1950s

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1950s

 1950 Jim Lowney Jr traveled downstate to Detroit representing the local Junior Hockey League to form the Michigan Amateur Hockey Association, which Houghton became a member. The age brackets were PeeWee, Juvenile, Junior and Senior. In 1955, Lowney became vice president of M.H.A.A. 

 1953  Contract for artificial ice plant at the Dee Ice Rink awarded to Herman Gundlach: cost $105,607  On December 10, 1953 the new artificial ice was dedicated with a game between the Michigan Tech team and the Portage Lake Pioneers hockey team; they played to a 3-3 tie.

 1954 Inaugural year for the Calumet Junior Hockey Association, organized by Frank "Puppy" Gresnick. 

 1956 The first State youth tournament was held in Houghton. The East Houghton PeeWees, Houghton Thunderbirds, and Portage Lake Pioneers emerged as champions in their respective divisions. The East Houghton PeeWees went on to Boston and became the first team in the state to win a National Title. The Boston trip was paid for by the Copper Range Mining Company.  Paul Koski, Gerry Caspary, Jim Lowney Jr and Rene Adams played featured roles in arranging the first playoffs.

  1956 Herman Gundlach and John MacInnes founded the Huskies Club, the official booster organization of the Michigan Tech Huskies; with a mission to raise funds for athletic grant-in-aid scholarships.  An informal talk between Herman J Gundlach and Alan J Bovard, director of athletics at MTU started the club idea. The Huskies Club operated informally until it became an athletic committee of the Copper Country Citizens Committee. Members of that first Committee were Clem Banfield of Dollar Bay; Ken Hamar of Chassell, Gunnar Miller of Hancock, and Herman Gundlach who served as chairman. Other groups also were spawned out of, or later became a part of, the Huskies Club. The Varsity Alumni Club started as a committee of the group. The Huskies Booster Club was a group of supporters who sponsored annual banquets for the teams until it merged with the Huskies Club in 1972. Officers of the Huskies Club in 1972 were: President John O. Sanregret, Vice Pres Jon Davis, and Sec-Tres Craig Wilson. Members of the Board of Directors included Herman Gundlach, Kenneth Hamar, Alvin Murphy, Donald J. Ogden and John O. Sanregret.

1956-57 The Whittaker Cup was first awarded at the end of this season to the Portage Lake? Senior Men's team. It was named in honor of Johnny Whittaker, "one of the greatest stars ever to grace Armory ice." Whittaker died in 195-. The winners of this Cup have been: 1957 -Portage Lake, 1958 -Calumet, 1959 Portage Lake, ----

1958 March 1, 2, the Dee Stadium, sponsored by Michigan Tech is the host for the State Championship MAHA Final games for PeeWee, Juvenile, Bantam and Junior.

 1959-60 The Dollar Bay VFW Midget Team won the State and National Championship Title. They won 4 straight games on the march to the National Title. The Championship team was coached by Earl Gorman and Andrew Wiitanen; their home ice was the Dee Stadium in Houghton. 

Members of this team were: 
Back row L to R: Bruce Ruitta, Mike Coppo, Dan Ala, Roger Junttonen, Gary Brey, Michael Gorman, Ed Zellner, John Mikkola.
Middle row: Norm Banfield, Dennis McCullough, Tom Bernard, Keith Destrampe, John Butkonen.
Front row: Earl Gorman -Coach, Doc Rommes (Natl Rep), Andy Wiitanen -Coach, T Colombe, Ray Kolehmainen, John Townsend.

1960 Dollar Bay VFW Midget
National Champs
DollarBayNatlChamps1960s.jpg (178766 bytes)

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