James Norris, Sr.

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James Norris, Sr. (December 10, 1879 – December 4, 1952) was the longtime owner of the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League.

Born in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, but grew up in Lachine, Quebec; a suburb of Montreal. He was an accomplished athlete in his youth, playing hockey, squash and tennis. He was a star defenseman at McGill University, and later played for the famous Montreal Amateur Athletic Association, the first team to win the Stanley Cup. He then moved to Chicago, where he made a substantial fortune as a grain broker.

When the NHL announced it was going to place a team in Chicago, Norris made a bid for the team, but narrowly lost to Frederic McLaughlin. Norris then became a persistent critic of McLaughlin's Black Hawks, calling them an inferior operation. As early as 1930, he tried to organize a second team in the city. Finally, in 1932, the minor American Hockey Associaton changed its name to the American Hockey League (no relation to the current circuit) and declared itself a major league. Norris was set to become owner of the league's Chicago team, the Shamrocks.

NHL president Frank Calder quickly took measures to cut the upstart league down to size, and persuaded the other owners to let Norris buy the struggling Detroit Falcons, who were then in receivership. Norris' first act upon buying the team was to change its name to the Red Wings. He also designed the team's current logo--a wing portruding from a wheel. The logo was adapted from the old MAAA logo (the team had been nicknamed the "Winged Wheelers") and was intended to curry favor with the automobile companies.

Norris quickly cleared away the debt left over from past years and gave the Red Wings the financial backing they needed to become one of the most powerful teams in the NHL. Under Norris' watch, the Red Wings won five Stanley Cups. He rarely saw his Red Wings play due to a heart condition. However, coach and general manager Jack Adams always called Norris, or "Pops" as he was popularly called, after each game from the locker room.

In 1936, Norris exacted a measure of revenge on McLaughlin by buying the Black Hawks' home, Chicago Stadium--and thus becoming McLaughlin's landlord. When McLaughlin died in 1944, Norris helped longtime Black Hawks president Bill Tobin put together a syndicate that bought the team from the McLaughlin estate. It was generally understood, however, that Norris called the shots. Earlier in the decade, he had bought enough stock in Madison Square Garden to become the largest stockholder. While he did not buy majority control, he had enough support on the board that he effectively controlled the New York Rangers as well.

Norris died on December 4, 1952. He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1958.