Wings faced the Tulsa Oilers in the season’s penultimate home contest at Mid-South Coliseum. Needing a win to stay in the playoff hunt, the Wings saw their hopes end in a 1-1 tie before 2,026 spectators. Following the game, 22-year old Wings center Butch Paul died in a head-on collision with a drunk driver, 19-year old Betty Morris of Memphis, who also perished in the crash. Paul, the Wings leading scorer for the season, had recently been voted the club’s Most Valuable Player. Right winger Max Mestinsek, accepted the award in honor of his former roommate at the Wings’ final home game the following night.

Departure & Replacement

During Memphis’ first season in the CPHL, the Wings led the 6-team circuit in attendance with average attendance of 3,722 per game. But crowds dropped sharply the following two seasons. In March 1967, with several games on the Wings’ regular season schedule, Detroit Red Wings officials revealed that the club would move to Fort Worth, Texas for the 1967-68 season.

The CPHL immediately placed a new club, the Memphis South Stars, into the Mid-South Coliseum for the 1967-68 season. The South Stars played two seasons before departing for Waterloo, Iowa in 1969.

Memphis Wings Shop

Links

Central Hockey League Media Guides

Central Hockey League Programs

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