Art Potter | |
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| Born | August 8, 1909 Ramsgate, Kent, England |
| Died | January 19, 1998 (aged 88) Edmonton, Alberta, Canada |
| Occupation | Northern Alberta Dairy Pool manager |
| Known for | Canadian Amateur Hockey Association and Alberta Amateur Hockey Association president |
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Arthur Thomas Potter (August 8, 1909 – January 19, 1998) was a Canadian ice hockey administrator. He was president of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) from 1962 to 1964, and oversaw the establishment of a permanent Canada men's national ice hockey team after he decided that sending the reigning Allan Cup champion to international competitions was no longer the answer. He felt that Canada needed discipline to handle Cold War tactics and propaganda at the Ice Hockey World Championships, sought to give its best players to develop as a team, and supported a plan by Father David Bauer to assemble a team of amateur student athletes to complete at the 1964 Winter Olympics.
Potter was against the increasing influence of the National Hockey League (NHL) into amateur hockey, and blamed minor league professional teams for the decline of senior ice hockey and loss of prestige for the Allan Cup. He wanted to keep players in junior ice hockey as long as possible, and favoured the revised NHL Amateur Draft agreement to financially support junior hockey which ended the direct sponsorship of teams by the NHL. He had multiple disagreements with coach Hap Emms during two Memorial Cup finals, suspended radio announcers for comments that he felt were detrimental to the game, sought rules to sanction teams and individuals who abused on-ice officials or the CAHA, and advocated using a three-man officiating system to reduce incidents.
Potter was an executive for the Alberta Amateur Hockey Association from 1943 to 1959, including seven years as vice-president and four years as president. He was known as "Mr. Hockey" in Edmonton, where he was a lifelong volunteer to organize minor ice hockey, which included serving as president of the Edmonton and District Hockey Association. He was elected to four terms as chairman of the Edmonton Recreation Board, assisted in the planning and construction of the South Edmonton Sports Centre, and was inducted into the Edmonton Sports Hall of Fame. He received the Canadian Centennial Medal in 1967, was inducted into the builder category of the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame in 1968, and was part of the inaugural class of inductees into the Alberta Hockey Hall of Fame in 1982.