Historical Hockey and Sports Memorabilia Auction February 2025
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/18/2025
Playing fourteen (14) seasons in the top league of his home country between 1968 and 1987, Pekka Rautakallio would also play North American professional hockey on two occasions, including a pair of seasons in the WHA with the Phoenix Roadrunners between 1975 and 1977 as well as in the National Hockey League with the Atlanta/Calgary Flames from 1979 to 1982. Named to the NHL All-Star Game during the 1981-82 season and suiting up for the Finland National Team on numerous occasions, offered here is this helmet worn by Rautakallio as a member of the Flames. A Koho made bucket in Calgary's red colour, Koho logos appear over the front and both sides while a sticker reading "Senior" appears affixed to the front also. A size 7 3/8 to 8 1/4 example that retains all its padding on the interior as well as the complete strapping harness, white tape has been wrapped around the chin strap and matching Flames logo decals appear over each side of the lower reverse. Also having had a "4" decal added over the reverse, we are listing the helmet as "worn" instead of "game-worn" due to the fact that we could not find any photos of Rautakallio wearing this particular model. Displaying wear via a number of scuffs, marks and abrasions throughout its entirety, the helmet hails directly from the personal collection of Kimmo Leinonen and is accompanied by a Classic Auctions LOA.
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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