Long-time National Hockey League and World Hockey Association referee Bill Friday has passed away at age 91.
Friday officiated 1,425 games across both leagues in his career, including 542 in the NHL. He is the only referee to have worked the NHL Stanley Cup Final and WHA Avco Cup Final. In fact, Friday worked six straight Stanley Cup Finals (1967-72), along with two All-Star Games.
“I was pretty intense,” Friday once said of his on-ice demeanor. “Nobody could talk to me before a game, even the [linespersons]. I used to worry about every game, but once I dropped the puck, everything was fine. I enjoyed the notoriety, people telling me I did a good job. It made all the bad things about refereeing good.”
One of those bad things might have been his notoriety among fans, prompting chants of “Friday is a bum!”
At the time of his hiring by the WHA, Friday became the highest-paid official in any sport in North America, earning $50,000 per season for the new league.
Friday is the only referee in the WHA Hall of Fame, was a member of the inaugural class of the Hamilton Sports Hall of Fame, and even has an arena named in his honor: Hamilton’s Bill Friday Lawfield Arena.
“Only in Hamilton would we give it to a referee as badly as we do, being the passionate hockey fans that we are, and then name an arena after one,” said Hamilton Bulldogs president Steve Staios.
From the NHL:
“The National Hockey League mourns the passing of Bill Friday, a standout Referee who served as the first president of the NHL Officials’ Association while working as an NHL Referee from 1960-61 to 1971-72. Mr. Friday’s tenure with the League included 542 games (498 in the regular season and 44 in the Stanley Cup Playoffs) and two All-Star Games (1967-68 and 1970-71).”
“We send our deepest condolences to the Friday family and the many friends and colleagues that Bill touched during his outstanding officiating career.”
More on Friday from the NHLOA:
A former Junior B and minor hockey league player for Hamilton Aerovox, Friday worked as an on-ice official in the Ontario Hockey Association from 1955 to 1959. He joined the NHL staff the following year and worked games there until 1972. That’s when the WHA lured him to join the upstart league.
Friday worked the very first WHA game in 1973 and officiated the very last game the league played in 1979. He was appointed the WHA referee-in-chief in 1976.
His jump to the WHA is credited with raising NHL officials’ salaries. He was also a founder and first president of the NHL Officials Association.
Our condolences to Friday’s friends and family on their loss. Bill will be missed.
