George Alfred "Al" Leader (December 4, 1903 – May 8, 1982) was a Canadian-American

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 ...

player,

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other title ...

, and administrator. He is a member of the

Hockey Hall of Fame The Hockey Hall of Fame () is a museum and hall of fame located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Dedicated to the history of ice hockey, it holds exhibits about players, teams, National Hockey League (NHL) records, memorabilia and National Hockey Le ...

in the "Builder" category. Leader settled in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, Washington, in the 1930s and became involved in hockey as the administrator of the Seattle City League. He worked as a player, referee, and administrator at the city level for several years before organizing the Defense Hockey League in 1940, which involved five teams from Seattle and

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

. In 1944, Leader was elected as the secretary-manager of the

Pacific Coast Hockey League The Pacific Coast Hockey League was an ice hockey minor league with teams in the western United States and western Canada that existed in three incarnations: from 1928 to 1931, from 1936 to 1941, and from 1944 to 1952. PCHL 1928–1931 The fir ...

. Throughout the decade, Leader worked to manage and promote amateur hockey on the west coast, also taking on an administrative role with the Amateur Hockey Association of the United States. In 1952, the Pacific Coast Hockey League became part of the now defunct professional

Western Hockey League The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior hocke ...

and Leader became the league president. He served in this capacity until 1969, and was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in the same year.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Leader, Al 1903 births 1982 deaths American ice hockey administrators Hockey Hall of Fame inductees Lester Patrick Trophy recipients People from Pembina Valley Region, Manitoba Canadian emigrants to the United States