Cal Nichols, who helped save the Edmonton Oilers from relocation during the 1990s, died on Sunday. He was 84.
Nichols was born in Paradise Hill, Saskatchewan, in 1942 and built a career in business from a young age before moving to Edmonton in 1969. There, he continued to make a name in the oil industry while also becoming a season ticket holder for the Oilers, something he remained for the rest of his days.
Nichols first helped the team he loved by co-chairing the Friends of the Oilers ticket drive in 1996, which more than doubled the team's season ticket base, before taking it a step further in 1997.
That year, Edmonton owner Peter Pocklington put the team up for sale, but Nichols assembled a group of 38 local investors and was able to purchase the Oilers for $110 million in 1998. Edmonton Investors Group went on to sell the Oilers to current owner Daryl Katz in 2008.
“If it wasn’t for Cal, the Oilers wouldn’t be in Edmonton,” Katz said when he assumed ownership of the team.
Outside of the Oilers, Nichols was inducted into the Alberta Business Hall of Fame and was awarded the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal from the Governor General of Canada in 2002. He was also awarded the Order of Canada in 2015, which recognizes a lifetime of outstanding achievement, dedication to the community and service to the nation.
“It is difficult to imagine that the Oilers would still be in Edmonton if not for Cal Nichols," Commissioner Gary Bettman said. "During the 1990s, Nichols stepped forward repeatedly to not only save the franchise from leaving the city that adores it, but to ensure its long-term stability and success.
“Cal truly was a self-made man who, from modest beginnings as a teenager, gradually built a successful business career -- turning his management of a single gas station into running his own oil company. An early Oilers season ticket holder, he co-chaired a ticket drive in 1996 that forestalled relocation. The following year, when the team was up for sale, he rallied dozens of local business leaders to purchase the club and keep it in Edmonton. And he served as the Oilers’ governor for a decade.
“On a personal note, Cal was a friend and trusted confidant on whom I could rely for wise counsel and for relentless effort on behalf of the franchise he loved.
“The National Hockey League family mourns his passing. We send our most sincere condolences to his wife, Edna; their children Ken and Kristine; their five grandchildren; and his many friends and admirers."
