Southern Hockey League (1973-1977)
Tombstone
Born: 1973 – SHL founding franchise
Folded: January 7, 19771Lindquist, Jerry. “Two Franchises Fail, SHL Down to 3 Teams”. The Times-Dispatch (Richmond, VA). January 8, 1977
First Game: October 12, 1973 (W 6-4 vs. Greensboro Generals)
Last Game: January 6, 1977 (T 3-3 @ Hampton Gulls)
Southern Hockey League Championships: None
Arena
Winston-Salem Memorial Coliseum (6,037)
Marketing
Team Colors: Gold, Red & Blue
Ownership
Owners:
- 1973-1975: Ed Timmerman, Eldridge Hanes, et al.
- 1975-1977: Jim Crockett Jr.
Background
The Winston-Salem Polar Twins were a rough-and-tumble mid-70’s minor league hockey outfit from deep in the heart of North Carolina tobacco country. They had one of the great (or, at least, original) ice hockey names of all time. If you have a theory on the origin of this name, please leave your explanation in the comments.
Originally owned by a group of 15 investors, the group suffered through a couple of tough seasons and by December 1975, the Polar Twins’ financial backers apparently dwindled to one guy named Ed Timmerman who couldn’t keep the club afloat. Famed wrestling promoted Jim Crockett Jr. stepped in to take over the team and kept it going until January 1977. The league’s championship trophy, the Crockett Cup, was named for Jim Jr.’s father, a long-time backer of the Charlotte Checkers minor league hockey team.
Demise
By January 1977, the Southern Hockey League was in dire straits, with several clubs dropping out midseason. Crockett declined to keep the Polar Twins going in light of the other SHL clubs dropping out of the league in early 1977 and folded the team on January 7, 1977. Reduced to just three solvent teams, the rest of the Southern Hockey League closed its doors a few weeks later.
Winston-Salem Polar Twins Shop
Links
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5 Responses
Winston-Salem is sometimes known as the “Twin City” (it was at one point two separate cities, Winston and Salem) – and their minor league baseball club used to be known as the Twins.
I think it’s just a “hockey/winter” take on the city’s traditional name for another of its teams (it’s been done elsewhere – Tulsa Oilers/Ice Oilers, Raleigh Capitals/IceCaps, etc.)
I agree with the analysis of the name. Althoug all shl team names have take bow to the Macon (GA) Whoopees
The team ran a “name the team” contest that was bogus as the name had been chosen beforehand, probably by the orginal GM, a former NHL linesman and graphic artist, PR guy. Probably a nod to the twin cities/winter/hockey idea, but I think he had envisioned the logo already, which was truly awesome–two stick wielding, skating polar bears, one with Winston on its shirt and the other Salem, the words themselves in the same font as the cigarettes which were made in the city of Winston-Salem. No idea how the color scheme was chosen. Originally the team announced they would wear red and black similar to the Black Hawks.
My father actually worked for this team after he graduated from Virginia Tech.
DID the Polar TWins Logo have any colour in it or was it always the two bears just white and black? Vancouver jersey colours .