Al Renfrew

Al Renfrew
	Al Renfrew, 1949
Biographical details
Born	December 21, 1924; Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Died	November 10, 2014 (aged 89); Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Alma mater	University of Michigan
Playing career
1945–1949	Michigan
1949–1950	Detroit Auto Club
Position(s)	Wing
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1951–1956	Michigan Tech
1956–1957	North Dakota
1957–1973	Michigan
Head coaching record
Overall	288–286–13 (.502)
Tournaments	4–2 (.667)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
	1961 Big Ten Champion; 1962 Big Ten Champion; 1964 Big Ten Champion; 1964 WCHA regular season champion; 1964 NCAA National Champion; 1968 Big Ten Champion; 1969 Big Ten Champion
Awards
	1986 University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor; 1990 Hobey Baker Legends of College Hockey Award; 1992 John "Snooks" Kelley Founders Award

Allan McNab Renfrew (December 21, 1924 – November 10, 2014) was a hockey player (left wing) at the University of Michigan in the late 1940s and a college hockey coach with Michigan Technological University (1951–1956), the University of North Dakota (1956–1957), and the University of Michigan (1957–1973). Renfrew had a storied career as a player, coach and administrator at the University of Michigan, including NCAA championships as both a player and coach. He was inducted into the University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor in 1986.

College hockey player

A native of Toronto, Renfrew came to the University of Michigan in 1945.[1] He played four years with the Michigan hockey team, and was selected as the team captain as a senior.[1] As a freshman in 1946, he drew attention when he scored two goals separated by only seven seconds in a game against Michigan Tech.[2] He was the leader of the Wolverines 1948 team that won the NCAA hockey championship. He scored 25 goals in 1948, including four in a game against Minnesota: "Al Renfrew, Michigan's speedy left winger, scored four times to lead the assault."[3] The Wolverines finished the 1948 season by bearing Dartmouth College, 8-4, in the first NCAA ice hockey championship held in March 1948 in Colorado Springs, Colorado.[4] Renfrew scored 91 goals and 172 points, as the Wolverines went 70-18-6 while Renfrew was playing.[1] Renfrew finished his playing career as the second leading point scorer in the history of Michigan hockey. He graduated from the School of Education in 1950 and later married the sister of his coach, Vic Heyliger.[1]

College hockey coach

After graduating from Michigan, Renfrew became the hockey coach at Michigan Tech in Houghton, Michigan, from 1951–1956 and at North Dakota for one year. In May 1957, Renfrew's former coach and brother-in-law Vic Heyliger retired as Michigan's hockey coach, and Renfrew accepted the job as Heyliger's replacement.[5][6] As the coach of the Wolverines hockey team from 1957–1973, Renfrew had a record of 223-206-11 and one national championship. The national championship as coach came in 1964 season, when Michigan had a record of 24-4-1. Renfrew's 1964 team, behind the leadership of captain Gordon Wilkie and by Mel Wakabayashi's two goals, beat Denver 6-3 in their home arena to capture the program's seventh NCAA title. With the win, Al Renfrew also became the first person to play on an NCAA championship college hockey team and later coach a national champion.[7] Including his six years as coach at Michigan Tech and North Dakota, his overall record as a coach was 288-286-13. When Renfrew retired as coach in May 1973, 200 of his friends held a testimonial dinner and presented him and his wife with a two-week trip to Hawaii.[8] After retiring as the hockey coach in 1973, Renfrew worked for many years as the manager of the U-M ticket office.[1]

The "M" Club Banner

Aside from his contributions to the Michigan hockey program, Renfrew and his wife Marguerite are credited in some accounts as the individuals responsible for the football tradition of the "M" Club banner at Michigan Stadium. The tradition started in 1962 with Michigan players racing out of the tunnel and leaping into the air to touch the "Go Blue: M Club Supports You" banner while the Marching Band plays "The Victors." Renfrew reportedly asked his wife to make two flags to drape over the football locker rooms to cheer on the team. She made two flags, with a neighbor, and the Block M was designed by Bob Hoisington, an engineering dean, to make sure it was correct. They handmade the flags, which was not an easy feat at the time. Originally, the M Club members hung the banners in the locker room, and the banners were later moved to the tunnel and then the stadium. After the games, the flags came back home to the Renfrews' home and were hung at their house. Later, the flags were changed to a banner.[9]

Later life, awards and honors

In 1986, Renfrew was inducted into the University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor. He has also received the 1990 Hobey Baker Legends of College Hockey Award, presented each year to an individual who has made great contributions to college hockey,[10] and the 1992 John "Snooks" Kelley Founders Award, given each year to a person in the coaching profession who has contributed to the overall growth and development of the sport of ice hockey in the United States. The "Friends of Al Renfrew" have established an endowed room and board scholarship at Michigan for an ice hockey player.[11]

On November 10, 2014, Renfrew died in Michigan at the age of 89. He had a heart attack three weeks prior and was due to be released from a rehabilitation facility.[12]

Head coaching record

Statistics overview
Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Michigan Tech Huskies (MCHL) (1951–1953)
1951–52	Michigan Tech	2–18–0	0–12–0	7th
1952–53	Michigan Tech	6–13–0	3–13–0	6th
Michigan Tech:		8–31–0	3–25–0
Michigan Tech Huskies (WIHL) (1953–1956)
1953–54	Michigan Tech	7–17–1	2–16–0	7th
1954–55	Michigan Tech	12–13–1	8–11–1	4th
1955–56	Michigan Tech	21–7–0	14–6–0	2nd	NCAA runner-up
Michigan Tech:		40–37–2	24–33–1
North Dakota Fighting Sioux (WIHL) (1956–1957)
1956–57	North Dakota	18–11–0	13–9–0	3rd
North Dakota:		18–11–0	13–9–0
Michigan Wolverines (WIHL) (1957–1958)
1957–58	Michigan	8–13–0	7–11–0	6th
Michigan:		8–13–0	7–11–0
Michigan Wolverines (Big Ten) (1958–1959)
1958–59	Michigan	8–13–1	2–6–0	3rd
Michigan:		8–13–1	2–6–0
Michigan Wolverines (WCHA / Big Ten †) (1959–1973)
1959–60	Michigan	12–12–0	7–11–0 / 4–4–0	5th / 2nd
1960–61	Michigan	16–10–2	15–8–1 / 6–2–0	3rd / 1st	WCHA East Regional Runner-Up
1961–62	Michigan	22–5–0	15–3–0 / 4–0–0	2nd / 1st	NCAA consolation game (win)
1962–63	Michigan	7–14–3	3–14–3 / 0–6–2	7th / 3rd
1963–64	Michigan	24–4–1	12–2–0 / 7–1–0	1st / 1st	NCAA Champion
1964–65	Michigan	13–12–1	7–11–0 / 3–5–0	5th / 3rd
1965–66	Michigan	14–14–0	9–9–0 / 3–5–0	5th / 3rd	WCHA first round
1966–67	Michigan	19–7–2	11–6–1 / 4–3–1	4th / 2nd	WCHA first round
1967–68	Michigan	18–9–0	11–7–0 / 7–1–0	4th / 1st	WCHA first round
1968–69	Michigan	16–12–0	10–8–0 / 7–5–0	4th / 1st	WCHA East Regional Finals
1969–70	Michigan	14–16–0	11–13–0 / 5–7–0	6th / 3rd	WCHA West Regional semifinals
1970–71	Michigan	9–21–0	5–17–0 / 2–8–0	9th / 3rd
1971–72	Michigan	16–18–0	12–16–0 / 5–5–0	6th / 2nd	WCHA first round
1972–73	Michigan	6–27–1	4–25–1 / 1–11–0	10th / 4th
Michigan:		206–181–10	132–150–6 / 58–63–3
Total:		288–286–13
National champion Postseason invitational champion Conference regular season champion Conference regular season and conference tournament champion Division regular season champion Division regular season and conference tournament champion Conference tournament champion

†Michigan played jointly in the Big Ten and WCHA from 1959 to 1981

References

Madej, Bruce (1997). Michigan: Champions of the West, p. 109. Sports Publishing. ISBN 1-57167-115-3.
AP wire service report (1946-03-09). "Wolverine Puckmen Lead Michigan Tech". Ironwood Daily Globe.
"Michigan Puckmen Beat Minnesota". The Winona Republican-Herald. 1948-02-14.
"NCAA College Hockey History/Record Book" (PDF).
"New Ice Coach At Michigan". Lowell Sun. 1957-05-16.
Green, Jerry (1957-04-18). "Renfrew Is Leading Candidate For Hockey Coach At Michigan". Ironwood Daily Globe.
"1953 and 1963 National Championship Hockey Teams Return to Celebrate 50th and 40th Anniversary Reunions" (PDF). M News: A Publication for Graduate Letter Winners. 2004. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-01-25. Retrieved 2008-02-13.
"Coach Retired". Suburbanite Economist (Chicago). 1973-05-23.
"Brief history of the "Go Blue" banner". 2007-02-24.
"Hobey Baker Award Winners". Archived from the original on 2008-02-27.
"University of Michigan Athletic Department:Endowed Athletic Scholarships". Archived from the original on 2008-02-04.
"Michigan hockey legend al Renfrew led teams to greatness".

Michigan Tech Huskies men's ice hockey
Formerly the Michigan College of Mines Huskies
Playing venues	Amphidrome (1919–1926) Dee Stadium (1928–1972) MacInnes Student Ice Arena (1972–present)
Head Coaches	E. R. Lovel (1919–20) Elmer Sicotte (1920–21, 1923–24) Mike Fay (1921–22) Bill Murdoch (1922–23) Leon Harvey (1924–26) Carlos Haug (1926–29) Bert Noblet (1929–36) Joe Savini (1936–38) Ed Maki (1938–41, 1945–48) Elwin Romnes (1941–43) Amo Bessone (1948–51) Al Renfrew (1951–56) John MacInnes (1956–82) Jim Nahrgang (1982–85) Herb Boxer (1985–90) Newell Brown (1990–92) Bob Mancini (1992–96) Tim Watters (1996–2000) Mike Sertich (2000–03) Jamie Russell (2003–11) Mel Pearson (2011–17) Joe Shawhan (2017–present)
Seasons	1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24
Conference affiliations	WCHA (1951–58, 1959–81, 1984–2021) CCHA (1981–84, 2021–Present)
Rivalries	Northern Michigan
Culture & lore	Great Lakes Invitational Huskies Pep Band
All-time leaders	Mike Zuke (310 Points) Mike Zuke (133 Goals) Bruce Horsch / Blake Pietila (58 Wins)
National Championships	1962 1965 1975
Frozen Four appearances	1956 1960 1962 1965 1969 1970 1974 1975 1976 1981
NCAA Tournament appearances	1956 1960 1962 1965 1969 1970 1974 1975 1976 1981 2015 2017 2018 2022 2023
Conference Tournament titles	WCHA: 1960 1962 1965 1969 1970 1974 1975 1976 1981 2017 2018
Michigan Technological University Houghton, MI

North Dakota Fighting Hawks men's ice hockey
Formerly the North Dakota Flickertails and North Dakota Fighting Sioux
Venues	Winter Sports Building (1936–1972) Ralph Engelstad Arena (old; 1972–2001) Ralph Engelstad Arena (new; 2001–present)
Head coaches	Joe Brown (1929–1932) Noland Franz (1932–1933) Buck Cameron (1935–1936) John Jamieson (1946–1947) Don Norman (1947–1949) Fido Purpur (1949–1956) Al Renfrew (1956–1957) Bob May (1957–1959) Barry Thorndycraft (1959–1964) Bob Peters (1964–1966) Bill Selman (1966–1968) Rube Bjorkman (1968–1978) John Gasparini (1978–1994) Dean Blais (1994–2004) Dave Hakstol (2004–2015) Brad Berry (2015–present)
Seasons	1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1935–36 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24
Conference affiliations	Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) (1951–1958, 1959–2013) National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) (2013–present)
Rivalries	Denver Minnesota Wisconsin
All-time leaders	Statistical leaders Greg Johnson (272 Points) Ben Cherski (131 Goals) Karl Goehring (80 Wins)
National championships	1959 1963 1980 1982 1987 1997 2000 2016
Frozen Four appearances	1958 1959 1963 1965 1967 1968 1979 1980 1982 1984 1987 1997 2000 2001 2005 2006 2007 2008 2011 2014 2015 2016
NCAA Tournament appearances	1958 1959 1963 1965 1967 1968 1979 1980 1982 1984 1987 1990 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2021
Conference Tournament titles	WCHA: 1967 1968 1979 1980 1987 1997 2000 2006 2010 2011 2012
Hobey Baker winners	Tony Hrkac (1987) Ryan Duncan (2007)
Mike Richter winners	Zane McIntyre (2015)
University of North Dakota Grand Forks, ND

Michigan Wolverines men's ice hockey
Venues	Weinberg Coliseum (1914–1973) Yost Ice Arena (1973–present)
Coaches	Joseph Barss (1922–27) Eddie Lowrey (1927–44) Vic Heyliger (1944–57) Al Renfrew (1957–73) Dan Farrell (1973–80) Wilf Martin (1980) John Giordano (1980–84) Red Berenson (1984–2017) Mel Pearson (2017–2022) Brandon Naurato (2022–present)
Seasons	1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24
Conference affiliations	MCHA/WIHL/WCHA (1951–1958, 1959–1981) CCHA (1981–2013) Big Ten (1958–1981, 2013–present)
Rivalries	Michigan State Minnesota Notre Dame
Culture & lore	Great Lakes Invitational The Big Chill at the Big House Cold War Faceoff on the Lake
All-time leaders	Statistical leaders Brendan Morrison (284 Points) Denny Felsner (139 Goals) Marty Turco (127 Wins)
National championships	1948 1951 1952 1953 1955 1956 1964 1996 1998
Frozen Four appearances	1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1962 1964 1977 1992 1993 1995 1996 1997 1998 2001 2002 2003 2008 2011 2018 2022 2023
NCAA Tournament appearances	1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1962 1964 1977 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2016 2018 2021 2022 2023
Conference Tournament titles	CCHA: 1994 1996 1997 1999 2002 2003 2005 2008 2010 Big Ten: 2016 2022 2023
Hobey Baker winners	Brendan Morrison (1997) Kevin Porter (2008) Adam Fantilli (2023)
University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI