World Wide Hall of Fame

We had our first unanimous ballot. Two members who had committed to vote but had not voted dropped out. We had 18 members voting. Lester Patrick was unanimously elected as a Builder. Frank Patrick was selected as well. Originally, we did not require that someone be elected in another category before they became a Builder.

We changed the requirements so that a person needed to be named on 75% of the ballots cast in order to be elected as an Oldtimer. None of the Oldtimers qualified for the Hall on this ballot.

For 1946, we continued to elect the top five finishers in the Honoured Players category. We added the coaches/executives/referees category for this election as well. The highest vote getter in this category was Mickey Ion, the longtime PCHA referee.

The class of 1946:

HONOURED MEMBERS:

NELSON STEWART (RW)
BILL COOK (RW)
AURELE JOLIAT (RW)

CHARLIE CONACHER (LW)
GEORGE HAINSWORTH (G)

Here is how the final voting went:

Honoured Players:
Nelson Stewart 13
Bill Cook 10
Aurele Joliat 10
Charlie Conacher 9
George Hainsworth 6
Sprague Cleghorn 5
Frank Frederickson 5
Lionel Conacher 4
Charlie Gardiner 4
Ernie Johnson 4
Gordon Keats 4
Cecil Thompson 4
Marty Barry 2
Babe Dye 2
Harry Holmes 2
Irving Bailey 1
Harry Cameron 1
Ivan Johnson 1
Herbie Lewis 1
Reginald Smith 1

Oldtimers:
Dan Bain 8
Mike Grant 7
Frank McGee 7
Tommy Phillips 7
Thomas Dunderdale 6
Joe Hall 6
Didier Pitre 6
Si Griffis 5
Jack Darragh 4
Jack Laviolette 4
Tommy Smith 4
Riley Hern 3
George Prodgers 3
Harvey Pulford 3
Marty Walsh 3
Russell Bowie 2
Ernie Russell 2
Hod Stuart 2
Jimmy Gardner 1
Jack Gibson 1
Harry Westwick 1

Off-Ice/Referees:
Mickey Ion 10
James Creighton 9
Frederick Stanley 8
Fred Waghorne 8
Pete Muldoon 6
Cecil Hart 2

Builders:
Lester Patrick 18
Frank Patrick 16
Art Ross 12
Conn Smythe 11
Fred Taylor 9
Tom Gorman 6
Hartley 3
Patton 2
Phil Ross 1

"We originally did not require someone to be elected in another category before becoming a Builder," said Chair Morey Holzman. "This led to confusion amongst many members, and so we changed it for 1947. I was also disappointed that with the rules we set up that someone with one-third approval from the committee (George Hainsworth) could get elected.

"Don't get me wrong. In due time Hainsworth would have been elected with more than 75% of the vote. But I became concerned with weaker ballots approaching that someone else might get elected with such a small vote."