Greatest Hockey Player You’ve Never Heard Of – Tommy Burlington

One of the many things I like about having a blog is to have an avenue to share stories about athletes who were considered the best, then for what ever reason they never made it to a national (either Canada or the US) stage.  I like to highlight stories about players who many people have never heard of and for at least one day on my blog they can see their story told.  I’ve done this a few times with baseball players, but I decided that it would be fun to try the same with hockey.

A few days ago I inquired the good folks over at the sports card forum about whether hockey great Tommy Burlington was still alive as I would like to send a custom card to him to sign. Tommy played between 1939 to 1954, hailing from Mount Denis, he began he hockey career in a small town called Owen Sound in Ontario. There he played one season in the juniors and one in the intermediates.The next season he was off to the Eastern Hockey League’s Atlantic City Seagulls.  It was there that he made his mark and really opened the eyes of some NHL teams.  He set a record of 65 goals and 66 assists for 131 points in just 60 games.  Next up was his tenure with the American Hockey League’s Cleveland Barrons.  At just 23 years old he scored 12 goals and 31 assists for 43 points in his first season, then as an encore the next season he put up 33 goals and 49 assists for 82 points (including a record 24 game scoring streak).  At this point the Chicago Blackhawks were interested, that is until the NHL past a rule that banned limited vision players from playing in the league.  Tommy Burlington was blind in one eye.

He continued playing for the Barons putting up point totals of 90 (a recod setting point season for him) and 82.  Following his final season with the Barrons he was traded to Providence.  He played at Providence for one season, putting up 64 points (22 goals), then knowing that he would never play in the NHL he went back to Canada and suited up for the Saskatoon Quakers of the WCSHL.  He again set a scoring record putting up 22 goals and 29 assists in 39 games. At this point in his career he wanted to return to Owen Sound (where his wife was from).  He then played and set records for the Owen Sound Mercurys of the OHASr league.

At one point while he was in Owen Sound, legendary coach, Punch Imlach made the trek to Owen Sound to convince Tommy to join his Quebec Aces. Punch told him, “If you sign with me, I’ll have the best three centers in amateur hockey, Jean Beliveau, Tommy Burlington and Herb Carnegie!” He told Punch, “I had enough of traveling and my wife is from Owen Sound. And, I always liked Owen Sound. The fans were great sports fans and they knew their hockey.”

In fact several players have made references to Burlington being the Wayne Gretzky of his generation:

• NHL Hall of Fame goalie Harry Lumley. The legendary goaltender often practiced with Burlington and other players. Lumley said that during these scrimmages, Tommy would tell him what he was going to do such as “deke left and shoot high to the right side”. But no matter how many times he knew what was about the happen, Burlington would still put the puck past him.
• Gordie Howe considered him one of the greats to ever play the game.
• Punch Imlach for many years considered Burlington the best center in hockey.

Despite only having vision in one eye, he played in over 501 games (statistics were unavailable in several of the leagues / seasons he played), he had 269 goals and 442 points for 711 points (that we are sure of).  Clearly one of the better players to play the game and his name needs to be etched into any puck head.

Usually I like to put a picture of the player in the post but I was unable to find a picture of him.  If anyone can find one, send me the link.

Update: While researching for this post, I have learned that unfortunately Tommy Burlington has passed away in 2000.  He lived in Owen Sound the rest of his life.  He owned a few car dealerships and even a race track.