Don Gallinger

National Hockey League League president Clarence Campbell shocked the hockey world on March 9, 1948.

On that day he had the unfortunate duty to announce to the hockey world the lifetime banishments of Don Gallinger of the Boston Bruins and Billy Taylor of the New York Rangers for "conduct detrimental to hockey and for associating with a known gambler."

When newspapers first broke the story in February, 1948, both players initially denied any wrong doing. Gallinger met with Bruins GM Art Ross, then with Campbell, and proclaimed his innocence.

However the league and moreover the police were not satisfied. Eventually wire-tap evidence caught a number of phone calls made by Gallinger and Taylor to James Tamer, a Detroit gambler and paroled bank robber.

The wiretaps were illegally obtained so the police were not able to press charges against either player. However it was enough evidence for Campbell to take action.

A few years early, Toronto Maple Leaf superstar defenseman Babe Pratt was banned for life for gambling. However after publicly apologizing and proving that all bets did not involve his own team, Pratt's expulsion was overturned 16 days later. Gallinger, a very proud man, refused to admit his guilt before the public, but tried to apologize to Campbell in a private meeting, hoping that that would be enough to lift the ban.
In that conversation, Gallinger admitted on betting on 8 or 9 games, and lost all of them. He bet from $250 to $1000. He would often bet against his own team if the Bruins had some key injuries.

However Campbell refused to give him a professional pardon.

"Although as a Christian I forgive him for his dereliction, and as a man I admire him for his attempt to rehabilitate himself, as a person entrusted with a portion of the stewardship of major-league hockey, I cannot possibly bring myself to believe that he should be reinstated," one governor told Campbell.

Billy Taylor never once asked for a pardon, but Gallinger never gave up the quest for reinstatement. In 1951, 1955 and 1963 he made desperate appeals. The NHL never wavered.

Bruins legend Bobby Bauer and hockey writer Scott Young backed up the disgraced hockey player.

"Even some murderers," Young once wrote, " get parole from their lifetime sentences."

Twenty two years after the fact, the NHL finally lifted the lifetime ban. In 1970, both Gallinger and Taylor were reinstated with little fanfare.

Gallinger was a notable offensive player in his day. The nephew of former NHLers Red and Shorty Green and childhood friend of Teeder Kennedy, Gallinger scored 65 goals and 88 assists for 153 points in 222 career games. He was a heck of an athlete, even getting a try out with the Boston Red Sox.

Following his exit from hockey Gallinger relocated to Kitchener, Ontario where he raised his family and operated hotels. He died of a heart attack in 2000, just weeks shy of his 75th birthday.

Did You Know? Gallinger was also involved in another scandal of sorts. He impregnated a Canadian socialite in 1947. The son was put up for adoption and was raised in California. In 1998 the son, with the help of San Jose Sharks broadcaster Dan Rusanowsky, contacted his father for the first time.