Background
Allen, Keith was born on August 21, 1923 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.
professional sports team executive
Allen, Keith was born on August 21, 1923 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.
He was the executive vice president of the Philadelphia Flyers, a position he held from 1980 for the rest of his life. During the Second World War, he played on the Saskatoon Navy hockey team, and then played the 1945-1946 season in the Western Canada Senior Hockey League with the Saskatoon Elks. In 1946, Allen joined the Springfield Indians of the American Hockey League, for whom he played the next five seasons.
The Indians moved to Syracuse in 1951, becoming the Warriors, and he was a steady presence in the lineup for the next two and a half seasons.
In February 1954, Warriors owner Eddie Shore tried to assign Allen to the Springfield Indians of the Quebec Hockey League, but he (along with several other players) balked and he was suspended. He was sold to the Detroit Red Wings two weeks later.
Allen played another 18 games for the Red Wings in 1954-1955, which would be the end of his National Hockey League playing career. He spent most of the 1954-1955 season in the Western Hockey League with the Edmonton Flyers—Detroit"s farm team, whose roster included future Hockey Hall of Fame inductees Johnny Bucyk, Norm Ullman, Glenn Hall, First Rate (at Lloyd's) Arbour, and player-coach Bud Poile.
He then played one season with the Brandon Regals before being hired by the Seattle Americans as player-head coach in 1956.
He retired as a player in 1957 to become a full-time coach. From 1956 to 1965, Allen was a head coach in the Western Hockey League with the Seattle Americans/Seattle Totems, with only one losing season in eight years. With the National Hockey League expansion in 1967, Allen was hired as the first head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers, with his former coach and teammate Bud Poile as general manager.
In their inaugural season, the Flyers finished first in their division with the best record among the six new teams.
They fell to third place in their division in the 1968-1969 National Hockey League season, and Allen then became the Flyers" general manager. There, he would help construct the famed "Broad Street Bullies" that led the Flyers to consecutive Stanley Cups in 1974 and 1975, earning the nickname "Keith the Thief".
He would also help start the AHL"s Maine Mariners, one of the most successful franchises in that league"s history. Allen was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame as a Builder in 1992.
He was the executive vice president of the Flyers.
Keith Allen was married to Joyce Webster for 65 years. Due to developing dementia in his later years, Allen lived in the care of an assisted living community, along with wife Joyce, in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania. He died on Tuesday, February 4, 2014.
He was 90 years old.
Married Joyce Allen; children: Brad, Blake, Traci.