Hugh McIntyre
Fast facts:
Born: 1922
Lived: Langley Moor, Brandon & Chester-le-Street
Joined Wasps: 1947
Last played: 1948
Skated at Durham until: 1996
Awards: Age UK Services to Sport (1997)
When J.J. Smith started up Sunday morning ice hockey practices at Durham’s outdoor ice rink back in 1940, an 18-year old Hughie McIntyre from Langley Moor was one of a hardcore band of brothers made up of dedicated Durham lads who religiously rocked up to the rink at 6am with a pair of skates and a home-made hockey stick to play a makeshift version of the game that they called ‘Shinny’.
Along with other lads in this hockey-mad gang like Joe Stephenson, Russ Proudfoot and Jim Hall, Hugh would go on to be one of the ‘founding Wasps’.
Born in 1922 into an Irish family. Hugh lived in Langley Moor with his sister and brother Win and Jimmy.
Known as a larger than life, enigmatic character (he once played the piano on the back of an open topped lorry going over Sydney Harbour bridge), Hughie who made his mark wherever he went.
His humour was his trademark. He left school at 15 to become an apprentice joiner, joined the Royal Marines in the early years of the Second World War. Upon signing up he was (not surprisingly) questioned as to why he had never learned to swim. In his own inimitable deadpan way he duly responded – ‘I thought you had boats!’
While in the forces, Hughie ended up a long way from Durham, serving mostly in the Far East where he survived falling into a Japanese trap and thankfully lived to tell the tale. Unable to skate or play ice hockey out there, he turned instead to football and running, clocking an impressive mile in 4 minutes 18 seconds and winning an all-services trophy in Hong Kong. It turned out that McIntyre was just as fast off the ice as he was on it.
Despite being thousands of miles from home, Hughie still kept in touch with the Durham Rink via letter, and returned to ‘civvy street’, taking up a life-long career as a joiner and builder. Upon his return home, word soon went round the newly re-opened ice rink that Hugh was back in town and that the good-folk of Durham could expect some daredevil antics should he make the cut for the newly formed Wasps. He didn’t disappoint.
Hughie McIntyre (left) with team-mate Jimmy ‘Spadge’ Merrington (right) Photo credit: McIntyre family
His chance to break into the starting line-up came in December 1947, with Wasps’ top scorer Earl Carlson ruled out for a number of games with pneumonia. McIntyre filled the gap, and despite his 5’6 10 stone stature, he certainly did make a big impact - quickly becoming a frm fan favourite as well as a morale booster among his Wasps’ team-mates.
Known as Durham’s “diminutive goal-scoring defenceman” McIntyre was also well-known for his modesty and regularly claimed that he ‘can’t play hockey’. His fellow-Wasps disagreed.
Line-mate Russ Proudfoot, speaking to Ice Hockey World’s Harold Williamson in 1947 said:
“I remember a power play that looked like annihilation was coming down on us. Hughie quipped, ‘Look after the puck carrier and I'll take the other four.’ This had the effect of reducing the opposition to nothingness, and they never did get through."
The fearless Hughie, also had a rather unique weapon in his defence arsenal when facing down attackers on the Durham ice: he’d talk nonsense to them. His aim was to baffle his opposing player for just long enough to confuse them so they’d lose concentration for a split second. During which McIntyre would steal the puck off them and be away down the ice with it.
It was an unconventional technique that paid dividends against Durham’s English opposition, but rarely worked on the Scottish teams according to Hughie. "I'll have to develop a Scot’s accent," he said at the time.
Despite garnering a cult following among fans during the Wasps’ first season, one person who refused to watch him play was his own mother as she was terrified she’d see him get hurt.
One particular number one fan was his sister Win, who almost got her brother into hot water after writing to the coach demanding to know why he got dropped for for the Wasps v Nottingham Wolves game in December ‘47.
The future Mrs McIntyre - Audrey - who he married in 1951 was also a die-hard fan in the crowd and recalled him regularly ended up at Dryburn Hospital to have various bits patched up after a match.
Ice Hockey World feature on Hughie, 1948
Hugh (far left) and the Wasps’ line-up from early 1948. Photo credit: McIntyre family
Hugh and his trademark hockey skates, age 75.
Hugh still skating at Sunderland, age 79. Photo credit: McIntyre family
Hughie was a well-known and much loved character at the rink right until it’s closure in 1996. Many of those who attended evening skating sessions during the 90’s will undoubtedly remember him as their favourite ‘adopted-rink-grandad’, flying around the rink at an incredible speed in his old-school hockey skates, often encouraging and teaching young ‘Wasps in the making’ with tips and techniques on the ice with a bellow of “Bend your knees!” while hurtling effortlessly past.
Off the ice, Hugh also had a life long devotion to rowing and was active in both Durham and Chester-le-Street rowing clubs. He coached youngsters , taking them to regattas all over the country and was in a veteran crew himself - affectionately calling them the ‘coffin dodgers’.
In 1997 at the age of 75 , he received a prestigious national award for ‘Services to Sport’ from Age UK, presented to him by TV’s Angela Rippon at a star-studded event at The Hilton in Park Lane, London.
After the closure of the Durham rink, Hughie continued to skate for a number of years of years at Sunderland - where he actually got told off for speeding at the age of 79. Apparently he was secretly pleased about it.
Hughie McIntyre may even hold the record as quite possibly one of the only people who took to the ice in the very first year of Durham Ice Rink’s history in 1940, and (barring his time in the Marines), skated right through to the rink’s closure 56 years later.
Hughie passed away in Chester-le-Street in 2017, at the grand age of 95 and remains an inspiration to his family and everyone who had the pleasure of meeting him.
