Tommy Gorman

Thomas Patrick "T. P." Gorman (June 9, 1886 – May 15, 1961) was a founder of the National Hockey League, a winner of seven Stanley Cups as a general manager with four teams.

Joins the NHL
Ted Dey, principal owner of the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey Association, had trouble recruiting players for the 1916–17 season and hired Mr. Gorman to do the task. He did so capably that he was hired as secretary-treasurer. Mr. Gorman, George Kennedy, Sam Lichtenhein and Mike Quinn all played a part in forming the National Hockey League in an effort to rid themselves of Eddie Livingstone.

Even though he had never played hockey, Mr. Gorman was a talented evaluator of talent. In 1917, he took over the Ottawa Senators and helped lead the team to Stanley Cups in 1920, 1921, and 1923. He sold his interest in the Senators in 1925 to Frank Ahearn and became manager-coach of the New York Americans, introducing professional hockey to New York City.

Returns to the NHL
He resigned from the Americans in 1929 to get involved in horse racing. Late in the 1932–33 season, he was hired as coach of the Chicago Black Hawks and became general manager as well the following season, building a defensive squad around Lionel Conacher and goalie Charlie Gardiner. He took the team from last place in their division in 1932–33 to their first Stanley Cup victory in 1934—despite scoring the fewest goals of any NHL team. Ten days after the Cup victory, Gorman resigned. He went to Montreal and helped the Montreal Maroons to their final Cup in 1935, thus becoming the first (and only) coach to win consecutive Stanley Cups with different teams. Gorman coached the Maroons until the club folded in 1938. In 1940, he became general manager of the Montreal Canadiens and led them to Cup victories in 1944 and 1946. He is only person to manage 4 different teams to championships Senators, Black Hawks, Maroons and Canadiens. No other General Manager in the history of the NHL, Major League Baseball, the National Football League, or the National Basketball Association has won championships with four different teams.

Ottawa sports promoter
After retiring as general manager of the Canadiens in 1946, Gorman bought the Ottawa Senators of the Quebec Senior Hockey League, managing it to win the Allan Cup in 1949. He took figure skater Barbara Ann Scott on a continental tour after she won the figure skating gold medal at the 1948 Winter Olympics. Gorman revived professional wrestling in Montreal and promoted it in Ottawa, and introduced professional baseball to Ottawa in 1951 with the Ottawa Giants of the International League. He took over management of the Connaught Park horse race track near Ottawa, of which he had been a part-owner since 1925.

Gorman was managing the race track when he died of cancer at the age of 74. He was the last living founder of the NHL. He has been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame (1963), the Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame (1966), and the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame (1977).