Thursday, January 29, 2009

Mt. Rushmore: Jerry York

Our task at arriving at our BC athletics make-believe Mt. Rushmore - Mt. Eaglemore? - starts with what seems to be a non-controversial candidate, Jerry York.

Name: Jerry York
Born: July 1945 in Watertown, MA
Sport: Men's Ice Hockey
BC Era: 1963-1967 (player), 1994-present (coach)


Why He's In
  • Double Eagle
  • Ranks among the school's all-time leaders in career points, goals, assists, single season points and single season assists
  • Led the Eagles to a 60-26 record, the 1965 Beanpot and a second-place finish in the 1965 NCAA Tournament
  • Captain, leading scorer, MVP and All-American with the Eagles 1966-1967 squad
  • Inducted into the Boston College Varsity Club Athletic Hall of Fame in 1982
  • Winningest active coach in NCAA men's division I history (over 800 wins)
  • Four Hockey East regular season titles and 6 Hockey East tournament championships
  • Eight Frozen Four appearances in eleven years from 1998 to 2008, 6 title game appearances
  • 2 National Championships with the Eagles
  • One of only three coaches in NCAA history to lead two schools to National titles
  • Great recruiter (coached 8 Eagles to NHL first-round draft selections - Reasoner, Orpik, Kolanos, Kobasew, Boyle, Eaves, Schneider, Petrecki)

Maybe Not?
  • A lot of his wins that helped him procure a spot as winningest active men's hockey coach came with stops at Clarkson (7 years) and Bowling Green (15 years)
  • If you are going to have one ice hockey coach on BC Mt. Rushmore, do you go with Jerry York or John "Snooks" Kelley? Or even Len Ceglarski? Kelley coached the Eagles for 40 years (York for only 15) and won the 1949 National title. Kelley coached the Eagles to 501 wins and the rink at Silvio O. Conte Forum is named after him! Ceglarski has 673 wins.
  • Solid recruiter? Doesn't the program sell itself?

X-Factor
  • Suit + sweater vest + tie looks hot carved in granite
  • Won more national championships for the school than any other BC coach? (Football 0, Basketball 0, Sailing ??)

Quote from the movie Rushmore that may or may not lend credence to his candidacy

Herman Blume: What's the secret, Max?
Max Fischer: The secret?
Herman Blume: Yeah, you seem to have it pretty figured out.
Max Fischer: The secret, I don't know... I guess you've just gotta find something you love to do and then... do it for the rest of your life. For me, it's going to Rushmore.

Objections?

5 comments:

BCMike said...

My four would probably be:

Frank Leahy
Jerry York
Doug Flutie
Troy Bell / Matt Ryan

BeantownBC85 said...

Frank Leahy was only here 2 years. He went 20-2 and had a big bowl win, but he was ND before as a student, and ND after as a coach.

I think the list should be more BC-centric, BC Mike.

BCMike said...

True, Beantown...I guess I was giving a tip of the hat for the National Championship he won for BC football while he was here.

But I will concede the nomination.

Brian said...

Ahh, but it was only a mythical national championship since the NCAA doesn't recognize Boston College's claim to the 1940 national title ...

Brian said...

Oh wait, aren't they ALL mythical national championships??