Seat of Your Pants

by John Doolan

To ‘fly by the seat of your pants’ is to decide a course of action as you go along, using your own initiative and perceptions rather than a predetermined plan or mechanical aids.  It’s a similar phrase to “winging it,” and both expressions come from early aviation.  A line from the movie “Heartbreak Ridge” in which Clint Eastwood says “Adapt, Overcome, and Persevere.”  I am confident that even in today’s game, you are all winging it at some point. 

At some point either your athletes or yourselves have used a few of the below mentioned adaptations or inventions.

Tommy Naylor spent 26 years with the Maple Leafs and was part of 9 Cups.  He retired in 1970 but was called back to do skates for Team Canada in the 72 Summit Series.  He was widely sought out for his sharpening doing so not only for hockey but also international figure skaters. 

He has been credited with designing the portable sharpener so teams could travel with their own machine.  He also had a hand in the evolution of skates, which did not have a tendon guard.  After seeing players getting tendon cuts, Tom came up with a sewable guard, which then was intricated into the boot by manufacturers.  Bobby Hull played his whole career with the boot and sewn on tendon guard.  Blades have come a long, long way from Tommy’s days.  At one time we had tube skates, maybe you young guys have seen pictures.  The heal of the blade came to a sharp point and if a player fell a certain way, the heal of his skate could injure someone.  Tom came up with a heal plug (pictured 1,2) that inserted into the open end of the tube style blade.  He also came up with the wrap around calf protection for shin guards mostly used by defenseman. (pictured 3)

This is just a short overview of what Tommy Naylor gave to the game and our groups. 

The Alumni strongly encourage the HOF committee to induct Mr. Naylor posthumously.

Fifty or so years ago, manufactures did not make goalie pants.  Goalies wore the same pant as everyone else except for one change.  We would take foam and make a roll about two inches in diameter, tape it and sew them into the inseam to close the 5 hole. 

Mitten Clips are just what the name says, small bands of elastic with two clips.  Their purpose is to prevent little tykes from losing their mittens and clip to the coat.  Someone came up with the idea to use them to keep suspenders tighter on the pants.  Zinger in Winnipeg had a cottage industry supplying a beefed-up model to other equipment managers at one point in time.

What would happen if your sweaters showed up without a “tie down, fight strap?”  Well, they were not always taken for granted.  In fact, they are the result of “Winging It.”  Up until expansion in 67’ the game was not as rough until the Big Bad Bruins and Broad Street Bullies came to play.  My first recollection of a tie down was taking an old skate lace and a quarter and tying the quarter, then tying to the pants.  Ken Carson, long time trainer in both hockey and baseball took it a step further.  He would take garter belts, cut the straps and have those then sewn to the sweater, preferably on a number for better reinforcement.  The strap could then be attached to the pants’ suspender button.

Several years ago, you began adding “Plate Protectors” to gloves.  Well once again, this is a concept that goes back to the late 60’s.  Ken also worked with Spalding, who was also in the hockey biz to design what we called a “Fastback Glove”. (picture 4) Designed to add extra protection, it was also introduced by other manufactures like Cooper and Jofa. 

HOF member Mark Brennen has also winged it several times over his career.  There was a time when the toe of goalie pads was attached to the skate with “toe buckles and staples that went around the cowlings of the skates resulting in goalies taking direct shots to the skate. (picture 5) Mark came up with the idea of putting a protective piece where the buckles were and lacing them to the skate using a lace resulting in the “Toe Bridge” that is the now the norm.

Just as today, we had an open relationship with the players, manufactures and the equipment reps.  We looked to them for innovation, and they looked to us for inspiration.  It was a working relationship, we shared ideas and we were happy to see changes made to where we all are today.

We will have several Alum in attendance in Florida, so please take a moment to introduce yourselves and pick our withering brains.  Good luck for the rest of the season!

All photos courtesy of John Doolan