Ode to the 1960-61 Portland Buckaroos
The Winterhawks are all headed home for the holidays after sewing up a fine weekend in the thick of the U.S. Division, and while they are away I thought it appropriate to contemplate the 100 years of hockey that Portland has enjoyed. Chief among the finest seasons would have to be the very first season for the Buckaroos, beginning in 1960 after the New Westminster Royals were moved to Stumptown as the newest team in the (then professional-level) Western Hockey League.
As some may recall from my previous articles, this was the same year that the Memorial Coliseum opened as the new sports arena in the city, better known as the Glass Palace. In fact, the Royals planned their move to Portland specifically to play in the new space, being granted a leave of absence from the league until it was finished. The larger capacity could not come soon enough. The Buckaroos would spend the season breaking attendance records, with the highest single-game attendance ever with 10,334 fans for the April 30, 1961 game against Seattle and the highest season-wide attendance of 265,327.
Fans were riveted by the Buckaroos, who won the WHL championship and took home the Lester Patrick Cup in their first season (and quickly followed it with two more consecutive titles in ’62 and ’63). But beyond tallying wins, the team accumulated fans by featuring some of the best players that have ever suited up for Portland.
Chief among them was a young center named Art Jones, nicknamed “Red Baron” due to his deadly scoring ability. Jones turned pro with the New Westminster Royals in 1957, despite skepticism from scouts who saw him playing amateur for the Spokane Flyers. Once the team was settled in Portland, however, Jones went on to score 100 points for the 1960-61 season and led the team in scoring for eleven of his thirteen years with the Buckaroos. During that period he also set a WHL record for 127 points in a season (1969-70), and his entire career in the WHL amounted to a staggering 1705 points, marking him as one of the highest-scoring hockey players in history regardless of which league.
Also on the ice that year was Canadian Olympic goalie Don Head, who led the league in every goalkeeper statistic and took home the Rookie of the Year and Outstanding Goalkeeper awards. This fantastic showing earned him a starting slot with the NHL’s Boston Bruins the next season.
Finally, the 1960-61 Buckaroos also featured veteran left wing Gordon Fashoway, at the time the third-highest goal scorer in the history of the sport and former Portland Eagle player from the short-lived PCHL years. “Fash,” as he was known, set a precedent for excellence in Portland hockey by scoring 42 goals and 32 assists for the season and winning the Fred J. Hume Cup for league’s most gentlemanly player (as determined by sports writers based on conduct and performance). As the first team captain of the Buckaroos, Fash went on to score his 1,000th career point the next year and after retiring in 1963 he stayed on in scouting and coaching positions, eventually leading the team to another Patrick Cup as head coach in 1971.
As we near the end of 2014 and aim our sights on the second half of the Winterhawks season, I give a puck-nut salute to the very first Buckaroos team and hope the current home team looks to them for inspiration. But this brings up a valid question: was that the greatest season of hockey Portland has seen in a hundred years? Stay tuned for other contenders.
