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Inducted into the Hall of Fame in
1992. Born
in Clapham, London on August 18th, 1938 Alec Goldstone was a
latecomer to ice hockey. In fact he had never seen a game until Tony,
the elder of his two sons, took up the sport aged thirteen, in 1974. Alec
Goldstone soon became totally committed, taking on the role of manager
of the Streatham Redskins and seeing the team become one of the top
clubs in the country in the early eighties. In 1982, the Redskins won
the English National League title and in 1985, after an amazing upset of
the mighty Durham Wasps, they reached the Heineken Championship
semi-finals at Wembley. In
1988/89, he took over as team manager at Richmond and with the help of
Mark Didcott, who had previously been head coach at Streatham and an
infusion of former Redskin players, he achieved the near miracle of
hauling the Flyers away from the bottom of Division One. After the
demise of hockey at Richmond, Alec Goldstone went on to perform similar
wonders as coach/manager of the Lee Valley Lions, ensuring the club
would survive into the 90/91 Heineken League season. That season sadly
was to be his last as on July 15th, 1991 Alec Goldstone died
at the untimely age of 52 years. Often
described as a man with many opponents, but no enemies, Alec Goldstone
more than made up for his late discovery of ice hockey. In seventeen
years working within the sport, he demonstrated dedication, good humour
and sound common sense as well as an uncanny knack for helping teams
through difficult periods. In 1990, Alec and his wife Kathy who had ably
supported him as club secretary, timekeeper, team chauffeur, and in
numerous other roles, were jointly awarded the “Special Services to
British Ice Hockey” trophy. Kathy
Goldstone continued to contribute to the sport on the administrative
side at both club and national level, while sons Tony and Adam kept the
family name to the fore on the ice with the Lee Valley Lions. Compiled with research, provided by Martin C.Harris |
