Red Storey | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | Roy Alvin Storey (1918-03-05)March 5, 1918 Barrie, Ontario, Canada | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | March 15, 2006(2006-03-15) (aged 88) Montreal, Quebec, Canada | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Ice hockey referee | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Years active | 1950–1959 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Employer | National Hockey League | ||||||||||||||||||||
Ice hockey player
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| Football career | |||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 64 Toronto Argonauts | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Status | Retired | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | HB/FW | ||||||||||||||||||||
| High school | Barrie Central Collegiate Institute | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||||||||
| As player | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 1936–1941 | Toronto Argonauts | ||||||||||||||||||||
| As official | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 1942–1957 | IRFUofficial | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||||||||
Roy Alvin "Red" Storey,CM (March 5, 1918 – March 15, 2006) was a Canadian athlete, referee and broadcaster. He playedfootball,lacrosse andice hockey. While active as an athlete, he turned to officiating in all three sports, and continued as an official after the end of his playing career. While he was a member of theToronto Argonauts, the team won theGrey Cup championship twice. He refereed in theNational Hockey League, and later became a radio and television commentator for Canadian television.
Born inBarrie,Ontario, Storey was working in a rail yard when he received an offer to play football with theToronto Argonauts. He was on the team for six seasons from 1936 to 1941, winning theGrey Cup in 1937 and 1938. During the 1938 Grey Cup game, Storey scored three touchdowns in twelve minutes versus Winnipeg,[1] all in the fourth quarter, to give the Argos the victory. After his performance, he received offers from the New York Giants and the Chicago Bears of the National Football League but declined to leave Canada.[2] He was forced to retire after suffering a knee injury.
At the same time he was playing football, Storey was also playing competitive lacrosse. In theOntario Lacrosse Association, he played for Orillia and was an all-star with the Hamilton Tigers in 1941.
Storey was also a prominent senior men's baseball player and received an offer from thePhiladelphia Athletics of the American League.[3]
As a defenceman, he played hockey inNew Jersey for theRiver Vale Skeeters in 1941. Storey then moved toMontreal and joined the Montreal Royals late in the 1941–42 season.
He played lacrosse for Lachine in 1942 and 1943. He later joined the Montreal Canadiens lacrosse team, and was playing there in 1946.
By the mid-1940s, Storey—in addition to his regular job—was officiating football, lacrosse, and hockey games. He officiated Big Four football for 12 years (precursor to theCanadian Football League.)
Storey became an NHL referee in 1950 and worked in the league until 1959. On April 4, 1959, he was officiating Game 6 of the Stanley Cup semifinal between theMontreal Canadiens and theChicago Black Hawks, which Montreal won, along with the series, scoring the winning goal with 88 seconds left in the sixth game. Chicago fans nearly rioted, and Black Hawks coachRudy Pilous accused Storey of choking by not calling penalties against the Canadiens late in the game. Storey was scheduled to referee the final game in the series between theToronto Maple Leafs and theBoston Bruins, but whenOttawa Journal sports editorBill Westwick reported that NHL presidentClarence Campbell said that Storey had "frozen" on two calls that should have been penalties against the Canadiens, Storey immediately resigned.[4][5] He never returned to the NHL. His career included 480 regular season games and seven consecutiveStanley Cup finals from 1952 through 1958.
He was popular with NHL players because he talked with them.Gump Worsley said of Storey in his autobiographyThey Call Me Gump: "When Red Storey was refereeing in the NHL, I used to ask him where he was going to get a beer after the game. He usually told me, too."
Following his retirement from the NHL, Storey remained active in oldtimers' games, worked as a TV commentator, and was a popular raconteur.
Storey was inducted into theHockey Hall of Fame (1967) andCanada's Sports Hall of Fame (1986) and was made a Member of theOrder of Canada in 1991. He was also inducted into theOntario Sports Hall of Fame in 2001.[6] He was 88 when he died inMontreal after a lengthy illness.
His son,Bob Storey, was also a two-time Grey Cup winner (1967, 1970).
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||
| 1939–40 | Atlantic City Seagulls | EHL | 50 | 6 | 7 | 13 | 69 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1941–42 | River Vale Skeeters | EHL | 27 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 39 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1942–43 | Montreal Royals | QSHL | — | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| EHL totals | 77 | 9 | 10 | 19 | 108 | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
