Stan Mikita

• Born: May 20, 1940
• Birthplace: Sokolce, Czechoslovakia (now in Slovakia)
• Died: August 7, 2018
• Place of death: Illinois

Sport: Ice hockey

Early Life

On May 20, 1940, Stanley Mikita was born Stanislaus Gvoth in the Slovakian village of Sokolce, near the Tatra Mountains of eastern Czechoslovakia (now in Slovakia). The villagers were mostly impoverished small farmers and laborers. Mikita was the second of Juraj and Emelia Gvoth’s three children. His home was an apartment with one all-purpose room and a small kitchen in a building without indoor plumbing.

In 1948, Mikita's aunt and uncle, Joe and Anna Mikita, who lived in Canada, arrived for a six-month visit. Before returning home, the Mikitas persuaded their relatives to allow him to come and live with them in a country where he would have more opportunities.

In St. Catharines, Ontario, an industrial city near Niagara Falls, where Uncle Joe was a building contractor, Mikita entered the third grade and began the difficult task of learning English.

The Road to Excellence

Mikita's initial adjustment was tough. Other children taunted him because he was a foreigner. He frequently got into fights and developed a feisty personality. His outstanding skill on the soccer field soon made him a school hero, however. Mikita also had great ability in many other sports such as lacrosse, basketball, football, and baseball. Later, he turned down offers from Major League Baseball scouts because of his love for hockey.

The young immigrant was introduced to hockey shortly after he arrived in Canada. “Puck” and “stick” were among the first English words Mikita learned from neighborhood boys playing street hockey. He learned many of his hockey skills from Vic Teal, his Bantam and Midget coach, who stressed defense and fundamentals.

When Mikita was thirteen, the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (NHL) acquired first rights to sign him in the future and agreed to finance his education. He played several high school sports and also ran with a tough neighborhood street gang. He quit the gang around age sixteen to dedicate himself to hockey as a member of the prestigious St. Catharines Junior A Teepees in the Blackhawks’ farm system. By his third amateur season, 1958–9, sportswriters were calling him Canada’s best junior player. During that same season, the Blackhawks called up Mikita for three games to fill in for an injured forward. After tryouts at the Blackhawks’ training camp in the summer of 1959, he signed a professional contract.

The Emerging Champion

Mikita's rookie year at center position was not very impressive; he had 8 goals, 18 assists, 119 penalty minutes. Despite his small size—5 feet 9 inches and only 165 pounds—he was determined not to be intimidated by big players who targeted him because of his reputation as a scoring threat. As experience complemented his natural aggressiveness and skill, his scoring output increased yearly. In 1961, when Chicago won the Stanley Cup, his 6 playoff goals led the league. The next season, his third full year, he joined the ranks of the NHL’s leading scorers with 77 points. Moreover, his 15 assists and 21 total points in postseason action were new league records. He went on to win successive league scoring titles in 1963–4 and 1964–5.

On the ice, Mikita skillfully used every trick to win. He was the little guy who made the big plays in crucial situations. Chicago’s other superstar, Bobby Hull, called his teammate the NHL’s smartest player. Mikita had tremendous reflexes and anticipation. He could change his mind in mid-stride while shooting or skating. He constantly analyzed opposing teams and players to find exploitable weaknesses. He also worked creatively on equipment. He introduced the now-popular curved “banana blade” stick, which permits a greater variety of shots to confound goalies, and had a lightweight helmet with webbed suspension designed for him after a head injury.

Mikita scored with a hard wrist shot. He was an elusive, swift skater and a superb playmaker. He was unsurpassed at stickhandling and winning face-offs. Passing, defense, checking, and penalty killing were also strong points of this versatile star.

Continuing the Story

If Mikita had a fault, it was his hot temper and “chippy” style of play. His frequent resort to using stick, elbows, fists, and verbal provocation during his first six NHL seasons prompted French Canadian fans to name him “Le Petit Diable” (The Little Devil).

While sitting out a penalty in November 1966, Mikita finally decided he was more valuable to his team on the ice than in the box. Thereafter, he avoided unnecessary penalties and took a “later and legal” approach to retaliating against fouls. The Little Devil’s transformation stunned hockey observers. In 1967, he won not only the Hart and Ross trophies as hockey’s most valuable player (MVP) and top scorer, but also the Lady Byng Trophy for gentlemanly and sportsmanlike conduct. His sweep of the NHL’s top awards was a historic first. The next season he repeated this feat.

In 1963, Mikita married Jill Cerny, who many credit with providing a calming influence on the fiery superstar. He fathered four children. He also maintained ties with his family in Czechoslovakia, exchanging visits. In 1969, he became vice president of Christian Brothers, Incorporated, a Minnesota firm that makes hockey sticks.

Overcoming terrific pain from old and new injuries, Mikita continued to have superstar seasons. In 1972–3, he tallied 83 points, although missing twenty-one games with a broken heel, and scored 20 postseason playoff points skating with a bad back and tender foot. When an old back injury forced his retirement in 1980, after twenty-two seasons, he was third among NHL career scoring leaders. Career highlights included four scoring titles, two MVP awards, and eight all-star team selections. He was also Chicago’s all-time point and assist leader. In 1983, the Blackhawks retired his jersey number (21) and he was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

In 1974, Mikita was inspired by a friend’s deaf son to open the Stan Mikita Hockey School for the Hearing Impaired. From this weeklong training camp came the formation of the US National Deaf Hockey Team, which, in 1995, won the gold medal in the World Winter Games for the Deaf. Mikita made a cameo appearance as the surly owner of an Aurora, Illinois, doughnut shop in the popular 1997 film Wayne’s World.

Following his retirement, in addition to serving as a golf professional at Kemper Lakes Golf Club, Mikita participated in a variety of different business ventures and eventually became a goodwill ambassador for the Blackhawks in early 2007. During the second decade of the twenty-first century, he continued to be plagued with health problems. In 2011, the NHL revealed in a statement that the former star had been diagnosed with oral cancer but that as it was caught in an early stage, and the prognosis looked good. Later that year, the Blackhawks dedicated a statue of Mikita in front of one of the main gates of the team's stadium, the United Center, in Chicago. Approximately four years later, in the summer of 2015, it was announced that Mikita suffered from suspected Lewy body dementia, a progressive brain disease, and was beginning to lose his memories of his legendary hockey career. His family stated that they would not be pursuing any lawsuits regarding possible connections between his deteriorating health and concussions he may have endured during his hockey career.

Because of his condition, Mikita, who was reportedly being taken care of at a facility in Chicago, was not able to attend the ceremony held during the NHL All-Star Game honoring him as one of the one hundred greatest NHL players in the history of the league in January 2017; his wife and daughter attended in his place. That same month, as part of the celebrations centered around the All-Star Game, a real-life version of the doughnut shop from the Wayne's World film was set up at the Los Angeles Convention Center for one weekend; Mikita's family also made an appearance at the café. In April, his grandsons were welcomed onto the ice in his place during the national anthem to honor Mikita at the Blackhawks' final home game of the season.

Mikita died on August 7, 2018, in Illinois, at the age of seventy-eight. Public visitations for the hockey star were held at the Blackhawks' United Center days later so that fans could pay their respects.

Summary

Stan Mikita’s story is inspirational. Rescued from poverty during childhood, he took advantage of new opportunities and battled his way to enduring sports fame. He was a fearless competitor who always strove to do better. Although the little athlete’s fighting spirit became a problem at times, he demonstrated that he was a big enough man to change and mature by making the right personal choices in life.

Bibliography

Carroll, M. R., et al. The Concise Encyclopedia of Hockey. Greystone Books, 2001.

Dryden, Steve, and Michael Ulmer, editors. The Top One Hundred NHL Hockey Players of All Time. McClelland & Stewart, 1999.

Goldstein, Richard. "Stan Mikita, 78, Dies; Hockey Hall of Famer Lifted Blackhawks." The New York Times, 7 Aug. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/08/07/obituaries/stan-mikita-78-dies-hockey-hall-of-famer-lifted-blackhawks.html. Accessed 4 Sept. 2018.

Kuc, Chris. "Stan Mikita Won't Attend NHL's Top 100 Ceremony Due to Health Issues." Chicago Tribune, 26 Jan. 2017, www.chicagotribune.com/sports/hockey/blackhawks/ct-stan-mikita-blackhawks-spt-0127-20170126-story.html. Accessed 24 Mar. 2017.

Mikita, Stan. I Play to Win. Morrow, 1969.

Mikita, Stan, and George Vass. Inside Hockey. Regnery, 1971.

Prewitt, Alex. "Stan Mikita's Legacy and Grace Endure Even as Dementia Afflicts the Blackhawks Legend." Sports Illustrated, 24 Jan. 2017, www.si.com/nhl/2017/01/24/stan-mikita. Accessed 24 Mar. 2017.