Campaign for Tommy Anderson to enter Hockey Hall of Fame | DrumhellerMail
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Last updateWed, 05 Feb 2025 3pm

Campaign for Tommy Anderson to enter Hockey Hall of Fame

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Drumheller has a long and proud hockey history, going back almost 100 years, from the glory days of the Bentley Brothers playing for the Miners, to the Allan Cup Championship squad of 1966, and today with the Drumheller Dragons.
The valley has seen some great athletes who have gone on to the big leagues and made the valley proud. While many have received accolades, the family of one is hoping one player will be recognized in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
That is Tommy “Cowboy “ Anderson.
Anderson had a career in the CAHL and the NHL, and in 1942 won the highest player's accolade-the Hart Memorial Trophy for most valuable player.
Despite this, he has not made it into the Hall of Fame.
Tommy Anderson is Tina Nelson’s great uncle, and her family began the campaign for her grandmother Margaret Longmate.
“We really wanted to see him inducted for her sake, but then she passed away a couple of years ago, said Nelson.
She reached out to her friend and filmmaker Vicki McFadyen to help produce a short film to celebrate his career. They were able to interview her grandmother before she passed.
“The family reached out. What they want to do is see if he can get inducted into the Hall of Fame. He is one of three Hart Memorial Trophy recipients who have not been inducted," said McFadyen.
As his name implies, Anderson has Scottish roots. He was born in 1910 in Edinburgh, Scotland and immigrated to Calgary in 1912 and then to Drumheller in 1923.
He got the nickname “Cowboy" because he sneaked off to the Calgary Stampede to compete.
His name starts showing up in reports in The Drumheller Mail in the late 1920s, playing for the Miners. This continued until 1930 when the headlines read he began playing for the Philidelphia Arrows of the Canadian American Hockey League (CAHL). A player he moved up with was Connie King.
He got his first shot at the Big League in 1934-1935 when he suited up for the Detroit Red Wings. He then went on to the New York Americans where he played until 1942 for the newly rebranded Brooklyn Americans. In 1938-1939 he had 40 points off of 13 goals and 27 assists, helping the team reach the Stanley Cup semifinals.
His best season was the 1941-1942 season with Brooklyn where he had 12 goals and 29 assists.
This was also the year he won the Hart Memorial Trophy.
It was an interesting season as he had switched from left wing to defence and, while his team finished last, his 41 points was a record for a defenseman, earning the league's Most Valuable Player. He was the first Hart Memorial Trophy recipient to be selected despite his team missing the playoffs.
Today, he is just one of three winners of the Hart Memorial Trophy who have not been selected, and the only skater, as Jose Theodore and Al Rollins played goal. This is the same Al Rollins who was on the 1966 Drumheller Miners Allan Cup championship team.
The 1941-1942 season would be his last in the NHL. After the season, the Americans disbanded. He was selected by the Toronto Maple Leafs, however, he enlisted in the military as World War II threatened.
“It would be like Wayne Gretzky, or someone winning the Hart Memorial Trophy and then going off to war,” said Nelson. “It was very important to him. I think he was also very close to Red Dutton, and he had almost lost his leg in the First World War… I think he felt compelled to represent his country.”
While it was the end of his NHL career it was not the end of hockey playing days. He was stationed in Calgary and played and coached hockey for the Calgary Currie Barracks Army. The team made the Allan Cup playoffs in 1943.
After the war, he did make it back on the ice, and in 1945-1946, he played for the Providence Reds of the AHL. He ended his career in 1947, after playing a season with the Hollywood Wolves of the Pacific Coast Hockey League as a player-coach. There he mentored a young defenseman named Bill Barilko.
He retired to Sylvan Lake and joined his family business, plumbing with his father. He died in 1971.
Nelson explains there is a process to be inducted. Members of the official Hockey Hall of Fame Selection Committee may submit nominations. They are hoping their production will make an impression on one of the members of the committee and shine a light on the incredible career of Anderson.


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