Hobey Baker Award

The Hobey Baker Award is an annual award that recognizes excellence in men’s National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division 1 ice hockey. First awarded in 1981, it is considered the most prestigious of all awards given to players at that level. Candidates for the award are chosen based on their on-ice skills, academic performance, sportsmanship, and strength of character. These characteristics are embodied in the award’s namesake, American college hockey player and decorated World War I fighter pilot Hobey Baker (1892– 1918), who died of injuries sustained in a plane crash shortly after completing his military service.

Background

Hobart Amory Hare “Hobey” Baker was born in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, on January 15, 1892. At the age of eleven, he was enrolled at St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire. The school claimed to have hosted the first ice hockey game ever played in America less than a decade before Baker enrolled there. Skilled in multiple sports, Baker made the varsity hockey team by age fourteen and led his team to victories in games played against college squads.

In 1910, Baker entered Princeton, where he was a star player in football, baseball, and ice hockey. During his time at the school, he averaged at least four points a game while the team won three championships. Baker innovated on the ice, playing a faster game with end-to-end dashes at a time when the game did not allow forward passing and was played with seven skaters. He was also a good student known for his sportsmanship, frequently visiting the other team’s locker rooms following games to shake hands.

Following his college graduation, Baker worked for the J.P. Morgan firm in New York City. He was offered a professional contract with the Montreal Canadiens, one of the National Hockey League’s original six teams. Baker turned it down because people of his family’s aristocratic status did not play professional sports. Instead, he continued playing amateur hockey and polo. He also enjoyed auto racing.

In 1916, he was commissioned as an army lieutenant. When America entered World War I, Baker became part of the Lafayette Escadrille, a unit of the French Air Force made up entirely of American volunteer pilots. He was among the first Americans sent to protect France from the air. During his time in the war, Baker was credited with taking down three enemy planes and given command of a squadron. France awarded him the Croix de Guerre, or the War Cross, for his service.

After the war and the end of his military service, Baker took one final flight to test a plane that had just been repaired. On December 21, 1918, he took off in heavy rain. The engine died shortly after takeoff and the plane plunged to the ground. Baker died in the ambulance following the crash. He was twenty-six.

Overview

The idea for an award to recognize an outstanding collegiate hockey player came from Charles R. Bard. In 1978, Bard was chief executive officer of the Decathlon Athletic Club, which met in a high-end facility in Bloomington, Minnesota. At the time, college football already had the Heisman Award, and college basketball was about to initiate the Naismith Trophy for its outstanding athletes. Bard thought there should be a similar award for college ice hockey.

After gathering interest in the idea, Bard began arranging for financial donors to support the award. Initial sponsors included Pepsi Bottling and Northwest Airlines. He also arranged for Decathlon Club Athletic Director John Justice to draft a format for the award and established the first committee to administer it. The club’s magazine editor, Patty Riha, became the first award coordinator.

Bard then began the process of deciding what to name the award. After reviewing a list of every player in both the Canadian and American Hockey Halls of Fame, Bard chose four finalists: Frankie Brimsek, Moose Goheen, John Mariucci, and Hobey Baker. Bard strongly favored Baker and convinced the committee to name the new award in his honor. After securing permission, photos, and other memorabilia from Baker’s surviving family members, the name of the award was set.

The Trophy

The Hobey Baker Award is made of forty pounds of bronze with an etched acrylic panel. It stands 16 inches tall and was designed by a Minnesota sculptor, Bill Mack. Mack’s model for the trophy was Steve Christoff, who played for the University of Minnesota and several National Hockey League (NHL) teams in addition to the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” American Olympic hockey team. After viewing more than fifty photos of Christoff in action, a pose of a player executing the quick “hockey stop” was chosen.

The initial sculpture was made in clay over a framework before being cast in bronze. That prototype trophy is on display at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. Each year, two trophies are made. One is presented to the player who wins it, while the other goes to the college he represents. The Hobey Baker Memorial Award was first presented in 1981 to Neal Broten, who was then a junior forward at the University of Minnesota.

Selection Process

Candidates for the award are first nominated by the head coaches of Division 1 NCAA hockey teams. Each coach chooses three top players from the team’s respective league and three top players nationwide. Their selection criteria include character on and off the ice, the player’s skills and contributions to the team’s integrity, scholastic achievement, sportsmanship, and compliance with NCAA regulations. College hockey fans participate through an online vote. The ballots are tallied by the accounting firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers, and the top ten finalists are chosen.

Next, a committee of twenty-nine representatives from the hockey world, including coaches, officials, scouts, and journalists, narrow the field to three individuals known as the “Hobey Hat Trick,” a reference to the practice of hockey fans throwing hats on the ice when one player scores their third in a single game. A winner is chosen after a final round of voting that includes more online participation from fans.

Bibliography

"About the Hobey Baker Memorial Award." Hobey Baker, hobeybaker.com/about. Accessed 15 Nov. 2024.

“About The Lafayette Escadrille.” United States World War I Centennial Commission, www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/about-the-lafayette-escadrille.html. Accessed 15 Nov. 2024.

"Auggie Starts National Hockey Award." Augsburg University, 5 Apr. 2021, www.augsburg.edu/alumni/2021/04/05/auggie-starts-national-hockey-award/. Accessed 15 Nov. 2024.

“Decathlon Athletic Club MN.” Vintage Minnesota Hockey, history.vintagemnhockey.com/page/show/811710-decathlon-athletic-club-mn. Accessed 15 Nov. 2024.

“Hobey Baker Award - Men's National Awards.” College Hockey, Inc., www.collegehockeyinc.com/mens-national-awards. Accessed 15 Nov. 2024.

“Hobey Baker Award: History, Winners, Selection Process.” NCAA, 25 Sept. 2024, www.ncaa.com/news/icehockey-men/article/2024-09-25/history-college-hockeys-hobey-baker-award. Accessed 15 Nov. 2024.

“The Tragedy of Hobey Baker: Too Good a Life at Too Young an Age.” New England Historical Society, newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/tragedy-hobey-baker-too-good-life-too-young-age/. Accessed 15 Nov. 2024.