Historical Hockey and Sports Memorabilia Auction February 2025
Challenging the supremacy of the NHL, the World Hockey Association was founded in 1971, with 12 teams taking part in the inaugural season of 1972-73. The Winnipeg Jets would serve as the league’s most successful club, winning a trio of Avco Cup championships. Enjoying a run of seven (7) seasons before folding due to financial difficulties and having four of its clubs merge into the National Hockey League, offered here is this collection of WHA memorabilia that hails directly from the personal collection of Hockey Hall of Fame journalist Frank Brown. With some of the more notable items included found in the form of a briefcase issued to Brown at the league's 1975 All-Star Game as well as a commemorative mug from the 1977 All-Star Game, the briefcase, made of leather and retaining its handles at the top plus functioning hardware, is found to be in overall excellent condition and displays a gold foil WHA logo over the front as well as "Frank Brown" and "1975 All-Star Game - Edmonton, Alberta". For the mug, the English pewter tankard stands 4 1/2" tall with a nice enameled WHA logo in the middle of a medallion on the front that reads "5th Annual WHA All Star Game" along with the city and date of the game. Not engraved on the backside but having had "Leonard Eales of Sheffield" and "Made in England" stamped over the bottom, the mug is found in overall good condition while showing some scratches throughout as well as some light tarnishing. With Brown's press badge from the 1977 All-Star Game also being included in the lot, listing his name as well as "AP - New York", the rest of the lot is largely made up of various media guides, including numerous inaugural season 1972-73 examples, with some housed in a small binder that sports a WHA league logo over the front as well as "1972-73 Media Guide" while a New York Raiders logo and "Raiders" graces the spine. Also including a couple of league schedules, one (1) of which that is still housed in its original envelope from the league, plus a rule book from 1977-78 and a media services directory from the league's last year of 1978-79, the last section of bulk making up the lot is found via a group of thirteen (13) game programs, largely from contests featuring the New York Raiders/Golden Blades as well as one (1) example from the 1973-74 All-Star Game, plus a statistics booklet dated April 19th, 1979, issued after the league had finished its final regular season, plus nineteen (19) New York Raiders logo decals and eleven (11) New York Golden Blades window clings as well. With everything found to be in overall good condition or better for its effort (the programs and media guides show handling wear from age and use that is worth mentioning for accuracy which is seen in heavier examples on the media guides), the lot concludes with a New England Whalers logo sticker, a 1978-79 WHA media pass issued to Brown, an additional WHA media pass and a Whalers media pass, as well as a group of thirteen (13) full press box tickets for Golden Blades games that were to be played in December of 1973 before the team moved to Cherry Hill Arena and out of Madison Square Garden. A Classic Auctions LOA will accompany.
Publishing his first paid hockey article in a New York Rangers game program in 1970 that earned him a total of fifty ($50) dollars, from there, Frank Brown began his career as a journalist for The Associated Press, typically covering the Montreal Canadiens. Under the leadership of Stan Fischler, Brown stated he learned the "courage of my convictions" after being handed Gordie Howe's phone number. Moving on to the New York Daily News in 1980, where he would remain until 1998, when he joined the National Hockey League as a communication executive, a position he would hold with the league until his retirement in 2018. He was awarded the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award by the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2019.
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