Reid to receive Chace Trophy

From STAFF REPORTS
Posted 7/30/19

FROM STAFF REPORTS The RI Hockey Hall of Fame has announced Lawrence Larry" Reid of East Providence as the recipient of the 2019 Malcolm Greene Chace Memorial Trophy recognizing "Achievement and Outstanding Service by a Rhode Islander to the Game of"

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Reid to receive Chace Trophy

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The RI Hockey Hall of Fame has announced Lawrence “Larry” Reid of East Providence as the recipient of the 2019 Malcolm Greene Chace Memorial Trophy recognizing “Achievement and Outstanding Service by a Rhode Islander to the Game of Hockey”.

The award is named after the Hall of Fame tennis player, financier and textile industrialist who became director of the company that later became Berkshire Hathaway. Born and raised in Central Falls, RI, Malcolm was instrumental in bringing electric power to New England but before that, in the Winter of 1894-95, he brought us ice hockey and is widely considered the “father” of the game in the United States.

The award, generously donated by the Chace family, will be presented by family members during the Hall of Fame’s annual Enshrinement Celebration & Dinner on Friday, September 6th at the Twin River Event Center in Lincoln, RI. The 2019 class of ten RI hockey greats will be formally inducted that evening. Tickets are available at RIHHOF.com.

Larry Reid never learned to skate and did not play hockey. That didn’t keep him from distinguishing himself with his off-ice contributions to the game at the local, regional, national and international level over the last 50 years.

Now 80 years of age, Reid got involved in the game when his young son, Jeffrey, caught the hockey bug. It was the Bobby Orr era and the Dudley Richards Arena had just opened near the Reids’ home in Rumford, RI. Like so many youngsters at the time, Jeffrey was eager to play, so Larry signed him up.

“The East Providence Hockey Association had 700 kids and you were expected to help,” recalls Reid, so help he did. Before long, he was running the house league. Eventually, he became president of the EPHA. From 1982 to 1984, he served as president of the RI Amateur Hockey Association. A couple of years later, he started taking on high-profile responsibilities for USA Hockey.

He was asked to take charge of the 1986 Olympic Festival in Houston and ended up running Olympic Festivals for many years. Reid was the guiding force and the first chairman of the Yankee Conference Festival, which became the centerpiece of the NE Hockey District’s Player Development programs. Other districts across the country followed suit.

As a USA Hockey director, he helped set policy for all youth hockey across the country.

Larry became team leader for men's and women's national teams in international play and particularly savored that role with the women at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, the first woman's team to compete in the Olympics on home turf. He also served as Technical Director for sled hockey.

He served for 18 years as a USA Hockey VP and Chairman of its marketing council. In 2017 he was elected a director emeritus of USA Hockey.

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