Historical Hockey and Sports Memorabilia Auction February 2025
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/18/2025
Playing his college hockey in the NCAA with the Harvard University Crimson, Ted Donato would help the school to its only NCAA National Championship in 1989 and would be drafted 98th overall by the Boston Bruins at the 1987 NHL Entry Draft. Going on to play a total of 796 games in the National Hockey League over the course of his career and going back to Harvard to serve as his alma mater's head coach beginning in 2004, offered here is this circa 1997 Team USA jersey issued for Donato that is likely a back up from the 1997 IIHF World Championship. Made by Nike and sporting a brand label that displays a size "56" designation affixed to the inner collar along with a "Made in Canada" fly tag, the front of the jersey has been decorated with a Team USA crest that has been administered in a layered tackle twill style. Having had a patriotic stars and stripes design sublimated into the material of the sleeves and body, with Nike swoosh logos also sublimated into the material over both shoulders, the sleeves and verso have been styled with Donato's number "20" in stacked tri-layer tackle twill numerals while "Donato" has been spelt out in single layer white twill letters across the affixed matching nameplate at the top of the reverse. Retaining its fight strap on the interior but void of a Nike Team Sports barcode heat-pressed on inside the hem, the jersey shows just a few burn like marks/fabric snags over the sleeves that we do not believe are from game-use. Additionally, sun fading is seen throughout the jersey that is worth mentioning for accuracy. Hailing from the personal collection of Kimmo Leinonen, a Classic Auctions LOA will accompany the piece.
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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