DELVECCHIO, Alex Peter ("Fats")

(b. 4 December 1932 in Fort William, Ontario, Canada), hockey player noted for his longevity, skill, consistency, durability, and gentlemanly play.

After a brief period in the minor leagues with the Fort William Rangers of the Thunder Bay Junior Hockey League, the Oshawa Generals of the Ontario Hockey Association, and the Indianapolis Capitals of the American Hockey League, Delvecchio joined the Detroit Red Wings prior to the 1951–1952 season. Playing in sixty-five games during his rookie campaign, he scored fifteen goals and added twenty-two assists.

When the Red Wing general manager Jack Adams traded team captain Sid Abel to the Chicago Blackhawks on 22 July 1952, Delvecchio united with Gordie Howe and Ted Lindsay to replace Abel on the famed "Production Line." The Red Wings never faltered, winning the Prince of Wales Trophy, which was at that time awarded to the team posting the best record during the regular season, for the fifth consecutive year. Although eclipsed by his more celebrated teammates, Delvecchio finished fifth in the league in scoring with fifty-nine points on sixteen goals and forty-three assists. His graceful skating, superb puck handing, and flawless passing contributed in no small measure to Howe's league-leading ninety-five points (forty-nine goals, forty-six assists) and to Lindsay's seventy-one (thirty-two, thirty-nine). For his efforts, Delvecchio was named a Second-Team All Star.

The Red Wings dominated the National Hockey League (NHL) during the early 1950s, and Delvecchio's name was inscribed on the Stanley Cup three times, in 1952, 1954, and 1955. On 14 April 1955, in the seventh game of the Stanley Cup Finals, Delvecchio scored twice to secure a 3–1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens, clinching what proved to be the Wings last championship in forty-two years. In the wake of this success, a series of regrettable, and often inexplicable, trades, began to effect the gradual but steady decline of the team throughout the rest of Delvecchio's career. Although the Wings remained competitive, returning to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1956, 1961, 1963, 1964, and 1966, Detroit did not win another cup until nearly a quarter century after Delvecchio retired. In spite of his team's decline, Delvecchio maintained his own fine play.

With the departure of Lindsay in the summer of 1957, Delvecchio moved from center to left wing on a line with Howe and third-year center Norm Ullman. Adjusting effortlessly to his new position, Delvecchio prospered. During the 1957–1958 season, he matched his career high in points with fifty-nine, scoring twenty-one goals and recording thirty-eight assists while playing in all seventy of the Red Wings regular season games. The following season he again earned second-team All Star honors, this time as a left wing.

Throughout his long career, Delvecchio accumulated only 383 penalty minutes, and never totaled more than 37 Penalties in Minutes (PIM) in a single season. A testament to his restrained and judicious play, Delvecchio received the Lady Byng Trophy, awarded annually "to the player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability," in 1959, 1966, and 1969.

Statistically, Delvecchio's finest season came late in his career. In the 1968–1969 season, playing for a Red Wings squad that finished fifth in the six-team East Division and failed to make the playoffs for the third straight season, Delvecchio amassed eighty-three points on twenty-five goals and fifty-eight assists. His totals were good enough to rank him seventh in the league in scoring.

Delvecchio's amiable, rotund face earned him the nickname "Fats" early in his career, an epithet he never escaped. Yet the identification was no emblem of disrespect. On the contrary, teammates and opponents alike admired Delvecchio. As evidence of this respect, Delvecchio was elected captain of the Red Wings in 1962. He retained the position until his retirement on 9 November 1973, eleven games into the 1973–1974 season. At the time Delvecchio left hockey, only teammate Howe had enjoyed a longer tenure in the NHL or had played in more NHL games. Similarly, Delvecchio's 825 assists and 1,281 points ranked second only to Howe, while his 456 goals were sixth at that point in NHL history.

Delvecchio served as coach of the Red Wings from 1973 until 1975, and again for nine games during the 1975–1976 season. He compiled a rather dismal record of 82 wins, 131 losses, and 32 ties. As general manager between 1974 and 1977, he could do little to revive the once proud franchise, which by the early 1970s had tumbled into utter disarray. Finding it difficult to communicate with younger players who no longer gave automatic and unquestioned obedience to authority, Delvecchio was compelled to trade the talented but disgruntled Marcel Dionne to the Los Angeles Kings. He also quarreled with star right wing Mickey Redmond.

Injuries had forced Redmond to miss most of the 1974–1975 season and the final forty-three games in 1975–1976, a total equal to the number of games Delvecchio had missed during his entire career. Although Redmond had actually suffered nerve damage in his right leg severe enough to necessitate his retirement, Delvecchio considered him irresponsible and indolent, and suspended him before placing him on waivers. "He's no good to us," Delvecchio complained. "I'm tired of hearing players' excuses for mediocre work. I don't want to have such disruptive influences on my team." Delvecchio's association with the abysmal Red Wings of the 1970s was an unbecoming finale for a man who represented the glorious legacy of a bygone era.

An exemplary team player who labored in relative obscurity throughout his career, Delvecchio was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1977. The Red Wings organization, which he served so proudly, so long, and so well, honored him by retiring his number 10 on 10 November 1991. A model of durability, consistency, and longevity, Delvecchio played 1,549 NHL games. During twenty-two full seasons with the Detroit Red Wings, he missed only forty-three games due to injury or illness. In thirteen of those seasons, he scored at least 20 goals, compiling a career total of 456 to accompany 825 assists. Delvecchio also netted 35 goals and registered 69 assists in 121 playoffs contests. Talented and intelligent, yet modest and unprepossessing, Delvecchio rarely made a mistake on the ice, and he personified the triumph of substance over style.

Delvecchio is mentioned in Stan Fischler, Detroit Red Wings: Greatest Moments and Players (2001); Paul R. Greenland, Wings of Fire: The History of the Detroit Red Wings (1997); Richard Bak, The Detroit Red Wings: The Illustrated History (1998); Bob Duff, "Franchise Histories: Detroit Red Wings," in Total Hockey: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Hockey League, 2d ed., by Dan Diamond (2000); and Brian McFarlane, The Detroit Red Wings (1999).

Mark Malvasi