Following a Hall of Fame playing career which included two Stanley Cups and an Olympic hockey gold, Fredrickson turned to coaching, guiding some of UBC's best-ever hockey teams for six seasons after World War II. Over forty years after playing in hockey's first Olympic competition, Fredrickson was responsible for raising the funds needed to build at UBC the facility for Canada's 1964 Olympic hockey team.
After a fabulous hockey playing career in which he won an Olympic gold with Canada's 1920 Olympic representatives the Winnipeg Falcons and two Stanley Cups as "one of the most brilliant players ever to don skates" to quote Jim Coleman, Frank Fredrickson turned to coaching, arriving in 1939 to coach UBC's hockey team.
After a year, Fredrickson moved over to coach the RCAF team during the WWII years (he was a veteran of the First World War) then returned to UBC as a volunteer hockey coach from 1946/47 through 1949/50 and then again in 1952/53.
His wisdom together with his quest for sportsmanship and team play made his teams great. "Frank was a scholar of the game" says former UBC player Terry Nelford. And it was especially his UBC teams of 1948 to 1950 that left a mark. The 49/50 squad was the best in the west defeating the Alberta Golden Bears to win the first Hamber trophy then toured the U.S. easily defeating Denver University followed by the disposal of 1949/50 U.S. collegiate champions Colorado College in two straight. Without Canadian national championships in hockey existing at this time, one could argue this 49/50 UBC team was North America's best university hockey team.
In 1958 the NHL inducted Fredrickson into the Hockey Hall of Fame as one of the league's great early players while in 2000 UBC inducted him along with his 49/50 UBC Thunderbirds into the UBC Sports Hall of Fame. And even though he was born and raised in Winnipeg, he was in 1983 inducted into the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame for his work in this province as both an athlete and a builder.
"He could do anything" relates one of his former UBC players, Hugh Berry. "He was a master bridge player, musician, pilot, magician . . . he was also modest, never said a bad word about anybody." Clare Drake, another of Fredrickson's players at this time and a Hall of Fame coach in his own right, opines "Frank was years ahead of his time."
Thirty five years after leading Canada to the world's first international hockey championship and our first Olympic hockey gold, Fredrickson displayed versatility by turning from coaching to politics and during the 1950s served on Vancouver City Council where he was able to continue making contributions to UBC. He was instrumental in raising funds to send the UBC rowing crew to Henley for the '55 world championships and in the early '60s raised funds for the construction of UBC's first Winter Sports Centre. This centre would be the home of Canada's 1964 Olympic hockey team, his Olympic influence felt once again forty-four years later.
Although this hockey legend passed away in 1979, many UBC'ers and British Columbians remember the full life of this Canadian, a life about whom books have been written and films made. As 49/50 UBC player Terry Nelford stated, "I feel fortunate that Frank chose to share with me a few short years of his outstanding and memorable life."
Researched and written by Fred Hume, UBC Athletics Historian
