http://debianws.lexgopc.com/wiki143/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Bill_ChadwickBill Chadwick - Revision history2026-10-26T00:14:44ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.43.1http://debianws.lexgopc.com/wiki143/index.php?title=Bill_Chadwick&diff=2775213&oldid=previmported>Ser Amantio di Nicolao: /* top */ add {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}2025-05-10T18:22:23Z<p><span class="autocomment">top: </span> add {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}</p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|American ice hockey referee (1915–2009)}}<br />
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}<br />
{{Infobox person<br />
| image = Bill Chadwick broadcasting.png<br />
| caption = Bill Chadwick<br />
| birth_name = William Leroy Chadwick<br />
| birth_date = {{birth date|1915|10|10}}<br />
| birth_place = [[Manhattan]], New York, U.S.<br />
| death_date = {{death date and age|mf=yes|2009|10|24|1915|10|10}}<br />
| death_place = [[Cutchogue]], New York, U.S.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/27/sports/hockey/27chadwick.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print |title=Bill Chadwick, Hockey Referee and Broadcaster, Dies at 94 |date=October 27, 2009 |first=Richard |last=Goldstein |newspaper=New York Times}}</ref><br />
| occupation = Former [[NHL]] [[Official (ice hockey)|referee]]<br />Broadcaster<br />
| honors = [[Hockey Hall of Fame]] (1964)<br />
}}<br />
'''William Leroy "The Big Whistle" Chadwick''' (October 10, 1915 – October 24, 2009) was the first US-born [[Official (ice hockey)|referee]] to serve in the [[National Hockey League]] (NHL). Despite being blind in his right eye, his on-ice officiating career spanned the greater part of the 1940s and 1950s, during which he pioneered the system of hand signals for penalties which is now used in all [[ice hockey|hockey]] games internationally. He later was a popular broadcaster for the [[New York Rangers]] on radio and television.<br />
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==Amateur hockey playing career==<br />
Born in [[Manhattan]], New York City, he attended [[Jamaica High School (New York City)|Jamaica High School]]. While playing as a [[Centre (ice hockey)|center]] for a Metropolitan Amateur Hockey League All-Star team at [[Madison Square Garden (1925)|Madison Square Garden]] in 1935, he was struck in the right eye by an errant [[puck (sports)|puck]] during a line change against a team from [[Boston]]. Even though the [[physician|doctors]] at [[Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital]] weren't able to restore vision to his right eye, he continued to play the sport with the [[New York Rovers]] of the [[Eastern Hockey League|Eastern Amateur Hockey League]].<ref name="chadwickap">{{cite web |url=http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=503403#&navid=nhl-search |title=NHL icon Bill Chadwick dies at 94 |agency=Associated Press |date=October 24, 2009 |work=NHL.com}}</ref><br />
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==NHL officiating pioneer==<br />
Chadwick was encouraged to become a referee by his former Rovers' coach, [[Tommy Lockhart]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nhl.com/news/chadwick-never-set-out-to-be-a-hockey-innovator/c-505987|title=Chadwick never set out to be a hockey innovator|last=Weiner|first=Evan|date=2009-11-13|website=NHL.com|access-date=2018-04-13}}</ref> His first experience as an on-ice official was in a Rovers game in March 1937, when he substituted for the scheduled referee who was stuck in a [[winter storm|snowstorm]]. His work in the amateur circuit caught the attention of then-NHL president [[Frank Calder]], who hired him as the league's first American-born linesman in 1939. The first professional match Chadwick worked was between the [[Montreal Canadiens]] and [[New York Americans]] at The Garden.<ref name="chadwickap" /><br />
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After one year of service in the NHL, he was promoted to referee, eventually becoming the first one to use hand signals during games in the early 1940s. The system he developed was adopted by the NHL in 1956, one year after his retirement. During his fifteen seasons as a referee, he worked over 900 regular season contests and a record 42 [[List of Stanley Cup champions|Stanley Cup Finals]] matches 13 of them series deciders. He became the fifth on-ice official, the first American-born, to be inducted into the [[Hockey Hall of Fame]] in 1964.<ref name="chadwickap" /><br />
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=="The Big Whistle"==<br />
He has been elected to both the [[Hockey Hall of Fame]] and the [[United States Hockey Hall of Fame]]. Chadwick spent 14 seasons as a hockey color commentator both on radio and television for the [[New York Rangers]]. From 1967–72, he worked on radio with [[Marv Albert]], and in 1972 moved to television broadcasts on [[WWOR-TV|WOR-TV]], Channel 9, and the [[MSG Network]]. His 1972–73 partner was [[Sal Marchiano]], and from 1973 to 1981 he was paired with [[Jim Gordon (sportscaster)|Jim Gordon]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Grimm |first=George |date=2022-03-14 |title=Retro Rangers: Remembering Jim Gordon and Bill Chadwick - Inside Hockey |url=https://insidehockey.com/retro-rangers-remembering-jim-gordon-and-bill-chadwick/ |access-date=2023-09-05 |website=insidehockey.com |language=en-US}}</ref><br />
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==Death==<br />
He died on October 24, 2009, at the age of 94.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2009-10-26 |title=Hockey mourns Bill Chadwick |url=https://www.inquirer.com/philly/sports/flyers/20091026_Hockey_mourns_Bill_Chadwick.html |access-date=2023-09-05 |website=[[Philadelphia Inquirer]] |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title='The Big Whistle' passes away at age 94 |url=https://www.nhl.com/rangers/news/the-big-whistle-passes-away-at-age-94/c-503396 |access-date=2023-09-05 |website=NHL.com |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=An Appreciation of 'The Big Whistle' |url=https://www.nhl.com/rangers/news/an-appreciation-of-the-big-whistle/c-503462 |access-date=2023-09-05 |website=NHL.com |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Goldstein |first=Richard |date=2009-10-27 |title=Bill Chadwick, Hockey Referee and Broadcaster, Dies at 94 |language=en-US |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/27/sports/hockey/27chadwick.html |access-date=2023-09-05 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><br />
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==See also==<br />
* [[List of members of the United States Hockey Hall of Fame]]<br />
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==References==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
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==External links==<br />
* {{icehockeystats|legendsm=O196401}}<br />
* [http://rangers.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=503396 ''The Big Whistle' passes away at age 94''] New York Rangers, Saturday, October 24, 2009.<br />
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20091029152355/http://blogs.msg.com/gameon/2009/10/24/an-nhl-legend-bill-chadwick-dies ''An NHL Legend--Bill Chadwick Dies''] Fischler, Stan. Game On! (Madison Square Garden blog), Saturday, October 24, 2009.<br />
* [http://rangers.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=503462&navid=DL|NYR|home ''An Appreciation of 'The Big Whistle' ''] Halligan, John. New York Rangers, Sunday, October 25, 2009.<br />
* [http://slapshot.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/25/sundays-news-of-hockey-102509-bill-chadwick-the-big-whistle-dead-at-94/ '' 'Big Whistle,' Dead at 94''] Klein, Jeff Z. Sunday's News of Hockey, 10/25/09: Booth Out of Hospital; Chadwick, ''Slap Shot'' (''The New York Times'' hockey blog), Sunday, October 25, 2009.<br />
* {{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/27/sports/hockey/27chadwick.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print |title=Bill Chadwick, Hockey Referee and Broadcaster, Dies at 94 |date=October 27, 2009 |first=Richard |last=Goldstein |newspaper=New York Times}}<br />
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{{The NHL Network (1975 TV program)}}<br />
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[[Category:1915 births]]<br />
[[Category:2009 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:Fordham University alumni]]<br />
[[Category:Hockey Hall of Fame inductees]]<br />
[[Category:Lester Patrick Trophy recipients]]<br />
[[Category:National Hockey League officials]]<br />
[[Category:National Hockey League broadcasters]]<br />
[[Category:New York Rangers announcers]]<br />
[[Category:People from Cutchogue, New York]]<br />
[[Category:People from Manhattan]]<br />
[[Category:United States Hockey Hall of Fame inductees]]</div>imported>Ser Amantio di Nicolao