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History | Norfolk's NHL Hockey Team | Leonard "Red" Kelly |
Hockey Legend
"Red" Kelly by John Cardiff Leonard "Red" Kelly was born in Simcoe, Ontario 9 Jul 1927, and raised on a farm between Simcoe and Port Dover. He joined the National Hockey League's Detroit Red Wings at the age of 19. "'Gentleman Red" was a four time winner of the Lady Byng Trophy. He played on eight Stanley Cup champion teams, was named to eight All-Star teams, and won many other professional honors. In the late 1950s Red and his brother Joe (himself once a promising hockey star) opened Red Kelly Bowling Lanes just south of Simcoe, on the current site of the White Horse Plaza. The day the Lanes opened set a record for the number of NHL stars in Simcoe for a single event, a small indication of Red's popularly with his fellow players. While playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs "Red" was a Member of Parliament, 1962-1965. He retired from playing with the Maple Leafs in 1967 to coach NHL teams in Los Angles and Pittsburgh before returning to Toronto to coach the Maple Leafs between 1973 and 1977. Today "Red" and his wife, U.S. world skating champion Andrea McLaughlin, make
their home in Toronto, Ontario. |