Welcome to the Deep Dive. I'm really excited
you're joining us today because we have got a
massive one lined up. We really do. There's a
lot of ground to cover. Yeah. If you're looking
at your app right now, the title we're working
with is the Deep Dive. 100 Years of Chicago Blackhawks
History, Curses, Cups, and Controversies. It's
a heavy title, but honestly, it fits perfectly.
Yeah, it absolutely fits. And the description
promises a lot, too. It says, we're going to
dive into the fascinating century -long history
of the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks. We'll explore
the wild origins in 1926, uncover the truth behind
the infamous curse of Muldoon, and track their
explosive rise to a modern Stanley Cup dynasty.
And we also have to get into the off -ice stuff.
Exactly. The description points out we're unpacking
the complex aspects of the franchise, from the
2010 Kyle Beach scandal and the Wertz family
ownership drama, to the ongoing debate surrounding
their Native American logo. So whether you are
a diehard hockey fan or just someone fascinated
by the business of sports, this deep dive is
really your ultimate shortcut to being well -informed.
Yeah, that's the mission today. We are pulling
all of this from a massive, highly detailed Wikipedia
article detailing their entire 100 -year history.
And it really is a remarkable timeline to examine
because when you look at a century of any legacy
organization, you weren't just looking at a timeline
of wins and losses. For you listening, this is
a masterclass in how an institution is shaped
by, well, colorful personalities, shifting eras,
and those inevitable moments where a sports entity
collides with broader societal issues. Let's
start at the very beginning because, frankly,
it reads like a script for a bizarre 1920s movie.
I'm looking at the source material and it says
the team was founded in 1926 by a Chicago coffee
tycoon. Frederick McLaughlin. Right, Frederick
McLaughlin. Yeah. But it doesn't sound like he
had any background in professional hockey whatsoever.
So where did the team identity even come from?
You're right. He was a coffee magnate, not a
sports guy at all. But McLaughlin was also a
former commander in World War I. He led the 333rd
Machine Gun Battalion of the 86th Infantry Division.
And during the war, that specific division was
nicknamed the Black Hawk Division. Ah, I see.
Yeah, it was named in honor of Chief Black Hawk,
who was a prominent historical leader of the
Sauk Nation. So when McLaughlin bought this expansion
hockey team, he simply named it after his old
military unit. Okay. Let's unpack this. He names
a brand new professional sports team after his
machine gun battalion. How did that translate
to his management style? Because the notes here
suggest he ran the team with absolute chaos.
Chaos is probably an understatement. He was an
incredibly hands -on owner, which is always dangerous
when you don't actually know the sport. Yeah,
right. He fired coaches constantly, almost on
a whim. And he had this fierce, somewhat eccentric
obsession with promoting American -born players.
Which was rare back then. Practically unheard
of. Canadian players entirely dominated the NHL
in that era. But that unpredictability is exactly
what led to some of the most bizarre situations
in early sports history. Which brings us to the
1937 -38 season. The notes here say the team
was just terrible. They barely made the playoffs
with a record of 14 -25 -9. Yet somehow, they
stumble all the way to the Stanley Cup Final
against the heavily favored Toronto Maple Leafs.
And then, wait, right before Game 1, their starting
goalie gets hurt. Mike Karakis, he breaks his
toe hours before the championship game. What
happens next? It's one of those stories that
sounds like absolute fiction. The team is in
Toronto, desperate without a goalie. The management
team literally scours the city and tracks down
a minor league goalie named Alfie Moore. Out
of nowhere. The legend goes that they found him
sitting on a bar stool in a Toronto tavern having
a few drinks. No way. Yes. They pull him out
of the bar, sober him up just enough, put him
in the net, and he miraculously wins game one.
Hold on, was that even legal under NHL rules
at the time? To just grab a guy out of a bar
and put him in a Stanley Cup final? Under the
incredibly loose emergency goalie rules of the
1930s, yes. But only if the opposing team agreed
to it. Oh, and Toronto agreed. Initially, yes.
Toronto's management probably figured a minor
leaguer pulled from a tavern would be an easy
target. But after Moore actually won the game,
Toronto was absolutely furious. I bet. They immediately
revoked their permission and banned Chicago from
using Moore for game two. So what did Chicago
do? They had to scramble again. They used a completely
different emergency goalie and they lost game
two. Naturally. But then, for the rest of the
series, their original goalie, Mike Karakis,
returned to the ice wearing a specially fitted
skate equipped with a crude steel toe protector,
and they ended up winning the championship. That
is wild. A guy finishes his drink, wins a finals
game, gets banned, and they still take the cup.
To this day, they remain the team with the poorest
regular season record to ever win a Stanley Cup.
Incredible. But, as strange as that is, It's
not even the most famous myth from the McLaughlin
era. We need to talk about the curse of Muldoon.
According to the timeline here, this curse dictated
the franchise's fate for decades. What's fascinating
here is how this story perfectly illustrates
the psychology of sports fans. Well, whenever
there is prolonged, unexplained failure, people
crave a supernatural explanation. The story goes
back to 1927. McLaughlin fired his head coach,
Pete Muldoon, after a bad playoff exit. Right.
The legend stated that as Muldoon was being escorted
out, he screamed at McLaughlin, cursing the organization
to never finish in first place ever again. And
looking at the stats, that curse completely tracked.
For 40 years, no matter how good the team was
or even when they won the Stanley Cup, They inexplicably
never finished the regular season in first place.
It became gospel in Chicago. Everyone believed
in the curse of Muldoon. So where did the story
actually come from? It came from the typewriter
of a sports writer named Jim Coleman in 1943.
And the twist is that Coleman casually admitted
years later in the late 1960s that he had entirely
fabricated the interaction. Wait, what? He was
staring down a severe writer's block deadline,
needed copy for his column, and just invented
the curse out of thin air. He just made it up
to beat a deadline and an entire city believed
it for decades. Exactly. It wasn't until 1967
when the Blackhawks finally finished a regular
season in first place that Coleman felt comfortable
enough to publicly confess that the whole thing
was a deadline -induced fiction. That is amazing.
Well... While the curses were fake, the structural
issues with the team's management in the mid
-20th century were very real. Very much so. McLaughlin
passes away in 1944. The team eventually falls
under the sphere of influence of the Norris family.
And looking at the business mechanics here, the
conflict of interest is staggering. Can you explain
how James E. Norris essentially controlled two
competing teams in the same league? If we connect
this to the bigger picture, It is a textbook
example of a monopoly destroying competitive
integrity. James E. Norris was the patriarch
of a massively wealthy family, and he already
owned the Detroit Red Wings. Right, a major rival.
But he also happened to own the Chicago Stadium,
which made him the Blackhawks landlord. Furthermore,
the Chicago franchise was deeply in debt, and
Norris held that debt. So he owned the building
and the debt. Yes. So while he installed a man
named Bill Tobin as the president of the Blackhawks,
Tobin was widely understood to be a puppet. Norris
controlled the building, he controlled the money,
and therefore he controlled the team. So if I'm
understanding this correctly, they were theoretically
rivals in the NHL, but behind the scenes, Chicago
was effectively functioning as a minor league
affiliate for Detroit. Functionally, yes. For
years, any time the Blackhawks developed a genuinely
promising young player, a deeply lopsided trade
would miraculously occur, sending that prime
talent to the Red Wings for aging veterans or
minor leaguers. Just fleecing them. Exactly.
Between 1945 and 1958, Chicago only made the
playoffs twice. They were completely hollowed
out to ensure Detroit remained a powerhouse.
Wow. It wasn't until the 1960s, after the senior
Norris passed away and new ownership took true,
invested control, that Chicago finally escaped
that grip. They ushered in a golden age with
legends like Bobby Hall and Stan Mikita and won
the cup in 1961. But that golden age eventually
crashes into what fans refer to as the Dark Ages.
And this brings us to Bill Wurtz. infamously
known as Dollar Bill. A very controversial era.
Looking at the 1990s and early 2000s, it seems
like ownership actively declared war on its own
fan base. The most glaring example in the source
material is the television blackout policy. Why
would an owner refuse to televise his team's
home games in their own city? Well, What's -His
strategy was economically disastrous. But his
logic was based on a fiercely stubborn old school
mentality. He believed that broadcasting home
games on local television was fundamentally unfair
to the season ticket holders who paid premium
prices to sit in the arena. I see. In his mind,
giving the product away for free on TV devalued
the live ticket. But didn't that just completely
alienate anyone who couldn't afford a ticket?
Our notes show he also raised ticket prices astronomically.
Precisely. For you listening, think about your
own favorite childhood brands for a second. The
way you build lifelong loyalty is through accessibility.
By blacking out home games for decades, Bill
Wurtz effectively hid his own product from an
entire generation of potential young fans in
the Chicago area. Kids couldn't come home from
school and watch their local hockey team. Because
of that barrier, brand loyalty simply evaporated.
The cultural apathy in Chicago seems like it
was overwhelming. By 2004, ESPN literally named
the Blackhawks the worst franchise in all of
professional sports. The stadium was empty. There's
even a detail here about a local minor league
hockey team, the Chicago Wolves, openly mocking
them. Their marketing slogan was, we actually
win. It's a profound business lesson. You can
possess a legacy brand with decades of deep -rooted
history, but if your leadership intentionally
puts up walls between the product and the consumer,
the market will replace you. By the mid -2000s,
they were practically irrelevant in a city that
historically adored them. But then, here's where
it gets really interesting. The timeline shows
a whiplash -inducing turnaround. Bill Wurtz passes
away in 2007, and his son Rocky Wurtz takes over.
And Rocky practically flips the entire business
model overnight. He did. Rocky Wurtz instantly
modernized the franchise. The very first thing
he did was put the home games back on local television,
tearing down that wall his father built. He reconnected
with alienated franchise legends, bringing them
back as ambassadors. And critically, his front
office managed to draft two generational franchise
-altering talents in Jonathan Toews and Patrick
Kane. The results were immediate. They go from
the worst franchise in sports to leading the
NHL in attendance. And on the ice, they build
a modern dynasty. They win the Stanley Cup in
2010, breaking a 49 -year drought. A massive
moment for the city. Then they win again in 2013,
famously scoring two goals in 17 seconds in Game
6 to stun the Boston Bruins. And they capture
a third cup in... 2015. Three titles in six years
is incredible. It is. But we have to pause here
because to fully understand the legacy of that
franchise, our sources require us to look at
what was happening off the ice during that time.
And this is a very difficult, very serious chapter.
It is. We are going to address the 2010 Kyle
Beach scandal. And to do so, we will rely strictly
on the facts established in the 2021 independent
investigation conducted by the law firm Jenner
& Block, as outlined in our source text. Right.
During that 2010 championship run, a prospect
named Kyle Beach was sexually assaulted by the
team's video coach, Brad Aldrich. According to
the timeline in the Jenner & Block report. The
Blackhawks' core leadership did not address this
immediately. There was a specific meeting held
on May 23, 2010. Correct. The investigation revealed
that top executives, including then -President
John McDonough, general manager Sam Bowman, and
head coach Joel Quinville, met to discuss the
allegations against Aldrich. Right before the
finals. This meeting occurred just days before
the 2010 Stanley Cup final was set to begin.
And the findings show that this brain trust of
executives chose to defer any action regarding
Aldridge until after the Cup final was completed.
And because of that delay, the timeline shows
Aldridge was allowed to quietly resign after
the playoffs, but not before he was permitted
to actively participate in the team's Stanley
Cup victory parade and celebrations. Yes. When
the full scope of this institutional failure
came to light 11 years later in 2021, the fallout
was severe. The NHL fined the Blackhawks organization
$2 million for their inadequate internal procedures
and untimely response. Significant consequences.
Key figures from that 2010 era, including Stan
Bowman and Joel Quenville, resigned in disgrace
from their current NHL positions. The team reached
an undisclosed settlement with Kyle Beach. And
at the organization's request, Brad Aldrich's
name was permanently crossed out and removed
from the Stanley Cup itself. Looking at the totality
of this event, it casts an... incredibly long
dark cloud over that entire era of winning. It
serves to remind you, the listener, of the devastating
human cost involved when an organization prioritizes
its immediate goals, like winning a championship
or protecting public relations over basic ethics
and the safety of its personnel. The institutional
rot required to let something like that be swept
under the rug is a profound failure of leadership
at every level. It fundamentally changes how
history views that dynasty. And as the organization
grapples with that recent history, they're also
currently navigating a massive ongoing cultural
debate regarding their core identity. Yes. This
brings us to another highly complex issue. The
team's name and logo. Looking at the source material,
there is a deep divide here. And I want to be
incredibly clear with you listening right now.
It's important to state this up front. We are
not taking sides here. We aren't endorsing any
viewpoints. We are simply conveying the ideas
and arguments exactly as they appear in the source
text impartially. To properly map out the debate,
we first have to look at the name itself. As
we discussed, Frederick McLaughlin originally
named the team after his military division honoring
historic leader Black Hawk. One interesting detail
from the text is that in 1986, the organization
actually discovered a typographical error in
their original 1926 NHL franchise contract. Oh,
really? Yeah, it was printed as a single compound
word, Blackhawks, instead of the two separate
words they had been using for 60 years. They
officially changed the spelling to one word to
match that foundational document. But the real
contention today isn't about the spacing of the
letters. It's about the logo, which prominently
features a Native American head. Over the last
few years, as societal consciousness has shifted,
legacy franchises have completely rebranded,
dropping their Native American imagery. The Blackhawks
have not. What is the organization's official
stance based on the text? The source material
provides a clear look at their defense. In a
2020 press release, the Blackhawks organization
explicitly defended their name and logo. Their
stated position is that the logo symbolizes an
important and historic person, Blackhawk of the
Sac and Fox Nation, whose leadership in life
has inspired generations of Native Americans,
veterans, and the public. So they view it as
an honor. The organization views the imagery
as a respectful tribute and has pledged to use
their platform to expand awareness of indigenous
cultural contributions. but looking at the other
side of the debate in our notes. There is heavy,
sustained opposition from numerous Native American
organizations and advocates who completely reject
that premise. Exactly. The National Congress
of American Indians has long maintained that
all Native -themed sports logos, regardless of
intent, continue to profit from and perpetuate
harmful stereotypes. Locally in Chicago, the
American Indian Center completely severed its
philanthropic ties with the Blackhawks Foundation,
publicly stating they will not affiliate with
an organization. that continues to use this imagery.
Furthermore, there is a statement here from the
Chinese Youth Council in Chicago. They argue
that the logo does not honor anyone, but rather
symbolizes a painful legacy of imperialism and
genocide. And perhaps most directly. Go ahead.
The text notes that actual descendants of Black
Hawk himself have publicly demanded that the
team change its name and logo. They are explicitly
asking the franchise to stop profiting off their
ancestors' image and legacy. It highlights an
incredibly complex tension. You have a massive
corporate entity arguing intent and tribute,
while the actual communities represented by that
imagery are arguing that the impact is exploitative.
It is a debate the franchise will undoubtedly
have to continue navigating. And speaking of
the future, the On Ice product is currently undergoing
a total rebuild. Yeah, the era of twos and cane
is officially over. According to the timeline,
the franchise's hopes are now entirely pinned
on their 2023 number one overall draft pick,
Conor Bedard. They are hoping he can be the catalyst
for a new era as the team approaches its 2025
-26 centennial season. This raises an important
question. When a 100 -year -old institution tries
to reinvent itself for a new century, what pieces
of its culture actually survive? How do you carry
the weight of modern championships while addressing
severe organizational failures and intense pressure
to evolve your visual identity? It's a massive
balancing act. It is. But before we wrap up,
there is one final detail in the source material
about teen culture that I think is essential
for you to consider. If you have ever watched
a Chicago Blackhawks home game on TV, you are
likely familiar with their famous national anthem
tradition. Oh, absolutely. The crowd absolutely
erupts. They cheer and scream wildly during the
entire singing of the anthem. It is deafening
inside that arena. It's one of the most recognizable
traditions in sports, but what the text reveals
is how that tradition actually started. It wasn't
a corporate mandate. No marketing executive sat
in a boardroom and decided it would be good for
branding to have the fans scream during the anthem.
How did it start? It happened completely organically
during the 1985 playoffs against the powerhouse
Edmonton Oilers. The Chicago fans, feeling the
raw energy of the moment, just started cheering
through the song and it permanently stuck. So
the fans essentially created the defining atmospheric
culture of the building entirely on their own.
Precisely. And it leaves you with something highly
provocative to mull over when you look at a hundred
year old sports brand who really owns it. That's
a great question. Is it the billionaires who
hold the legal deed, dictate the TV contracts
and defend the logo? Or is it the community of
fans who spontaneously invent the traditions,
the energy and the passion that actually gives
that brand its value in the first place? The
tension between the corporate boardroom and the
people in the seats. Well, that wraps up our
deep dive into the century -long roller coaster
of the Chicago Blackhawks. From the WWI inspiration
and barroom goalies to the modern heights of
three Stanley Cups, contrasted against deep organizational
failures and cultural controversies. It's quite
a story. Thank you so much for joining us on
this deep dive. Keep exploring the history around
you, and we will catch you next time.