20 Facts About Ned Harkness

Nevin Donald Harkness was an NCAA head coach of ice hockey and lacrosse at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Cornell University and of ice hockey at Union College.

Ned Harkness was head coach of the Detroit Red Wings and later was the team's general manager.

Ned Harkness was inducted into the Lake Placid Hall of Fame in 1993, the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2001 and into the RPI Hockey Ring of Honor in 2007.

Ned Harkness is a member of the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in Eveleth, Minnesota, having been inducted in 1994.

Ned Harkness grew up in Ontario, but before coming of age, his family moved to the Glens Falls, New York, region north of Albany.

In 1941, Ned Harkness became a volunteer coach for a group of students at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy who were interested in forming a lacrosse club.

World War II led to the disbanding of the team, but when the school formally established a varsity lacrosse program in 1945, Ned Harkness was asked to become its first coach.

Ned Harkness was inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2001.

Later that year, Ned Harkness devised the RPI Holiday Tournament, which has taken place every year since 1951, making it the oldest in-season tournament in the nation.

Ned Harkness coached both hockey and lacrosse at Rensselaer throughout most of the 1950s and continued coaching hockey into the 1960s.

In 1963, Ned Harkness moved to Cornell University, where he replaced Paul Patten as the head coach of the hockey team.

Ned Harkness's stature rose to legendary status with the recruitment of Ken Dryden.

In 1966, Ned Harkness bested the previous year's total by winning 22 games while losing 5 times.

Ned Harkness was hired by the Detroit Red Wings to become head coach on May 22,1970.

Ned Harkness replaced Sid Abel, an interim replacement for Bill Gadsby.

Ned Harkness returned to New York's Capital District, where he had lived in Glens Falls and coached the RPI Engineers.

Ned Harkness went to Union and helped create a new program from the ground up.

Achilles Center was built, and Ned Harkness was made rink manager and the team's coach.

Ned Harkness later served as director of the Glens Falls Civic Center and president of the New York Olympic Regional Development Authority, which ran the facilities in Lake Placid, New York, which hosted the 1980 Olympic Winter Games.

Ned Harkness died on September 19,2008, on his 89th birthday.