HOCKEY

MIKE ROSENBAUM

Special to The Jewish News

A

quick tour of Sam
and Helen Green-
blatt's Southfield
home shows how much their
lives are intertwined with

hockey.
while Kitchen shelves are

packed with kosher cook-
books, a display case of Sam
Greenblatt's hockey awards
accents the dining area.
Upstairs, one wall holds fami-
ly photos while a nearby wall
features snapshots from
Sam's hockey-playing days.
But this is not the case of a
tolerant wife forced to put up
with her husband's hockey
mania — not by a long shot.
As Sam says, it's all her
fault.
In 1970, it was Helen who,
says Sam, "volunteered my
services" to the Oak Park
recreational hockey league.
And now, 20 years later,
Greenblatt, 56, who is Coach-
in-Chief for USA Hockey, the
governing body of amateur
hockey in the United States,
finds himself being honored
with the second annual

modestly, "but I look at that
award and accept it on behalf
of all the volunteers in the
Coaching Achievement Pro-
gram across the United
States." Greenblatt's job is
full-time, but he, too, is a
volunteer.
Born in Ibronto, Greenblatt
began playing hockey there.
The family moved to Detroit
when Sam was about 12.
A forward, Greenblatt con-
tinued playing amateur
hockey in Detroit through the
1950s, finishing his playing
days in the senior leagues in
1961.
But Greenblatt, a Cass Thch
High School graduate who at-
tended Wayne State Univer-
sity and served two years in
the U.S. Army, looks to 1970
as the seminal year of his
coaching career.
It was then that he, work-
ing long hours away from
home as a printer, found
himself "volunteered" to
work with the Squirt (age 10)
hockey team that his oldest
son, Harry, had joined.
"I started helping the
coach," Greenblatt recalls. "I
was knowledgeable about the

(OPHA) which brought
together all of Oak Park's
various hockey teams.
The OPHA organized travel
teams to meet the best
players from other cities with
Greenblatt coaching the Pee
Wee travel team to the state
district playoffs. Oak Park's
Midget team won the state

interest in coaching. Because
I was president of the OPHA,
I was concerned that coaches
get proper instruction. So, at
that time, Cooper (the spor-
ting goods company) had a
guy by the name of Bill
Hayward. He used to run
training camps for the pros,
really like a drill sergeant.

Vairo says Greenblatt
has "rachmonis," the
Yiddish word for
"compassion."

Coach-in-Chief Sam Greenblatt is rewarded for two decades of service to the sport.

Walter Yaciuk Award,
presented to an individual
who has made a significant
contribution to the develop-
ment of youth hockey coaches
in the U.S.
Greenblatt was recognized
for his years of involvement in
hockey, from grass-roots
beginning to his current job,
in which he oversees USA
Hockey's Coaching Achieve-
ment Program (CAP).
"Maybe I received an
award," Greenblatt says

game as a player, but never
had any background or train-
ing as a coach."
Greenblatt's involvement in
the sport took off from there.
He learned the art of
coaching, working with teams
at all levels, from Mites
through Seniors. In 1971,
together with Oak Park
Police Chief Glen Leonard,
Greenblatt put his organiza-
tional skills and considerable
energy into forming the Oak
Park Hockey Association

championship in that first
season.
Greenblatt, already known
as "Mr. Hockey of Oak Park,"
became president of the new
OPHA. Such was his reputa-
tion that many believed he
was responsible for enclosing
the Oak Park ice rink, which
was open-air when the OPHA
was formed, but Greenblatt
disavows any such involve-
ment.
After that season, Green-
blatt says, "I really took an

He would travel across the
country doing coaching
clinics. I brought him into
Oak Park.
Although he became involv-
ed in different areas of hockey
— he formed the South
Oakland Hockey League and
was active in the Michigan
Amateur Hockey Association
—the thrust of his hockey in-
volvement has been in im-
proving coaching.
In 1977, USA Hockey
revitalized its Coaching

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

57

