John McCauley (1945 – June 3, 1989) was a Canadian ice hockey official who worked as a

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

(NHL)

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 ...

from 1966 to 1981.

Early life

McCauley was raised in

Brampton Brampton is a city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario, and the regional seat of the Regional Municipality of Peel. It is part of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a List of municipalities in Ontario#L ...

, where he was a hockey goaltender and lacrosse player. In 1959, he won a Canadian Junior Lacrosse championship as a member of the Brampton Excelsiors.

Career

During his career, McCauley officiated 442 regular season games and 12 playoff games. In 1979, McCauley was assaulted by a fan after a match between the NHL All-Stars and the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and sustained a serious injury to his right eye. Although he returned to refereeing, McCauley's depth perception was never the same and he retired from refereeing two years later. After being appointed assistant director of officiating in June 1979, McCauley worked as the director of officiating from 1986 until his death in 1989.

Personal life

McCauley died at age 44 after complications from an emergency gall bladder surgery. McCauley's son,

Wes McCauley Wesley McCauley (born January 11, 1972) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and current National Hockey League (NHL) official (ice hockey), referee. He is the son of Irene and John McCauley (referee), John McCauley, who was also ...

, was drafted in the eighth round by the

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...

in the 1990 NHL Entry Draft. Wes eventually followed in his father's footsteps and is currently an NHL referee, having refereed his first NHL match in 2003 and being promoted to full-time status in 2005.

References

1945 births 1989 deaths National Hockey League officials Place of birth missing Ice hockey people from Ontario Sportspeople from Brampton {{Sports-official-bio-stub sl:John McCauley