“The Horse’s Mouth with Tom McManus” is a unique talk show offering opinions and facts that come straight from the source. No gossip, no hearsay, no agendas; just topics straight from the Horse’s Mouth! His guests include top of the line, high profile figures in sports, news, entertainment, business and leaders in the community. He will tackle the hard subjects in society over a beer and laughs. Today, our host, Tom McManus, spoke with Jack O’Callahan from the “Miracle on Ice” Hockey Team of 1980.
Jack O’Callahan
“Miracle on Ice” Hockey Team of 1980
Senior Managing Director with F/m Investments
Website Address: https://www.fminvest.com/
Transcription:
Tom:
All right. Welcome into The Horse’s Mouth. Up close and personal time here at the bar at Tommy Mac’s, brought to you by our good friends at Foodies Care and right here at the Daily News Network.
A friend of mine who I’ve been trying to get on the show for a very long time. We finally matched up schedules. He’s a hockey player, he’s a businessman, he’s a great guy. Let’s welcome Jack O’Callahan.
Hi Jack. Crazy to be here, bro. I’m really excited.
How are you doing?
Jack:
Yeah, great.
Tom:
You’re new to the area. I’d say at least six or seven years now.
Jack:
Yeah, but I’ve been living there. I love it here. I grew up in Charlestown and then grew up in Boston. Played hockey.
Tom:
When did you start playing hockey? You guys start young.
Jack:
Yeah. Back then, I’m not a young guy. It was the 60s. I was eight or nine before I could really get on the ice. I played a lot of street hockey and ball hockey.
Then Bobby Orr came along and everything changed. All of a sudden they started building rinks everywhere and it was really easy to play and skate. All my friends were playing and I just got into it.
Tom:
That is so cool.
When I got to Boston College, I’m from Chicago. I knew the Blackhawks but really far more Bulls, Bears, Cubs. Then I started meeting and hanging with these hockey guys and I’m like, I like these guys.
Jack:
Yeah, they’re a different breed.
Tom:
But a good breed.
Jack:
Most of them are pretty laid back. Gentlemen until you get on the ice and have to compete.
Part of the culture with hockey is that these kids predominantly come from a blue collar background. My parents worked two jobs. My dad was an electrician in the utility but also worked side jobs.
Everybody’s working and the kids are working. Nothing’s really handed to them.
You don’t just show up at a field like lacrosse. You have to get in the car and go to a rink. When you’re playing youth hockey in Florida you could be driving two hours to practice.
Then you’ve got to get dressed with all the equipment and everything.
Tom:
Yeah. Same as a football locker room.
Jack:
Exactly.
So you get these kids that come from that background and they’re good guys who work hard. The sport itself keeps everybody in line because if you get out of line somebody’s going to smack you back in line.
Tom:
That’s right.
I used to pal around with Linden Byers, God rest his soul.
Jack:
Yeah. Good guy. Played with the Bruins. We lost him about a year ago. Sad to see it.
Tom:
All right Jack, take us back to 1979 or 78. Before the Miracle team.
Everybody knows you’re part of the Miracle on Ice in 1980. Take us back to how that started.
Jack:
So the four years I was in college were basically the 76, 77, 78, 79 seasons. I graduated in 1979. I had a pretty good run in college and my last two years I got all kinds of awards.
It wasn’t really a tryout the way people think. The team was pretty much handpicked by Herb Brooks, our coach.
He picked 26 guys, and when we got to the Olympics you had to freeze the roster at 20 players. That had to be done the night before the first game.
Once those 20 guys were set, if you had injuries you just played short.
Today they carry 23 players.
Back then Americans didn’t really play professionally. The NHL was mostly Canadians. Europeans were technically amateurs even though they were pros in their own leagues.
So we showed up as college kids against the best teams in the world like the Russians, Czechs and Swedes.
They were older, bigger and stronger.
To this day we were the youngest American hockey team ever. Our average age was about 20.
Tom:
So when you went into the Russia game were you confident or thinking we’ll see what happens?
Jack:
We had played about 60 games from August of 79 until the Olympics in February.
But our last game before the Olympics was the Russians at Madison Square Garden and they beat our brains in.
Three days later we started the Olympics against Sweden.
Then it was games every other day. Sweden, then the Czechs, and so on.
We started winning and building momentum. The fans were with us and we were in Lake Placid.
Then we had to play the Russians on that Friday afternoon.
The first time we played them we were starstruck. We were like high school kids playing the Pittsburgh Steelers.
But by the time we played them again in Lake Placid that was gone.
We knew we had to keep it close.
We were down one goal going into the third period, and that’s where we wanted them.
We were young, fit, emotional, well trained and had a great coach and system.
And we had a great goalie.
It worked out.
Tom:
I remember that like yesterday.
Jack:
There have been movies and documentaries about it. It’s been a fun ride.
Tom:
Did you go into the pros after?
Jack:
Yeah. I was drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks in my sophomore year in college. I eventually played nine years professionally.
My last two years were with the New Jersey Devils.
After hockey I walked into the S&P futures trading pit at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. I traded my own account standing elbow to elbow with people.
Playing hockey was easier.
At least in hockey I knew I was getting a check every two weeks.
Back then everything was done on trading cards. It was the most efficient communication system I’ve ever seen.
I stayed in that business most of my career and eventually helped start an institutional commodities firm.
Later I raised money for investment managers and pension funds.
Now I work with a firm that manages about $20 billion and I help raise capital.
Tom:
Let’s wrap it up with the men’s and women’s hockey teams winning gold recently.
Jack:
That was great.
The women’s team was basically the best team in the tournament. Canada gave them a run.
On the men’s side Canada was probably the best team but the U.S. was right there.
When you put that USA jersey on it means something different than the NHL.
There’s a real brotherhood in USA Hockey. Even guys from my generation stay connected with the younger players.
It’s pretty awesome.
Tom:
Jack, great to have you at the bar. Glad we finally made it happen.
Jack:
We could sit here and talk for three hours.
Tom:
Absolutely.
That’ll do it for us this time around right here on The Horse’s Mouth, brought to you by our friends at Foodies Care and the Daily News Network.
Make sure to check out this interview at DailyNewsNetwork.com and on social media.
Until next time, stay safe out there and be cool.
We’ll see you right here on The Horse’s Mouth.
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