Historical Hockey and Sports Memorabilia Auction February 2025
The ultimate collection of IIHF World Championships participation medals, we offer a group of 9 spanning from 1974 to 1986, with each from the personal collection of Finnish hockey guru Kimmo Leinonen. Included, there are medals from 1974, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1982 (2), 1983, 1985 and 1986. The 1978 medal is accompanied by a different medal which was gifted to Leinonen by the mayor of Prague, with an inscription on the inside of the medal's case. Each medal in the collection has the year and venue, with most accompanied by their original cases. As an added bonus, there is also a 1992 group B World Championships participation medal in the original case. Most of the medals show just very light wear and remain in gorgeous condition. An LOA from Classic Auctions will accompany.
Born in Tampere, Finland, in 1949, and beginning his rise in the hockey ranks as a junior hockey coach while also involved in the hockey stick industry in Canada and Germany, Finnish hockey executive and writer Kimmo Leinonen had a connection to the NHL as he was employed as a scout for the New York Rangers from 1978-79 to 1982-83. As a founding member of the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame in 1979 - where he served as chairman from 2011 to 2018, Leinonen also helped to establish the IIHF Hall of Fame in 1996 and was the director of public relations and marketing for the organization from 1995 to 2007. His later career included an appointment as general secretary of the 2012 and 2013 Ice Hockey World Championships co-hosted in both Finland and Sweden. The hockey guru has written multiple books on the history of hockey in Finland, and for his great contributions to the sport, was inducted into the builder category of the Finnish Hall of Fame in 2011. He was further acknowledged as the only person from Finland to win the Paul Loicq Award in recognition for his efforts in international ice hockey in 2023. We are pleased to offer items from his personal collection that he acquired during his years as the IIHF director of public relations and marketing from 1995 to 1997, with others originating from later in his career as well as international hockey memorabilia he collected and items he was gifted.
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