Tony Esposito honored with Board of Trustees Silver Medal from Michigan Tech

The late Tony Esposito forever took pride in having combined his goaltending with academics, earning a business degree at Michigan Technological University before setting off into his Hall of Fame-bound professional career.

On Friday night, before Michigan Tech’s home game at John J. MacInnes Student Ice Arena in Houghton, Michigan, the legend known as “Tony O” was honored with the institution’s Board of Trustees Silver Medal.

The prestigious award is presented to alumni whose personal and professional achievements are deemed to have set an outstanding example for Michigan Tech graduates.

Esposito’s wife, Marilyn, their two sons, Mark and Jason, granddaughters Lauren and Kamryn -- both scholarship-winning student-athletes -- and a number of friends were on hand for the ceremony, the award presented posthumously following the goalie’s death because of pancreatic cancer on Aug. 10, 2021, at age 78.

Tony Esposito of Michigan Tech with the 1965 MacNaughton Cup, awarded to the Western Collegiate Hockey Association champion; and in a portrait with the Chicago Black Hawks taken at Olympia Stadium in Detroit.

The Silver Medal was the latest decoration for Esposito, who was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1988, the year his No. 35 was retired by the Chicago Blackhawks, as well as the Michigan Athletics shrine in 1991 and the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 2024.

In 2017, Esposito was voted among the 100 Greatest NHL Players as part of the League’s Centennial celebration.

From 1968-84, he played 886 regular-season games -- 13 for the Montreal Canadiens, then 873 for the Blackhawks -- with a record of 423 wins, 306 losses and 152 ties, a 2.93 goals-against average, .906 save percentage and 76 shutouts.

In 99 Stanley Cup Playoff appearances, all with Chicago, he won 45 games with 53 losses, a 3.08 GAA, .903 save percentage and six shutouts.

Chicago Black Hawks’ Tony Esposito kicks away a shot during a 1970s game against the Canadiens at the Montreal Forum.

Developing and popularizing the butterfly style of goaltending that had been pioneered by Black Hawks’ predecessor Glenn Hall, Esposito would win the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s rookie of the year in 1968-69.

Three times he won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goalie based on goals-against (1970, 1972 and 1974) and had his name engraved on the Stanley Cup with the Canadiens in 1968, though he didn’t see any postseason action with Montreal.

Esposito also would also be a vital part of Team Canada in the historic 1972 Summit Series, winning two games, losing one and tying another in the eight-game tournament pitting an NHL all-star team against a select squad of Soviets.

The Michigan Technological University Silver Medal bestowed upon the late Tony Esposito during a Jan. 24, 2025 ceremony in Houghton, Michigan, the award accepted by his family.

Michigan Tech Trustee John Bacon lauds Esposito as one of the university’s most accomplished graduates while noting that their goaltending superstar stood out every bit as much for his attention to his studies.

“What impressed the committee was Tony’s dedication to his coursework and how he used what he learned at Tech throughout his career,” Bacon said.

“He chose to attend college when few top players did so. He never missed a class in his four years studying business at Tech. He put his degree to good use when he negotiated his own contracts, and later, after he was voted by his peers president of the NHL Players’ Association, when helping negotiate the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the players and the owners.”

Esposito’s studies would greatly benefit him as general manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins, then in various executive capacities with the expansion Tampa Bay Lightning.

Tony Esposito studies the action during a 1970s game, and in his home office in May 2018, displaying his game-worn chest protector.

“The Esposito family is truly honored that my father will be receiving the Board of Trustees Silver Medal,” Mark Esposito said before the Friday ceremony. “Michigan Tech was the beginning. It led to his career as a professional hockey player and his 30-plus years as an NHL executive.

“My father is a great example of a successful NCAA student-athlete, and his time at Tech gave him the education he needed to thrive both on and off the ice. He was very proud of earning his business degree and of being part of an NCAA national championship team. My family would like to thank Michigan Tech for taking a chance on a kid from ‘the Soo.’”

A star high school running back in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, the younger brother of fellow NHL legend Phil Esposito, Tony was offered a football scholarship by a Catholic university in the U.S. and a hockey scholarship by Michigan Tech. He chose the latter, believing that at 5-foot-11 and 185 pounds, he’d not survive U.S. college football.

Tony Esposito signs his 1969-70 O-Pee-Chee rookie card at Chicago’s United Center in December 2017.

He accepted Tech’s offer in September 1963, driving the 265 miles to Houghton, learning to his surprise upon arrival that his full scholarship depended on him making the team. Two impressive practices into his freshman season, coach John MacInnes told the 19-year-old that he’d earned the full ride, with expenses, room and board covered.

In four years at Michigan Tech, working toward his 1967 business degree, Esposito would be a first team All-American selection during all three of his varsity seasons, as a sophomore leading the Huskies to the 1965 NCAA championship.

It was during Esposito’s senior year that he married fellow Soo native Marilyn Mezzomo, whom he had dated in high school.

Montreal Canadiens’ Tony Esposito makes a save, the puck seen over the glove of defenseman Jacques Laperriere, with J.C. Tremblay (3) and Toronto’s Norm Ullman looking on during a 4-4 tie on Dec. 11, 1968 at Maple Leaf Gardens.

Signed by the Canadiens as a free agent in September 1967, Esposito broke into the NHL with Montreal in 1968-69, playing 13 games (5-4-4) with two shutouts and 2.75 goals against average.

With Gump Worsley, Rogie Vachon and Ernie Wakely in the system, Canadiens general manager Sam Pollock left Esposito unprotected for the intra-league draft and he was plucked by the Black Hawks.

Esposito played 63 of Chicago’s 76 games in 1969-70, going 38-17-8 with a 2.17 average to go with his 15 shutouts -- still the modern-day record for shutouts in a single season – while winning the Calder and the Vezina trophies.

Tony Esposito’s 1967 Michigan Tech diploma and a plaque honoring his 1991 induction into the Michigan Tech Sports Hall of Fame, both displayed in his home office.

Over the next 12 seasons, the workhorse played as many as 71 regular-season games and never fewer than 48.

Esposito never forgot that his professional career was built on the back of his June 1967 Michigan Technological University Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree, a diploma that he hung with pride in his home office.

On Friday, in spirit back at Tech, he was celebrated with his family and cheering fans in the arena where his career took flight more than six decades ago.

Top photo: Michigan Technological University board member John Bacon (far left) and university president Richard Koubek (far right) join a son, two granddaughters and the wife of the late Tony Esposito for a ceremonial face-off at John J. MacInnes Student Ice Arena in Houghton, Michigan on Jan. 25, 2025. From left: Mark Esposito, granddaughters Lauren and Kamryn, and Marilyn Esposito.