HOCKEY HISTORY: Down on the Boardwalk: Atlantic City Hockey, Al Capone and the Great Boardwalk Hall

Al Capone (4th from left)
on the Boardwalk-1929
Photo-Boardwalk Journal
Oct. 2010

This year hockeyhistory.org had the opportunity to walk the famous boardwalk in Atlantic City, NJ. and learn about the City and Boardwalk's rich and colourful community and hockey history; the prohibition years were glory years on the boardwalk as prohibition was unenforced in Atlantic City and it became the world’s playground; it was home to the first organized crime convention in 1929 that featured Al Capone; it is the inspiration for the properties on the board game Monopoly including famous boardwalk; Miss America competition originated here on September 7, 1921; the Beatles performed here on their first American tour; and a civil rights speech by Martin Luther King was held there.

Early morning on the
boardwalk in front of
"Boardwalk Hall"

At the centre of this history is Boardwalk Hall built in 1926 and in its day was home to the world’s largest pipe organ. It is also here where Atlantic City’s rich hockey history takes place.

The Case of the Missing Trophy:
True story - The Atlantic City Boardwalk Trophy, a prize handed from champion to champion of the old Eastern League, was found in a storage shed. Chuck Miller

Thanks to Chuck Miller for solving the case of the missing "Boardwalk Trophy". The Atlantic City Sea Gulls were a top amateur team playing out of the "Hall". Their hockey success led to the creation of the trophy in 1932 by Altlantic City businesses to be awarded to the 1932 AAU hockey tournament winner. For a full overview of the trophy, Gulls and the Eastern Hockey League, click on Miller's excellent article: From Atlantic City to Toronto: The Boardwalk Trophy and the Eastern Hockey League

And the Boardwalk Trophy, the chalice that disappeared in
1973, finally coming to light in the storage shed of a former
player's bar? It finally joined the Calder Cup - the Turner Cup -
even the Stanley Cup - in the Hall of Fame on July 26, 1994.
Home at last! Chuck Miller

In 2010 hockey fans in Atlantic City were thrilled to read the following news release: New Jersey Devils Bring Pro Hockey Back to the Atlantic City Boardwalk.

Area hockey fans were thrilled to hear these six words: Hockey is back at the Hall. To read the full article including discussions of the Boardwalk Bullies team click on:

Hockey is Back at the Hall

References

FROM ATLANTIC CITY TO TORONTO: The Boardwalk Trophy and the Eastern Hockey League
Part 1: The Sea Gulls, the Rovers, the Olympics and the Cutters
Part 2: The Jets, the Comets, Southern Expansion and Well-Worn Knuckles
By Chuck Miller(Hockey Ink! Vol. III, Iss. 2-3)

Saturday, August 21, 2010 12:00 am | Updated: 1:35 pm, Sun Aug 22, 2010.

By SUSAN LULGJURAJ Staff Writer

To view the article from the Boardwalk Journal, October, 2010 click on:
Once Upon a Time in Atlantic City