Hutchinson Ends Successful Reign As JV Hockey Coach

Jim Hutchinson '28 retires this year after compiling a 193-99 record over 17 seasons as J.V. hockey coach. He has gained the respect of a generation of J.V. hockey players.

"Under Hutch I learned that sports weren't just for winning," former JV skater Larry Desmond said. "I started to appreciate the people in hockey along with the game. He (Hutchinson) stood for the tradition of gentlemanliness I thought Harvard would have."

"He had a good word for everybody." Philip Shea, this year's co-captain, said. "He cared about everybody on the team. He is the kind of guy who would be personally concerned--who would lose sleep--if you were hurt or in academic trouble."

Junior varsity teams posted some excellent records under Hutchinson. In 1962, his skaters were 13-3-1; in 1965, the J.V.'s were 17-2; and in the last two years, his teams won 30 and lost 6. In the last 12 years Harvard has lost to Yale only once.

Hutchinson has lived around Boston all his life. He graduated from Harvard in 1928, after playing golf and one year of J.V. hockey. He was the J.V.'s leading scorer. During the 1930s he had several offers to coach, but he turned them down to set up a brokerage firm with his brother.

During the depression, Hutchinson managed and played on a hockey team he organized at the Brae Burn Country Club in West Newton. "That's how I learned about the game," he said. "I played with the greats: George Owen--later a Bruins captain, and John Garrison--three times an Olympic star."

In 1955, Cooney Weiland offered Hutchinson the job of coaching Harvard's J.V. Hutch accepted for one season only, but when winter was over, he decided to continue. "I had no idea I'd go on for 17 years," he said.

Hutchinson is a widower. "I never meet any ladies at the hocky rink, so there I am," he said. He has an interest in mixers and one of his favorite lines for a girl is, "What do you hear around the water cooler?"

"He's really one of the greats," coach Bill Cleary said. "We were lucky to have him."