Joseph Cattarinich
Encyclopedia
Joseph "Joe" Cattarinich (November 12, 1881 in Lévis
, Quebec
– December 7, 1938), was a professional hockey
player, and co-owner of horse racing
tracks
in Canada and the United States as well as a co-owner of the Montreal Canadiens
of the National Hockey League
.
Of Croatian
ancestry, he was born Joseph Cattarinich. He grew up in Quebec City
and played ice hockey
and lacrosse
as a young man. Later, he lived in Levis near Quebec City. He is best known as the first goaltender of the professional Montreal Canadiens
, then known as 'Les Canadiens'. He retired after Georges Vézina
shut out Cattarinich's club in a game with Vézina's amateur Chicoutimi team (The Canadiens had been on a pre-season barnstorming tour to promote the upcoming season of the NHA
). He was so impressed, that he recommended the Canadiens sign Vézina; and voluntarily stepped down, from his place on the team.(In those days, hockey teams carried only one goaltender, as a rule.)
With longtime business partner Leo Dandurand
, Cattarinich became prominent in the Montreal tobacco
wholesaling business, but it was their popularization of the Parimutuel betting
system at local tracks that provided their greatest commercial success. With the re-introduction of race track betting in the United States after World War I
, the pair, known popularly as "Catta-Léo", extended their activities to racetracks in Chicago
, Jefferson Parish, Louisiana
, New Orleans, and others in St. Louis
and further afield.
In 1921, along with Dandurand and Louis Létourneau, Cattarinich purchased the Montreal Canadiens
of the National Hockey League
from the estate of George Kennedy
for $11,000. Although Dandurand was the active partner during their tenure (Cattarinich was known as "The Silent One" and Létourneau sold his stake in 1930), the Canadiens won three Stanley Cup
s with players such as Howie Morenz
, Aurel Joliat
, and Georges Vezina
. After a series of losses (amounting to $40,000 for the 1934–35 season alone), Cattarinich and Dandurand sold the club to a syndicate comprising J. Ernest Savard
, Maurice Forget, and Louis Gélinas in 1935 for $165,000.
In 1932, Cattarinich, Dandurand, and Letourneau purchased Blue Bonnets Raceway. A shareholder with Robert S. Eddy, Jr. and others in Arlington Park
racetrack in Chicago and Jefferson Park Racetrack in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, in 1934 their group purchased the Fair Grounds Race Course
in New Orleans from prominent horseman Edward R. Bradley
. Cattarinich and Dandurand continued their betting business throughout the challenging economic environment of the Great Depression
in the 1930s. Despite several attempts, they did not succeed in acquiring another NHL club.
While recovering from an eye operation, he suffered a heart attack
and died on December 7 1938.
He is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame
, inducted 1977 as a builder.
Lévis, Quebec
Lévis is a city in eastern Quebec, Canada. It is located on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, opposite Quebec City. A ferry links Old Quebec with Old Lévis, and two bridges, the Quebec Bridge and the Pierre Laporte Bridge, connect western Lévis with Quebec City. The Société de transport de...
, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
– December 7, 1938), was a professional hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
player, and co-owner of horse racing
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...
tracks
Race track
A race track is a purpose-built facility for racing of animals , automobiles, motorcycles or athletes. A race track may also feature grandstands or concourses. Some motorsport tracks are called speedways.A racetrack is a permanent facility or building...
in Canada and the United States as well as a co-owner of the Montreal Canadiens
Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is officially known as ...
of the National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
.
Of Croatian
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
ancestry, he was born Joseph Cattarinich. He grew up in Quebec City
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...
and played ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
and lacrosse
Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...
as a young man. Later, he lived in Levis near Quebec City. He is best known as the first goaltender of the professional Montreal Canadiens
Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is officially known as ...
, then known as 'Les Canadiens'. He retired after Georges Vézina
Georges Vézina
Joseph-Georges-Gonzague Vézina was a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender who played seven seasons in the National Hockey Association and nine in the National Hockey League , all with the Montreal Canadiens...
shut out Cattarinich's club in a game with Vézina's amateur Chicoutimi team (The Canadiens had been on a pre-season barnstorming tour to promote the upcoming season of the NHA
National Hockey Association
The National Hockey Association was a professional ice hockey organization with teams in Ontario and Quebec, Canada. It is the direct predecessor organization to today's National Hockey League...
). He was so impressed, that he recommended the Canadiens sign Vézina; and voluntarily stepped down, from his place on the team.(In those days, hockey teams carried only one goaltender, as a rule.)
With longtime business partner Leo Dandurand
Leo Dandurand
Joseph Viateur "Léo" Dandurand , was a sportsman and businessman. He was the owner and coach of the Montreal Canadiens ice hockey team in the National Hockey League...
, Cattarinich became prominent in the Montreal tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
wholesaling business, but it was their popularization of the Parimutuel betting
Parimutuel betting
Parimutuel betting is a betting system in which all bets of a particular type are placed together in a pool; taxes and the "house-take" or "vig" is removed, and payoff odds are calculated by sharing the pool among all winning bets...
system at local tracks that provided their greatest commercial success. With the re-introduction of race track betting in the United States after World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, the pair, known popularly as "Catta-Léo", extended their activities to racetracks in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Jefferson Parish, Louisiana
Jefferson Parish, Louisiana
Jefferson Parish is a parish in Louisiana, United States that includes most of the suburbs of New Orleans. The seat of parish government is Gretna....
, New Orleans, and others in St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
and further afield.
In 1921, along with Dandurand and Louis Létourneau, Cattarinich purchased the Montreal Canadiens
Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is officially known as ...
of the National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
from the estate of George Kennedy
George Kennedy (sports promoter)
George Washington Kendall , known professionally as George Kennedy, was a Canadian sports promoter best known as the owner of the Montreal Canadiens ice hockey team from 1910 to 1921. Kennedy was a wrestler himself and after the end of his wrestling career turned to wrestling promotion...
for $11,000. Although Dandurand was the active partner during their tenure (Cattarinich was known as "The Silent One" and Létourneau sold his stake in 1930), the Canadiens won three Stanley Cup
Stanley Cup
The Stanley Cup is an ice hockey club trophy, awarded annually to the National Hockey League playoffs champion after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Finals. It has been referred to as The Cup, Lord Stanley's Cup, The Holy Grail, or facetiously as Lord Stanley's Mug...
s with players such as Howie Morenz
Howie Morenz
Howard William Morenz was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. He played centre for three National Hockey League teams: the Montreal Canadiens , the Chicago Black Hawks, and the New York Rangers...
, Aurel Joliat
Aurel Joliat
Aurèle Émile "Mighty Atom, Little Giant" Joliat was a Canadian professional ice hockey left winger who played 16 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Montreal Canadiens....
, and Georges Vezina
Georges Vézina
Joseph-Georges-Gonzague Vézina was a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender who played seven seasons in the National Hockey Association and nine in the National Hockey League , all with the Montreal Canadiens...
. After a series of losses (amounting to $40,000 for the 1934–35 season alone), Cattarinich and Dandurand sold the club to a syndicate comprising J. Ernest Savard
Ernest Savard
J. Ernest Savard was a Canadian stock broker and a partner in the brokerage firm of Savard & Hart in Montreal, Quebec.A sports fan, in 1928 Savard partnered with fellow Montreal businessman and politician Athanase David and American baseball executive George Stallings to revive the Montreal Royals...
, Maurice Forget, and Louis Gélinas in 1935 for $165,000.
In 1932, Cattarinich, Dandurand, and Letourneau purchased Blue Bonnets Raceway. A shareholder with Robert S. Eddy, Jr. and others in Arlington Park
Arlington Park
Arlington Park is a horse race track in the Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights, Illinois. Horse racing in the Chicago region has been a popular sport since the early days of the city in the 1830s, and at one time Chicago had more horse racing tracks than any other major metropolitan area...
racetrack in Chicago and Jefferson Park Racetrack in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, in 1934 their group purchased the Fair Grounds Race Course
Fair Grounds Race Course
Fair Grounds Race Course, often known as New Orleans Fair Grounds, is a thoroughbred racetrack and racino in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is operated by Churchill Downs Louisiana Horseracing Company, LLC....
in New Orleans from prominent horseman Edward R. Bradley
Edward R. Bradley
Colonel Edward Riley Bradley was an American steel mill laborer, gold miner, businessman and philanthropist. As well as a race track proprietor, he was the preeminent owner and breeder of Thoroughbred racehorses in the Southern United States during the first three decades of the 20th Century...
. Cattarinich and Dandurand continued their betting business throughout the challenging economic environment of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
in the 1930s. Despite several attempts, they did not succeed in acquiring another NHL club.
While recovering from an eye operation, he suffered a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
and died on December 7 1938.
He is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame
Hockey Hall of Fame
The Hockey Hall of Fame is located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Dedicated to the history of ice hockey, it is both a museum and a hall of fame. It holds exhibits about players, teams, National Hockey League records, memorabilia and NHL trophies, including the Stanley Cup...
, inducted 1977 as a builder.