Fred Shero

He is known as one of hockey's greatest coaches.

After nearly 15 as a successful minor league coach, Freddy "The Fog" Shero stood behind NHL benches for 10 years. His teams made the Stanley Cup Final four times, including three in a row. His Flyers won two of those Stanley Cups, in 1974 and 1975. He was revolutionary in that he was the first to hire assistant coaches, employ in-season off-ice training and among the first to adopt morning skates. Though his teams' trademarks were toughness and physicality, he was obsessed with study Soviet hockey and all their systems and tactics.

But did you know Fred Shero played in the National Hockey League, too?

Shero was a long time vagabond minor league player, like so many coaches seem to be. He broke up all that bus travel with 145 games with the New York Rangers in the last 2 1/2 seasons in the 1940s. The defenseman scored 6 goals and 20 points while picking up 137 PIMs in his short NHL career.

Shero disappeared from the NHL scene in 1950. He continued to play until 1958 when started coaching in the Saskatchewan junior leagues. His notoriety as coach slowly built, and by 1971 he was an over night sensation, back in the NHL coaching Bobby Clarke and Philadelphia's "Broad Street Bullies."