Taken from the papers of Joseph Brown from the archives at the University of Tennessee and researched by:

Andrew Kozar
Distinguished Emeritus Professor
Room 119 HPER Building
University of Tennessee
Knoxville, TN 37996

First Annual Lester Patrick Trophy Award Dinner in honor of Jack Adams - 1966

It is the tireless work of men such as Jack Adams that has put the National Hockey League on the threshold of expansion.

At 70 years of age, he is serving his third year as president of the Central Professional League, a successful six-team operation in the United States geared to the development of future big league hockey players.

Before that, he helped build on the game's most powerful dynasties in the 1950's as general manager of the Detroit Red Wings. They won seven Stanley Cup championships and 12 regular season titles during his 35-year tenure.

It is fitting therefore that J. J. "Jack" Adams is the first winner of the Lester Patrick Trophy. Patrick's personal achievements were synonymous with the progress of hockey, particularly in the United States. He did much to advance the sport from its modest beginnings to its present eminence.

Patrick, the revered, long-time general manager and coach of the New York Rangers, came to New York in 1926. Within five years he had built the club into a position of prominence, and during his first 16 seasons with them the Rangers finished out of playoffs once. The Lester Patrick Trophy, presented by the Rangers in Patrick's memory, is to be given annually for outstanding service to hockey in the United States . Eligible recipients are players, officials, coaches, executives and referees.

The award committee each year will consist of the President of the National Hockey League, an NHL Governor, a hockey writer for a U.S. national news service, a national syndicated sports columnist, an ex-player in the Hockey Hall of Fame, and a sports director of a U.S. national radio-TV network. Each except the League president will be rotated annually.

...Adams receives a miniature bronze statue of Lester Patrick, the work of Joe Brown of Princeton , a leading American sculptor. The statue itself is 3 feet 2 inches tall and will shortly be on display on the grounds of the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.