The Cleveland Barons existed in the
American Hockey League from 1936-37 to 1973-74. The Les Cunningham
Award was established for the 1947-48 AHL season to honour the
league’s most valuable player. In the lifetime of the Cleveland,
Ohio franchise, four different players from the Barons won the
Les Cunningham Award.
Les Douglas
Les
Douglas won the Cunningham Award in 1949-50. With 32 goals and
68 assists for 100 points in 67 games, Douglas was also the recipient
of the John
B. Sollenberger Trophy as the player in the AHL with the highest
point total during the regular season.
Douglas played in the American Hockey
League from 1939-40 to 1950-51 with the Indianapolis Capitals,
Buffalo Bisons and Cleveland. Between 1940-41 and 1946-47, Les played
sporadically with the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey
League, appearing in a total of 52 games.
Eddie Olson
Eddie
Olson was the next Cleveland player to be honoured with the
Les Cunningham Award. Olson took the prize in 1952-53 and, like Les
Douglas, also won the Sollenberger Trophy. In 61 games, he scored 32
and added 54 assists for 86 points to lead the league. The Barons
were Calder Cup champions that season.
Olson played in the AHL from 1946-47 to
1954-55 with the St. Louis Flyers and the Barons. Eddie never
appeared in a National Hockey League game.
Johnny Bower
Johnny
Bower is one of just two players to win the Les Cunningham
Award three times. Just one of the three came as a member of the
Cleveland Barons with the other two being awarded while he was with
the Reds in Providence, Rhode Island. Bower won the Cunningham with Cleveland in
1957-58. He played in 64 of the team’s 68 regular season games,
posting two shutouts and a 2.19 goals against average.
Bower had played his last game in the
AHL with the Barons at the end of that season. The following year, he
became a regular goaltender with the NHL’s Toronto
Maple Leafs, a job he would retain until retiring from the game
during the 1969-70 season. Johnny was a charter member of the AHL
Hall of Fame and is also enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Fred Glover
Besides Bower, Fred
Glover is the only other player to win the Les Cunningham
Award three times. All of Glover’s victories came while playing for
the Cleveland Barons. Fred won the award in 1959-60, 1961-62 and
1963-64. In 1959-60, Glover also won the second of his two John B.
Sollenberger Trophies.
Fred played 1,201 regular season AHL
games between 1948-49 and 1967-68 while only playing with the
Indianapolis Capitals and the Barons. His career totals include 520
goals, 1,334 points and 2,402 minutes in penalties. Glover also
appeared in 92 NHL games between 1949-50 and 1952-53 with the Detroit
Red Wings and Chicago Black Hawks. Like Bower, Fred is a charter
member of the AHL Hall of Fame.
