The name John Brophy is quickly recognizable among most die-hard ice hockey fans in the Roanoke Valley
Having a long-standing presence on the Roanoke Valley hockey scene since the late 60s, descriptions of Brophy and his style of play as both a player and coach would range from barbarous to a hard-boiled browbeating coach who had plenty to say to both the opposition and his own players, as well as a long list of referees who dared get within earshot.
Brophy was often the main attraction. Opposing team fans waited for their opportunity to sling insults and vulgarities at the silver haired coach the moment he entered the arena to walk across the ice to his team’s bench. Once the puck dropped, things only got worse.
Brophy glared back, never fazed. In fact, he ate it up. John Brophy was the consummate showman and entertainer. A guy who could spin stories for hours. A guy who forgot more about hockey than most fans ever knew about the game. A guy whom I first met in the late 1960s, and later became friends with in the 90s while he was the head coach of the Hampton Road Admirals.
Brophy passed away in his sleep May 23rd in his hometown of Antigonish, Nova Scotia Canada, a seaside town northeast of Halifax.
Brophy was a tough defenseman, playing 18 seasons in the Eastern Hockey League where he managed to accumulate nearly 4,000 career penalty minutes between 1955 and 1973. That is where as both a player and player-coach with the Long Island Ducks Brophy was initially introduced to Roanoke area hockey fans.
This wasn’t long after the valley got its first taste of ice hockey when the Salem Rebels came to town and started playing in front of packed houses at the Salem Civic Center. Those were the days when goalies didn’t wear protective face masks, players rarely wore helmets, and blood on the ice and players climbing into the stands after unadoring fans were the order of the day.
Brody became the Ducks’ full-time coach following his retirement as a player at age 40, subsequently becoming the head coach of the Hampton Gulls for four seasons before the team folded during the 1977-78 season. Later, Brophy became head coach of the Birmingham Bulls of the World Hockey Association from 78-79. Even though his team was the only one in the league not to make the playoffs, his flamboyant style paved the way for him being named WHA coach of the year.
After several stints with other minor leagues teams in the American Hockey League, Brophy finally got to the big dance in the NHL when he became the head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1986 season. His first season in Toronto showed some promise for a troubled Maple Leaf team, but things went downhill with an embarrassing season in 1987-88. After an equally poor start to the 88-89 season, and despite being a favorite of Leafs owner Harold Ballard, Brophy was fired in December 1988, 33 games into the season.
Brophy then found his niche in Norfolk, Virginia with the Hampton Road Admirals of the East Coast Hockey League, also home of the Roanoke Express. Brophy coached the Admirals for 11 seasons, from 1989 to 2000, winning the league championship in 1991, 1992 and 1998. The Admirals never had a losing season with Brophy behind the bench.
That success led to Brophy being at constant odds with Roanoke Express fans who made a habit of getting into verbal battles before, during and after games, shouting unpleasantries at the coach and getting an earful themselves in return.
After a game in January 1999 at the Roanoke Civic Center, things boiled over after a fight broke out on the ice and fans were throwing things. Brophy was accused of assaulting two security guards at the civic center, but the guards said they were trying to keep him from getting at the Roanoke fans. In the end, Brophy pleaded guilty through his attorney and was fined $1,000 and suspended for six games.
On a lighter side of the melee, Brophy was also barred from buying beer at the Roanoke season ticket holder’s watering hole that visiting teams passed through after games on their way from the locker room to the team bus. However, a fledgling sports reporter pointed out that while Brophy himself couldn’t buy a beer on his way out, nothing in the rules prevented the reporter from buying him one. A true friendship was cemented with more than a few chuckles.
After a serious automobile accident put Brophy on hold for one year, he returned to coach the Wheeling Nailers in 2001 before retiring. The ECHL’s coach of the year award was renamed the John Brophy Award in 2003 and he was inducted into the ECHL Hall of Fame in 2009.
Brophy made one last coaching run with the Richmond Renegades of the Southern Professional Hockey League in 2006-07. As a professional coach he accumulated over 1,000 victories, second only to legendary Detroit Red Wings coach Scotty Bowman.
He enjoyed the limelight, once appearing in a Schaeffer Beer commercial that aired for 5 years on various New York television stations. His colorful career was part of the inspiration for Paul Newman’s Reg Dunlop character in the classic move “Slap Shot.”
Brophy eventually married former LPGA golf pro Nancy White, who was the golf pro at Ivy Hills Golf Club in Forest, Virginia. Later, when White opened Mulligans golf range in Harrisonburg, Brophy was a fixture around the shop, always interested in telling stories about his hockey days.
Former Roanoke 1970s ice hockey icon Claude Piche, a leading scorer and league MVP as well as a member of the Roanoke Ice Hockey Hall of Fame, recalled his association with Brophy during Brophy’s playing and coaching days.
“John Brophy was the most flamboyant player I ever played against,” Piche, who still resides in Roanoke, noted in an interview shortly after Brophy’s death.
“You didn’t go into the corner against him,” Piche emphatically stated with a big laugh. “He was a tough and rugged player that made a difference anytime he was on the ice. You had to be careful or John would slice you and dice you. He was a heck of a defenseman.”
“The thing that stood out about ‘Broph’ as a coach was his knowledge of the game. He was an old-style coach who knew the game and loved the game. I had a great relationship with him and had nothing but admiration for him. I always found him pleasant and would have loved to play for him. John Brophy was a huge motivator for any team he was around.”
Bill Turner
