Army's all-time winningest coach, Jack Riley authored a 542-343-20 record during his remarkable 36-year career at the Black Knights' hockey helm. He retired in 1986 as the second-winningest college hockey head coach in NCAA history and currently ranks ninth on the list.
Riley was an outstanding college player at Dartmouth whose career was interrupted by World War II while he was playing as a sophomore in 1941. Riley played for Dartmouth College from 1940-42, before joining the United States Naval Air Corps as a pilot, serving as a U.S. Naval Aviator in the Pacific Theatre from 1942-46.
Riley returned to college in 1946 to captain the team that tied the University of Toronto for the North American title. Riley played for the US National Team as a left winger at the 1948 Winter Olympics which finished fourth at St. Moritz, Switzerland.
From there, he went on to serve as the player-coach of the 1949 U.S. Men's National Team, which gained a third-place finish at the World Tournament at Stockholm, Sweden. Incidentally, the U.S. was the only team to defeat the world champions from Czechoslovakia, 2-0, thanks to Riley’s two goals. Riley then went on to play one season with the Boston Olympics of the Eastern Amateur Hockey League.
Riley would join the staff of the U.S. Military Academy in 1950, where he became head coach in 1951 and remained until 1986, when he passed the reigns to his son, Rob.
Riley was named NCAA "Coach of the Year" in 1957 and 1960. He guided Army to 29 winning seasons and led the Black Knights to a school-record 28 victories during the 1983-84 campaign. His Army teams reached postseason play nine times in all during a career that spanned four decades along the banks of the Hudson.
Additionally, Jack Riley served as head coach of the United States Olympic Team in 1960. Twenty years before the "Miracle on Ice" at Lake Placid, N.Y., the Riley-led Team USA went unbeaten at Squaw Valley, Calif., with wins over Canada and the Soviet Union, among other rivals, guiding the squad to the first gold medal in United States history.
A two-time winner of the Lester Patrick Award (1986, 2002), presented for outstanding service to U.S. hockey, Riley was elected to the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 1979, and was also inducted into International Hockey Hall of Fame in 1998.
Riley was a member of the Army Sports Hall of Fame inaugural class in 2004.
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