Henry Åkervall

Henry John Akervall
Hank Akervall; Henry Åkervall
Born	1937-08-24 Port Arthur
Died	2000-02-18 Port Arthur
Years in Thunder Bay	born 1937 in Port Arthur; to at least grade 13 (about 1955); from 1966 (returned as educator and coach; Lakehead team champions 1967); died 2000 in Port Arthur
Occupation	ice hockey defenceman, coach, university professor and athletic director
Employer	Lakehead University

Henry "Hank" Åkervall (August 24, 1937 – February 18, 2000) was a Canadian ice hockey defenceman and Olympian.

Åkervall won a national title in 1962 with Michigan Tech. After graduating he played with Team Canada at the 1964 Winter Olympics held in Innsbruck, Austria.

Thunder Bay connections

Henry "Hank" Åkervall (August 24, 1937 – February 18, 2000) was a Canadian ice hockey defenceman and Olympian who was born and died in Port Arthur, Ontario. He played for the Port Arthur Bearcats, and after his playing career he coached the Lakehead Nor'Westers to an International Collegiate Hockey Association championship in 1967 and served as recreation director for Thunder Bay.

Career, according to RALU News

An article by Ian Dew titled "Hank Akervall: Heroes and Hero Worship" (submitted to the student paper The Argus on 26 March 2014 and printed in the April 2014 issue of RALU News) calls Dr. Henry John Akervall a native son of Northwestern Ontario who left a mark on the national scene and was a prime mover in the development of the Lakehead. It says he had a dual career as an educator and an athlete, and describes him as a pioneer environmentalist as well as an all-round athlete who was a player, coach and developer in ice hockey.

Youth and hockey. He was born in Port Arthur in 1937. In grade thirteen, while he was playing for the Hamilton Tiger Cubs, he was scouted by Jack Adams, another Lakehead great, for the Detroit NHL farm system; the plan was that he would play professionally and forget schooling. His sister Freda, who had become the chief breadwinner after the recent death of their father, had other plans, so he continued his education and played hockey. He gave up his NHL prospects with Adams to study forestry at Michigan Technological University, graduating with a B.Sc. in Forestry. He played there on a scholarship, was known for his crushing body checks, and in his last year the team won the NCAA championship. After graduating he went to Finland to work as a forester and to play for and coach a first-division team, Tappara. In 1964 he was selected for Canada's Olympic ice hockey team, which was coached by Father David Bauer; his teammates elected him captain. The team lost the bronze-medal game by one goal in Innsbruck, Austria.

Lakehead University. In 1966 he returned to the Port Arthur region as an educator and coach. He taught as a sessional lecturer in the Forestry department at Lakehead University while serving as Director of Athletics, and was instrumental in the creation of the university's Physical Education program and, later, its Outdoor Recreation program. He coached the university men's hockey team, the Nor'Westers, for seven seasons, from 1967 to 1975. He was also a tireless and tough organizer for the new Faculty Association, helping to extend its definition of academic freedom, fighting in the early days for better salaries and for the rights of marginalized members of the academic staff, including the librarians. In 1988 he returned to school and received an Ed.D. from Northern Colorado University, with a dissertation on the economic impact of arenas, and the 1995 calendar lists him as Associate Professor, Outdoor Recreation, Parks and Tourism.

Death and remembrance

Akervall died in 2000 (the Chronicle-Journal obituary index lists his death on 18 February 2000). His family, friends and colleagues established the Henry "Hank" Akervall Memorial Bursary, which gives two third- or fourth-year students in Outdoor Parks, Recreation and Tourism a sum toward their expenses, awarded for financial need and satisfactory academic standing.

The February 2018 editorial of RALU News recalls him as the person who brought the librarians into Bargaining Unit Number One, and as the captain of Canada's national team at the 1964 Winter Olympics. The newsletter's athletics reports also mention a Hank Akervall Award at Lakehead, which went to men's basketball guard Alex Robichaud in the report on the 2015–16 season, and a Hank Akervall Memorial Award, won by women's basketball player Jerika Baldwin and by men's basketball player Mor Menashe in the report on the 2017–18 season.

Newspaper record

• Biographical notice in The Chronicle-Journal, 1993-03-18.
  • Index note: Hockey career started at local rink.
• Biographical notice in Fort William Daily Times-Journal, 1968-03-22.
  • Index note: LU coach is also forestry lecturer.
• Biographical notice in The Chronicle-Journal, 1993-02-09.
  • Index note: Nordic Games mission to Sweden.
• Photo notice in Fort William Daily Times-Journal, 1968-03-25.
  • Index note: C.J. Sanders Fieldhouse opened.

Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame

Akervall was inducted into the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame on 17 September 1988 as an athlete, representing Thunder Bay; the profile lists hockey, baseball, football, basketball, track and field, fastball, golf, skiing, curling, bowling, squash and canoeing.

According to the Hall of Fame profile, as a youth in Port Arthur he played high-school football, basketball and track and field, set a district junior boys' pole vault record in 1952, won the Port Arthur Minor Bantam Defenceman Award in 1950, and won a senior baseball league title with the Port Arthur Giants in 1955. He joined the Hamilton Tiger Cubs of the Ontario Hockey Association in 1956 and was a Junior 'A' All-Star defenceman by 1958. At Michigan Technological University from 1959 he was a three-time WCHA All-Star, twice made the U.S. National All-Star Team, was assistant captain of the 1962 NCAA championship team, and lettered in javelin and discus.

The profile adds that he was the first foreign-born player for Tappara in Finland, captained Canada's team at the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, played a season of senior hockey in Minnesota, and then returned to play for the Port Arthur Bearcats and the Thunder Bay Twins. From 1966 he spent 30 years at Lakehead University as its first Director of Athletics, coached the Norwesters (1966–69 and 1971–75) to the International Collegiate Hockey Association title in 1967 and the Great Plains Athletic Conference title in 1973, and later directed the School of Outdoor Recreation, Parks and Tourism until he retired in 1997. He died in February 2000 during a casual game of hockey.

Possibly related records

The page Henry Akervall covers a Henry Akervall known from a 1951 paper-boy profile, a 1983 fishing-contest photo and a Lakehead College yearbook entry of 1964. A paper boy in Port Arthur in 1951 would fit a boy born there in 1937, so it is possibly the same person, but the records give no age, parent or other hard link, so the pages are kept separate.

Notes

The pages 'Henry Åkervall', 'Henry John Akervall', 'Hank Akervall (fl. 1993)' and 'Henry Akervall (hockey player)' were merged. The Hall of Fame profile describes the same Port Arthur-born defenceman who captained Canada at the 1964 Olympics, coached at Lakehead University and died in 2000. 'Henry John Akervall' is a Chronicle-Journal obituary-index entry for a death on 18 February 2000, the same date given in the Wikipedia-based text above; the retirees' article names him Dr. Henry John Akervall and says he died in 2000; and the 1993 and 1968 notices describe a Lakehead University hockey coach who was a forestry lecturer, as in the article.