More Bert DeHate

This is a picture of the 1961-62 Dollar Bay Midgets, and Bert DeHate is the third player from the left in the front row. The photo was provided by Merv Klemett to Copper Country Hockey History, and Connie Julien of CCHH was kind enough to share with me the photo and the following information:

Bert played on our local tryout "travel" teams for about 2 years, even though he lived about 2 hours away. His father would drive him over here from Stambough with his brother, Phil, and a couple of other boys when they were young teens. I think this was quite unusual for that time period. In all the years my own sons were in hockey here, I only remember just a couple of player's parents bringing their kids here to play on our teams when they lived over an hour away. (we have over 200 inches of snow a year here so traveling on these roads after dark (5pm) for children's winter sports is a real commitment.)

As you know, Bert was inducted into the Wisconsin Badgers Hall of Fame on Friday. My friend nubeetle was fortunate enough to attend and had a chance to talk to Bert, who was quite personable and very happy to chat. When told that I was looking for stories about him, Bert said that there are plenty of stories that could be told. Wish I had been there to get some of those stories! (If anyone has any stories about Bert DeHate, please post them in the comment section or email me at sixtymin@iwon.com.)

While conversing about Badger Hockey, Bert told nubeetle that he followed Badger Hockey quite a bit after graduating and that he attended both the '73 and '77 championship games. For the '73 championship game in Boston, he took a friend's son who had never before been to a hockey game. They didn't have tickets, so they were walking around outside. They passed a broadcast truck, and Badger Bob just-so-happened to be in the truck reviewing tapes. Bob asked Bert what he was doing, and Bert replied that they were going to the game. So Bob asked if they had tickets, and Bert said, “Not yet.” Bob pulled 2 tickets out of his jacket pocket and handed them to Bert. I found the story amusing, because I just can't imagine Robbie Earl showing up to a Frozen Four without tickets and running into Mike Eaves reviewing tapes outside in a broadcast truck, with Eaves carrying around extra tickets in his jacket pocket. (My analogy isn't perfect, but you get the drift.)

Congratulations again to Bert DeHate for his well-deserved induction into the Badgers Hall of Fame.