Was NHL History Made in 1918?

Fred Saskamoose of Saskatchewan is officially recognized as the first aboriginal hockey player to suit up for an NHL team, after he took to the ice for 11 games in 1954. A recent television documentary named They Call me Chief  furthered this notion in it's recollection of his career and that of others who came after him. But there is a possibility that a Mohawk from Kahnawake, Quebec, named Paul Jacobs earned this distinction some 35 years earlier than Saskamoose.

Paul Jacobs, who is considered one of the NHL's true Mystery Men, is a player who has kept his secrets for over 85 years. With a penchant for the obscure, Jacobs has interested me since the first time I read about him. Very little was known about the player, and a handful of hockey's leading historians were able to provide me with a few details, which, once paired with a little determination, has permitted me to shed a little more light on this elusive figure.

In 1886, the Dominion Bridge Company set out to build a cantilevered bridge over the St. Lawrence for the Canadian Pacific Railroad. The bridge would be set partly on the reservation of the Kahnawake and Akwesasne Mohawks. In exchange, the Mohawks demanded jobs on the project. Dominion Bridge agreed—assuming that the Mohawks would unload box cars, and perform other menial tasks. Instead, the Indians climbed all over the bridge, "as agile as goats," asking if they could try riveting. As one company official later wrote, "It was quite impossible to keep them out." Indeed, "As the work progressed, it became apparent to all concerned that these Indians were very odd in that they did not have any fear of heights." *

It wasn't long before being a "Skywalker" for the bridge and sky scraper construction companies was the main career choice for young men from Kahnawake. If Jacobs followed this path as well, it might well explain why he moved about a lot, possibly following the work on the "High Steel". To this day, there are many steel workers and dozens of Jacobs families living in Kahnawake.

The 1916-17 season is the only one where hockey or Lacrosse statistics have yet to be uncovered for Jacobs. However, there was a major project underway in Toronto that year: The Bloor Street Viaduct, for which the construction contract had been awarded to none other that the Dominion Bridge Company. This may also explain why in the summer of 1918, the Leaside Braves (often called the Indians) Lacrosse Team in Toronto had a new player who was putting in a solid performance as a rough and agile goal scorer. Paul Jacobs tallied 6 goals in 5 games for the Indians, and often generated content for sports writers being described as "flashy" and "selfish".

Paul's membership to the Leaside Lacrosse team was considered by some to be the reason that he was referred to as "The Indian" in newspaper reports, and did not necessarily reflect the fact that he was native. However, my visit to Kahnawake in the summer of 2003 laid to rest any doubt. Thanks to the help offered by the staff at the Kahnawake Cultural Centre, I was able to locate the photographs used in this article of Paul as well as a book on the history of Kahnawake. In the book, there is a section on locals who excelled in sports which explicitly mentions Jacob's hockey and Lacrosse skills.

I also came across another "Skywalker" from Kahnawake in the same book named Joe Jocks, who allegedly played hockey for the New York Rovers while in the city working on the Empire State Building. Joe later moved to San Francisco to work on the Bay Bridge.

The Big Leagues
Paul's efforts on the field did not go unnoticed by the Ontario Lacrosse Association's president, Charlie Querrie. Charlie no doubt learned of Jacobs' previous hockey experience with teams in the Montreal City League as well as a stint with the New Haven Hockey Club of the USAHA. In the winter months, Querrie just happened to be the General Manager of the Toronto Arena NHL team, and he extended an invitation to Jacobs to attend training camp, which Jacobs accepted on December 10, 1918.

Reports in the Toronto Telegram and the The Globe said Jacobs "Shows Good Form" and "...combined nicely with Noble and Denneny for several clever goals." at training camp. On the day before the season opener for the Arena team against the Montreal Canadiens, the Toronto papers printed the proposed team roster, and Jacobs had earned himself a spot alongside many who would become legends. On December 23, 1918, the Arenas lost their season opener by a score of 4 to 3. However, newspaper reports and game summaries the following day did not show Jacobs in the lineup. In fact, The Globe had a tiny mention in the "Puckerings" section of the sports page which read as follows: "Paul Jacobs, the Leaside Indians defence player, who has been trying out with the Toronto Arenas, will not be available this season. He is leaving for Montreal to-night and will reside in that city in future".

So it would appear that Jacobs did not in fact play in an NHL game after all. Or did he? "The Blue and White Book" authored by Andrew Podnieks, which is a detailed account of the history of the Toronto Maple Leafs (which the Arenas would ultimately become), states that Jacobs actually played in five games for the Arenas that season throughout January and February. "Total Hockey 2", regarded as most as the hockey statistics bible, credits Jacobs with only the one game on December 23rd, 1918. No official league game reports are believed to exist for that season, and his inclusion was based on game summaries from newspapers. However, to date I have checked nine papers, both French and English from Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa. The only paper to include Jacobs in the lineup in the following day's game summary was the Ottawa Evening Journal. All other papers simply do not make any mention of Jacobs in the lineup, or his sudden exclusion for that matter. In an era before satellite connections and the Internet, the lineup was very likely wired to the paper in question a day or two before, and simply not corrected on the 24th.

Furthermore, it is hard to believe that Jacobs could have played five games for the Arenas that season as he was playing for the Montreal Stars of the MCHL at the same time. Although no games he is credited with having played in Toronto in "The Blue and White Book" actually fell on the same nights which he was known to have been in the Stars lineup, several were back-to-back. Could he have been boarding a train and going from city to city? Logistics and economics however, make this very unlikely. Also, none of the game summaries in newspapers for any of the games show Jacobs in the lineup.

Once again, Paul Jacobs disappeared from a lineup without explanation. For whatever reason, he did not finish the season with the Montreal Stars in early 1919. The following season he reappeared in the MCHL, this time with the Laval University team. In 1920-21, he apparently did not play, and after a brief 6 game stint in Quebec City, he emerged in Cleveland, Ohio in 1922 to play 16 games with the Indians of the USAHA. This was the most games he is known to have put in with a team in a single season. Could there have been a large bridge or high rise project there at the time? After one more season in Montreal, his last known season of hockey was again played in Cleveland in 1924-25 with the same team. That is the last trace of Paul Jacobs I am aware of. A trip through the Kahnawake Cemetery turned up many Jacobs', but none named Paul. I do not know either his dates of birth or death.

Still More Questions
So what became of Paul Jacobs? Did he actually make NHL history on the night of December 23rd, 1918, or does Fred Saskamoose deserve the distinction he has been credited with for almost 50 years?

But wait! It gets more complicated. Hockey historian Don Andrews uncovered a clip from the Sudbury Star newspaper dated May 22, 1923, with the following headline: "North Bay gets Maracle. Much sought after Haileybury indian hockey star locates in railway town". It goes on to read: "Albert Maracle star Indian centre of Haileybury High School team, left this weekend for North Bay, where he will play ball this summer and hockey this winter." Maracle would later make it to the NHL for 11 games with the Rangers in 1931. Seems more research is required...

These question will likely never be answered conclusively, but we do know that Paul Jacobs could have made history that night if he chose to or not.