Sam Pollock

Sam Pollock joined the Canadiens hockey club during the 1945–46 season, working alongside Wilf Cude, the club’s goaltender during the 1930s and at the time the coach and general manager of the Junior Canadiens. In 1947, he became general manager and coach for the Junior Canadiens. His team won the Memorial Cup in 1950 and 1958. From 1959 to 1963, he was general manager of the Hull-Ottawa Canadiens, an Eastern Professional Hockey League team, which won the championship in 1961 and 1962.

In 1950, he took on the roles of chief scout and director of personnel for the Montréal Canadiens, an NHL team. He would share these additional responsibilities with Ken Reardon, a former star defenceman of the Canadiens, from 1952 to 1964.

Sam Pollock was named general manager of the Montréal Canadiens in May 1964. The following year, the team won the Stanley Cup. By 1978, after 14 years under his leadership, the Montréal team had won nine Stanley Cups, four of them consecutively and four others in five seasons. During these years, he also managed Team Canada, which won the Canada Cup in 1976. Later, from 1995 to 2000, Sam Pollock was the chairman and CEO of the Toronto Blue Jays, an American League baseball team.

During his 32 years with the Canadiens organization, Sam Pollock knew just what to expect from each of his players and how to lead them to victory. A man of values and action, he inspired his colleagues and his team. In 1996, the École des hautes études commerciales (HEC Montréal) and Université du Québec presses published Sam Pollock et le Canadien de Montréal, as part of the “Les grands gestionnaires et leurs oeuvres” (great managers and their work) collection.

Sam Pollock was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1985. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1978 and Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1981.

Sam Pollock died in 2007. He was inducted into the Academy of Great Montrealers in the Social category in 1978 and was named a Commander of the Ordre de Montréal in 2016.