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Copper Country Hockey Legends last name beginning with
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U
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Charles Uksila, born in Calumet (1887-1964) was the first
American born hockey player to participate in the Stanley Cup playoffs,
while playing for
the Portland, Oregon 1915-16 PCHL team.
Charles played pro hockey with Detroit, Portland, Seattle and Vancouver in the
early 1900's and 1910's. As a youth, he was a player on both the 1910 and 1911
local Mohawk senior
teams which won the Copper Country Senior Championship in those two years. In
1915-16 and
1917-18 he played with the Portland Rosebuds (the Rosebuds later moved to
Chicago to become the Blackhawks). In
1918-19, Charlie played with the
Vancouver Millionaires in the Pacific Coast Hockey League with Cyclone
Taylor who had played here 2 seasons on the Portage Lake team (1905 & 06).
On March 17, 1916, the Portland, Oregon PCHL team made
up of 9 players including Uksila, stopped off here in Houghton to play an exhibition
game in the Amphidrome against a team of Northern Michigan All Stars. The
game ended in a 6-7 loss for the local All Stars. The Portland team left that night for
Canada where they played a series of games against Montreal for the Stanley
Cup; making Charles Uksila the first American born hockey player to
participate in the Stanley Cup playoffs. |
Photos courtesy of Dana Uksila Waters.
Charles was inducted into Michigan's Charles would put on Sunday afternoon matinee performances at the Mohawk Glaciadom; old-timers remembered Uksila barrel-leaping on his ice skates. "He put on a good show with his long bladed skates. The kids called them racing skates; they always added "but they ain't no good for hockey tho!!" Another story of this "dare devil" said he drew quite a crowd as they watched him do head stands on one of the highest local mine shafts. |
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Charles & Dorothy "Vida" Uksila Charles and his wife, Dorothy, aka "Vida" traveled all over performing on skates, they were in the Chicago World's Fair in 1933-34 and traveled with the world famous Norwegian figure skater, Sonja Henie. After his athletic career came to an end, he was the producer and choreographer of the famed Ice Capades for 10 years. |
 Photos courtesy of Dana Uksila Waters. |
Robert Uksila, born 1902? in Calumet (or 1898-1972) played hockey for... later Robert and his wife Gretle were professional skate dancers like his brother and sisiter-in-law, Charles & Vida Uksila. ... need info and pictures here!
 
Mike
Usitalo, born 1952 in Calumet, he played High School sports at Calumet, as a graduating Senior at Calumet High School, he was chosen
for the George
Gipp Award (The famous athlete, George Gipp, grew up in nearby Laurium.)
While in High School, he played hockey for the CLK Wolverines at the age
of 16. Mike then played at Michigan Tech University
(1970-1974). He had a WCHA-record 28 goals as a
freshman in 1970-71, had 71 total goals in 61 games for the Huskies, and was
drafted by the NHL's Los Angeles Kings in 1972: 6th round, #84 overall. He helped the U.S. team win the
World Championship in 1974 in Yugoslavia and was rookie of the year in the
American Hockey League in 1974-75. From 1974-76, he played hockey teams
with the Springfield Indians AHL, Muskegon Mohawks IHL, and Fort Worth Texans
CHL. An injury
in the 1976-77 season ended his hockey career. Mike was inducted into the
Upper Peninsula Sports Hall of
Fame in 2001. |
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