Clapper, "Dit" (Aubrey V.)
Hockey
b. Feb. 9, 1907, Newmarket, ONT
d. Jan. 20, 1978
The first player to spend 20 seasons with the same NHL team, Clapper was an all-star both as a right wing and as a defenseman. An outstanding lacrosse player as a young teen-ager, he then decided to concentrate on hockey. After a half-season in the minor leagues, he joined the Bruins in 1927.
Clapper played on Boston's "Dynamite Line" with Cooney Weiland at center and Dutch Gainor at left wing. They led the Bruins to their first Stanley Cup in 1929. In 1929/30, Clapper had his finest scoring season with 41 goals and 20 assists in just 44 games, finishing third in the NHL in total points.
In 1937, the 200-pound Clapper became a defenseman. Two years later, the Bruins won their second Stanley Cup. Clapper was named a first team all-star that year and the next two years. Then he suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon in 1942 and wasn't expected to play again, but he came back and was named to the all-star team once more in 1945.
Clapper became Boston's player-coach in 1945 and continued coaching through the 1948/49 season. When he retired as a player on February 12, 1947, a capacity crowd applauded as he received $7,500 worth of gifts. His uniform number, 5, was the first ever retired by the Bruins.
In 833 regular season games, he scored 228 goals and had 248 assists, with 13 goals and 19 assists in 89 playoff games.