Hide Article Text (OCR)
Wayne Gretzky accepts the Wayne Gretzky Award from Robert Ridder during a hall of fame induction ceremony last year in Minneapolis.In 1966, Mr. Ridder was part of an eight-member syndicate of prominent Twin Cities men who paid $2 million to start the North Stars, a National Hockey League expansion team.In 1976, he was inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, which is based in Eveleth, Minn. In 1994, he won the coveted Lester Patrick Award, given for outstanding | service to hockey in the United States. In 1998, he was i inducted into the International Hockey Hall of Fame.He recently co-chaired a task force to bring a women’s i hockey rink to University of Minnesota.Media mogulwas owner of hockey teamT* ASSOCIATED PRESSMENDOTA HEIGHTS, Minn. - Robert Blair Ridder, one of the original owners of the Minnesota North Stars, died at his home Saturday. He was 80.A member of the Ridder media family, Mr. Ridder was former president of WCCO Radio and Television in Min neapolis and former manager of the U.S. Olympic Ice Hockey Team. He managed radio stations in Minneapolis and Duluth and had a hand in several publications and groups in the Midwest.“He never, never quit,” said his wife, Kathleen. “He was generous to a fault. That's probably why he was into so many things.”Mr. Ridder worked on several newspapers before getting into radio and TV: Duluth Herald and News Tribune, Grand Forks Herald, and St. Paul Dispatch and Pioneer Press. He was assistant secretary and director of Ridder Publications Inc., and served as vice president and director of Northwest Publications Inc., Dispatch Realty Co., Aberdeen News Co. and Grand Forks Herald.He was a director of Mid-Continent Radio-Television Inc. and Midwest Radio-Television Inc.In addition to heading WCCO Radio, he served as president of WDSM Radio in Duluth.But his true passion was hockey.Considered the grandfather of youth hockey leagues in Minnesota, Mr. Ridder began local programs in 1948.In 1962 and 1956, he managed the U.S. Olympic ice hockey team, which won silver medals both times.
Newspaper Details
Johnstown Tribune Democrat
Johnstown, Pennsylvania, US
Mon, Jun 26, 2000
Page 21
Full Page
Clipped by
Jason P.
USA 10 Oct 2018
Other Publications Near Johnstown, Pennsylvania
Johnstown Weekly Democrat
Johnstown Tribune Democrat
Johnstown Somerset the Tribune Democrat
