Louis Arthur Raymond Pieri (February 23, 1897 – June 16, 1967) was an American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

and

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

executive and coach.

Ice hockey

In 1929 he was named general manager of the

Providence Reds The Providence Reds were a hockey team that played in the Canadian-American Hockey League (CAHL) between 1926 and 1936 and the American Hockey League (AHL) from 1936 to 1977, the last season of which they played as the Rhode Island Reds. The t ...

. The team became a charter member of the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league in North America that serves as the primary developmental league of the National Hockey League (NHL). The league comprises 32 teams, with 26 in the United States and 6 in Cana ...

in 1936. Under his leadership, the Reds won eight AHL division titles and four

Calder Cup The Calder Cup is the trophy awarded annually to the playoff champions of the American Hockey League (AHL). It was first presented in 1937 to the Syracuse Stars. The cup is made of sterling silver mounted on a base of Brazilian mahogany. In it ...

championships (1938, 1940, 1949, 1956). The

presents the Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award annually to its outstanding coach. Pieri was inducted into the American Hockey League Hall of Fame in 2009 and the Rhode Island Hockey Hall of Fame in 2018.

Basketball

During the 1918–19 season, Pieri was the head coach of the Brown Bears men's basketball team. Pieri was the owner of the Providence Steamrollers, a

Basketball Association of America The Basketball Association of America (BAA) was a professional basketball league in North America, founded in 1946. Following its third season, 1948–49, the BAA merged with the National Basketball League (United States), National Basketball Lea ...

team that operated from 1946 to 1949. From 1950 to 1964 he was a minority owner of the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), ...

.Managements and Captains
nba.com/celtics. Retrieved December 16, 2010. Following the death of owner Walter A. Brown on September 7, 1964, Pieri became co-owner of the team with Brown's widow, Marjorie Brown. They sold the club to the Ruppert Knickerbocker Brewing Company, a subsidiary of Marvin Kratter's National Equities.

Other ventures

Pieri was the longtime owner and manager of the Rhode Island Auditorium. In 1940 he and eight other arena managers founded the Ice Capades. In 1951, Pieri got involved with broadcasting. He purchased a Providence radio station, WDEM. The station's call letters were subsequently changed to WICE; Pieri sold the station in 1956.

Death

On June 16, 1967, Pieri died of a heart attack.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pieri, Louis 1897 births 1967 deaths Brown Bears men's basketball coaches Boston Celtics owners Ice hockey executives Sports venue managers