Sven Tumba

Sven Tumba (born Sven Olof Gunnar Johansson; 27 August 1931 – 1 October 2011) was one of the most prominent Swedish ice hockey players of the 1950s and 60s. He also represented Sweden in football as well as golf.

Johansson first became known as "Tumba" in the 1950s since there were other players with the same last name, and he grew up in the Swedish town of Tumba. In October 1960 he married his wife Mona, and five years later he, along with Mona, legally changed his family name to Tumba.

After his retirement from hockey, he became an accomplished golfer, a golf course designer as well as an ambassador to the game of golf, even officially introducing the game of golf to the former Soviet Union. He died on 1 October 2011 after being at the Danderyds sjukhus hospital for three months due to an infection in the hip. He was subsequently honored prior to the Elitserien games that were played that day, with a one-minute silence. His body was buried at the Engelbrekt church in Östermalm, Stockholm, on 20 October 2011. Approximately 500 friends and relatives arrived at the church to leave flowers and honour Sven Tumba.

Ice hockey
Tumba played for the Swedish club Djurgårdens IF from 1950 to 1966, winning eight Swedish Championships and leading the league top goal scorer three years. He had a lengthy international career, playing for Sweden at 14 IIHF World Championships, four Winter Olympics, named best forward at the 1957 and 1962 World Championships and top scorer at the 1964 Winter Olympics. He also captained the national team. Djurgården has retired number 5 in his honor.

Tumba still holds the Swedish scoring record of 186 goals (in 245 games) for the Swedish national team.

In 1997 he was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame and was in 1999 awarded the "Best Swedish Ice-hockey Player of All Times", outvoting prominent players such as Peter Forsberg and Mats Sundin.

Tumba was the first European player to attend an NHL training camp, with the Boston Bruins in 1957.

As a player:
 * 1950-63: 8-time Swedish Champion (1954, 55, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63)
 * 1952: Olympic bronze, Oslo, Norway.
 * 1953: World Champion, Zurich-Basel, Switzerland.
 * 1954: World Championship Bronze, Stockholm, Sweden
 * 1956: Olympic 5th place, Cortina, Italy.
 * 1957: Test player for Boston Bruins. He was offered a contract, but turned it down, since he then would have become ineligible to play for the Swedish national team.
 * 1957: World Champion, Moscow, USSR (also nominated best forward.)
 * 1958: World Championship Bronze, Oslo, Norway.
 * 1960: Olympic 5th place, Squaw Valley, USA.
 * 1962: World Champion, Colorado Springs, USA (also nominated best forward.)
 * 1963: World Championship Silver, Stockholm, Sweden
 * 1964: Olympic Silver, Innsbruck, Austria.
 * 1965: World Championship Bronze, Tampere, Rauma, Finland.
 * 1989: Nominated the best Swedish ice hockey player throughout time.

Ice hockey projects:
 * 1955: Inventor of the first hockey helmet, the SPAPS helmet.
 * 1957: Founder of the Swedish ice hockey school on TV and the first ice hockey tournament for children, TV-pucken.

Personal life
Tumba was survived by his wife Mona and their four sons. For most of his retirement, he and his wife lived in West Palm Beach, Florida, returning to Sweden for the summer.