Kenneth Malcolm Wharram (July 2, 1933 – January 10, 2017) was a Canadian

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...

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 ...

right winger In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

who played 14 seasons in the

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 ...

, all with the

Chicago Black Hawks Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, wearing number 17. He won a

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup () is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, and the International Ic ...

1961 Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...

Early life and career

Wharram started his hockey career with his hometown team the North Bay Black Hawks in 1949 before switching the next season to the

Galt Black Hawks The Galt Black Hawks were a junior ice hockey team based in Galt, Ontario, now a part of the city of Cambridge. They played in the Ontario Hockey Association from 1949 to 1955 and were operated as an affiliate of the Chicago Black Hawks. Their home ...

for whom he played three seasons. He played one match for the Galt team's parent club the Chicago Black Hawks in 1951 before returning for another season to Galt. He played 29 matches for the Hawks in 1953–54 but spent an equal amount of time at the

Quebec Aces The Quebec Aces, also known in French as Les As de Québec, were an amateur and later a professional men's ice hockey team from Quebec City, Quebec. History The Aces were founded in 1928 by Anglo-Canadian Pulp and Paper Mills, the name Aces stan ...

in the

Quebec Hockey League The Quebec Senior Hockey League (QSHL) was an ice hockey league that operated from 1941 to 1959, based in Quebec, Canada. The league played senior ice hockey under the jurisdiction of the Quebec Amateur Hockey Association until 1953, when it becam ...

before joining 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 ...

Buffalo Bisons The Buffalo Bisons (known colloquially as the Herd) are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Located in Buffalo, New York, the team plays their home games at Sahlen Fiel ...

in 1954. Under the training of Bisons' coach Harry Watson he enjoyed four productive seasons, made the AHL's second all star team in 1955, and returned to Chicago to stay in 1958.

The Scooter Line

Wharram still seemed to struggle to find a spot on the Hawks until he was teamed on a line with

Stan Mikita Stanley Mikita (born Stanislav Guoth; May 20, 1940 – August 7, 2018) was a Slovaks, Slovak-born Canadian ice hockey player for the Chicago Blackhawks, Chicago Black Hawks of the National Hockey League, generally regarded as the best Centre (ic ...

. Mikita and Wharram meshed well together and Wharram's production - attributable to his considerable speed and puck-handling skills - soared. He would have seven straight seasons scoring 20 or more goals. All that was needed was a left winger, and the Hawks got one in veteran

Ted Lindsay Robert Blake Theodore Lindsay (July 29, 1925 – March 4, 2019) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who played as a forward for the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Black Hawks of the National Hockey League (NHL). Lindsay scored over 800 ...

, then near the end of his career. It would be Lindsay, Mikita and Wharram who formed the original Scooter Line. After Lindsay retired,

Ab McDonald Alvin Brian McDonald (February 18, 1936 – September 4, 2018) was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward. Career Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, McDonald began his professional hockey career with the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey L ...

assumed the honors, and it would be this version of the Scooter Line in force when the Hawks won the 1961

. After McDonald was traded to the

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The t ...

Doug Mohns Douglas Allen "Diesel" Mohns (December 13, 1933 – February 7, 2014) was a professional ice hockey player who played 22 seasons in the National Hockey League from 1953–54 until 1974–75. Mohns twice won the most coveted prize in junior hock ...

was placed in the left wing spot.

Sudden retirement and death

Wharram was attending the Black Hawks' training camp on September 16, 1969, when he noticed he was having chest pains. He was quickly sent to a hospital

intensive care unit An intensive care unit (ICU), also known as an intensive therapy unit or intensive treatment unit (ITU) or critical care unit (CCU), is a special department of a hospital or health care facility that provides intensive care medicine. An inten ...

where he was diagnosed with

myocarditis Myocarditis is inflammation of the cardiac muscle. Myocarditis can progress to inflammatory cardiomyopathy when there is associated ventricular remodeling and cardiac dysfunction due to chronic inflammation. Symptoms can include shortness of bre ...

. Wharram's condition worsened to the point where he needed to be trained how to stay awake. The process took weeks, and while Wharram's life was eventually out of danger, the stress of playing hockey made a comeback out of the question. He officially retired in September 1970 and settled down in North Bay as a carpenter. He was inducted to the North Bay Hall of Fame in 1980. Wharram died on January 10, 2017, at the age of 83.Local Stanley Cup Champion passes away
/ref>

Career statistics

References

Legends of Hockey article on Ken Wharram

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wharram, Kenny 1933 births 2017 deaths Canadian ice hockey right wingers Chicago Blackhawks players Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Galt Black Hawks players Lady Byng Memorial Trophy winners Ice hockey people from North Bay, Ontario Stanley Cup champions 20th-century Canadian sportsmen