Carl Alfred Erhardt (15 February 1897 in

Beckenham Beckenham () is a town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley, in Greater London. Until 1965 it was part of the historic county of Kent. It is located south-east of Charing Cross, situated north of Elmers End and ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

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– 3 May 1988) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) 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. In ice hockey, two o ...

player who captained the British national team to numerous international championships in the 1930s, including

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

gold at the

1936 Winter Olympics The 1936 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IV Olympic Winter Games (german: IV. Olympische Winterspiele) and commonly known as Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936 ( bar, Garmasch-Partakurch 1936), were a winter multi-sport event held from 6 to 16 ...

in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

Early years

Unlike most British hockey players of the era, Erhardt did not grow up in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

. Rather, he learned the game of hockey while attending school in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

and Switzerland as a boy. Erhardt was a passionate defenseman, sometimes playing in excess of 40 minutes each game

An excellent athlete, Erhardt also excelled at

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball c ...

skiing Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow. Variations of purpose include basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee ...

and water-skiing. (He founded the

British Water Ski Federation British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

National team success

Erhardt was a member of the European and World Championship teams in 1931, the World Championship team in 1934 and 1935, and the captain of the team which won the European and World Championships, along with Olympic gold, in 1936. Of the twelve members of the 1936 team, Erhardt was one of only two that had not either been born or learned the game in Canada. Thirty-nine years old at the time, Erhardt is the oldest man ever to win an Olympic gold in ice hocke

The British defeated the prohibitive favourites, the Canadians, in capturing Great Britain's first and only gold medal in ice hockey.

Retirement

After his Olympic success, Erhardt retired from hockey. He wrote a book in 1937 titled ''Ice Hockey'', became a referee, and joined the council of the British Ice Hockey Association, of which he became a lifetime vice-president. Erhardt was elected to the

British Ice Hockey Hall of Fame The British Ice Hockey Hall of Fame was founded in 1948 and is the third oldest ice hockey Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark th ...

in 1950, and was posthumously elected to the

International Ice Hockey Federation The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; french: Fédération internationale de hockey sur glace; german: Internationale Eishockey-Föderation) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland, and ...

Hall of Fame in 1998. In 2012, the UK Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL) named one of its two newly introduced conferences after him.

References

Playing Games with the Nazis

{{DEFAULTSORT:Erhardt, Carl 1897 births 1988 deaths British Ice Hockey Hall of Fame inductees English ice hockey players English Olympic medallists Great Britain men's national ice hockey team coaches Ice hockey players at the 1936 Winter Olympics IIHF Hall of Fame inductees Olympic ice hockey players of Great Britain Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain People from Beckenham Olympic medalists in ice hockey Medalists at the 1936 Winter Olympics Sportspeople from London Sportspeople from Kent

Early years

National team success

Retirement

See also

References