Joseph Patrick (August 4, 1857 – January 28, 1941) was a Canadian businessman who helped start the

Pacific Coast Hockey Association The Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) was a professional ice hockey league in Western Canada and the Western United States, which operated from 1911 to 1924 when it then merged with the Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL). The PCHA was cons ...

with his sons

Lester Lester is an ancient Anglo-Saxon surname and given name. People Given name * Lester Bangs (1948–1982), American music critic * Lester Oliver Bankhead (1912–1997), American architect * Lester W. Bentley (1908–1972), American artist from ...

and Frank. Patrick came up with the idea to put numbers on ice hockey players' uniforms.

Biography

Patrick was born in South Durham,

Canada East Canada East () was the northeastern portion of the Province of Canada. Lord Durham's Report investigating the causes of the Upper and Lower Canada Rebellions recommended merging those two colonies. The new colony, known as the Province of ...

, in 1857. He was one of 10 children born to Irish immigrants Thomas and Lucinda Patrick. In 1881, Patrick moved to

Drummondville Drummondville () is a city in the Centre-du-Québec region of Quebec, located east of Montreal on the Saint-François River. The population as of the Canada 2021 Census was 79,258. The mayor of Drummondville is Stéphanie Lacoste. Drummondville ...

and became a clerk at a general store. In 1883, he married Grace Nelson. They had eight children, and the two oldest, Lester and Frank, were eventually elected into 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 1887, Patrick bought a general store with his cousin. They sold the store five years later, and Patrick used the money to form a lumber company. In 1907, he started Patrick Lumber Company in

Nelson, British Columbia Nelson is a city located in the Selkirk Mountains on the West Arm of Kootenay Lake in the British Columbia Interior, Southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada. The city is known for its collection of restored heritage buildings that date ba ...

. In 1911, he sold the company for $440,000. Lester and Frank wanted to start a new ice hockey league, and the money was used to build artificial ice rinks for the league in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

and

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

. They were the first artificial ice rinks in Canada. Patrick and his family moved to Victoria in 1912, when the new league, the Pacific Coast Hockey Association, began play. His sons made several innovations in ice hockey during this time, and Patrick came up with the idea to put numbers on the players' uniforms. The PCHA continued to operate until 1924. In his later years, Patrick kept active in the community in Victoria and was an

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

. He died in Vancouver in 1941. In 1998, he was inducted into the

BC Sports Hall of Fame The BC Sports Hall of Fame is a museum located in the BC Place stadium, at Gate A, the main entrance to the stadium, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It collects, preserves, studies and interprets materials that relate to British Columbia' ...

. He was the fifth member of his family to be inducted, after Lester, Frank, and his grandsons, Lynn and Muzz."Joseph Patrick"
bcsportshalloffame.com. Retrieved March 8, 2014.

References

Bibliography

*Hiam, C. Michael (2011).
Eddie Shore and That Old-Time Hockey
'. *Whitehead, Eric (1980).
The Patricks: Hockey's Royal Family
'. {{DEFAULTSORT:Patrick, Joseph 1857 births 1941 deaths Businesspeople from Quebec Canadian company founders Quebec people of Irish descent