Presque Isle - City of Marquette

Fun Fact Friday:One Marquette family included a hockey Olympian who was on teams that won both a silver medal and a gold medal, and several of his brothers also played hockey at the collegiate and professional levels. Do you know the family’s name? Read on to find out.We would like your participation in creating a new Community Master Plan for the City of Marquette. Sign up to be included in the process and receive updates at lnkd.in/eCWPF3Mt Weldon Howard Olson was born in Marquette, Michigan on November 12, 1932. Weldy was the youngest of nine brothers, and they all played hockey. Allan, Edward, Gordon, Marcus, Paul, Roy, Theodore, Wesley, and Weldon. They could “ice” their own team! As a group, they are members of at least twelve different halls of fame. Four of Weldy’s brothers played hockey for Michigan Tech and Weldy planned to as well but ended up playing at Michigan State University because he wanted to play for the coach that his brothers played for at Tech, who took the head coach job there before Weldy started college. In his first year out of college, in 1956, Weldy made the USA Olympic team.Those were different times, the team had no NHL players, and many of the young men were working day jobs and were not paid to play hockey. But they all got a $7.00/week stipend to play on the Olympic team! Weldy had joined the Air Force and had one other teammate who was in the military. The Olympics at the time featured a round-robin tournament and were played outdoors. The USA would go on to win silver after being edged out with one loss in the final round, a 4-0 loss to the Soviet Union.Four years later the Winter Olympics were hosted in Squaw Valley, California. Computerized scoring and the Zamboni were introduced there, and the games were moved to an indoor facility. There were low expectations for the ’60 squad - until they beat Canada. In the final round, the USA would go 5-0 to win the gold medal. There wasn’t a lot of press or commercial interest at the time, especially compared to that surrounding the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” US victory, but the 1960 win was a miracle in itself – an amateur team beating what basically amounted to professional Soviet Army players. For more info on this team cut and paste this link: lnkd.in/gRZfRBx8And of note is that Weldy wasn’t the only Yooper on the team, and the term Yooper hadn’t even been coined in 1960. One of Weldy’s Team USA teammates was 20-year-old Hancock native Rod Paavola.In 1966 all nine of the Olson brothers came together in Marquette to play a game for charity. One team was made entirely of the Olson brothers and six of their sons, with the help of a goalie they recruited. This was the only time all nine brothers played together. ... See MoreSee Less

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