If you’re a pack-rat hockey fan like me, there are little nooks and crannies in your house stuffed with memorabilia. Maybe there’s the rally towel from your first playoff game or the program you picked up several years ago when someone scored a hat trick.
And if you’re that type of hockey fan who has loved the sport in the state of Texas for a very long time, the Dallas Stars are looking for you.
The Stars are trying to put together a display and/or archive documenting the history of the sport within in the state, which dates back at least 50 years before the NHL arrived on the scene. The team, led by VP of Corporate Support and Development Ed Reusch, is looking for the following items (or anything else of note) from before the Stars came to Dallas in 1993:
- Arena Seats/Signs/Pictures
- Game used equipment/jerseys/nets/pucks
- Photos/Newspaper/Magazine/Game Programs
- Home movies of hockey
- Amateur/youth hockey skates/league or team patches, banners or trophies/jerseys
- Recordings of play-by-play or game action
- Team branded promo items, banners, flags, etc./
Teams from this era include the Dallas Texans (1945-1949), Dallas Black Hawks (1967-1982) and Dallas Freeze (1992-1995). On the other side of the Metroplex there are plenty of options as well, including the Fort Worth Rangers (1941-42 and 1945-49), Wings (1967-74) and Texans (1974-82).
Houston has its own hockey history dating to the 1940s as well, with the earliest team being the Houston Skippers of 1946-47. The most famous team is obvious the WHA’s Houston Aeros of the 1970s, which featured none other than Gordie Howe and his sons. That memorabilia is also on the list of wants.
And if you have something from the El Paso Raiders (1975-76) or Amarillo Wranglers (on-again/off-again from 1968-1977), I’m sure the Stars would fall all over themselves to talk to you.
Items from youth, high school, or recreational hockey in the state before 1993 are also of great interest.
If you have interesting items and would like to add them to the team’s collection, or even if you just have information, stories or contacts regarding the history of hockey in Texas, please e-mail Ed Reusch (ereusch@dallasstars.com) with a description and/or photo and the subject line “Texas Hockey History.”