Houston Aeros (WHA)

The Houston Aeros were a professional ice hockey team in the World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1972 to 1978.

Franchise history

In early 1971, the city of Dayton, Ohio was granted a franchise of the fledging World Hockey Association. A syndicate of owners soon rose up to operate the would-be franchise: James Smith, a Dayton lawyer that would serve as team president, Chairman of the Board Paul Deneau, an architectural engineer, public relations director Sonny Tate, and secretary treasurer Jack Evans. Management hired Bill Dineen to be head coach around the same time. However, Dayton residents were indifferent to a WHA team, and there were doubts that a U.S. market with less than a million people and a stagnating economy would support a major league hockey franchise. More important, in the short term, Dayton did not have a suitable arena. The largest one in the city, the University of Dayton Arena, did not have an ice plant and the university balked at the cost of installing one. A push to have the city to construct an arena for the team quickly went nowhere. On March 22, 1972, the city Commission delayed on whether the Dayton team could use the in-construction Convention Center for a venue. At the time, the Dayton Gems of the International Hockey League had their own contract at Hara Arena (which had a capacity of just 5,000) Due to the problems with Dayton, the organization moved the team to Houston, which received WHA approval. On March 30, 1972, a news conference announced the granting of the team in Houston that would be named the Aeros (supposedly the Dayton team was to be named the Arrows, but they never had announced the name prior to the move); supposedly, Deneau came up with calling the team the "Aeros" when seeing an AeroMexico jet on a tarmac. The Aeros began play in the Sam Houston Coliseum, which had been used as an arena on and off since 1937 but was thought of as "primitive" in certain press outlets. On October 12, 1972, the Aeros played their first ever regular season game, doing so against the Chicago Cougars, which the Aeros won 3–2.

On June 5, 1973, Mark and Marty Howe were signed to four-year contracts. A few weeks later, Gordie Howe signed a deal to play with his sons. On the debut of the 1973–74 season, on October 13, 1973, the Howes became the first father/son combination to play together in professional hockey, doing so against the Los Angeles Sharks. Paul Deneau sold his majority interest of the team to Houston investor Irvin Kaplan (the then-owner of the Houston Rockets) midway through the 1973–74 season. In the fall of 1975, Kaplan unexpectedly went into bankruptcy trouble and had to sell both the Rockets and Aeros, with George Bolin buying the Aeros. In 1977, Bolin sold the team to Kenneth Schnitzer, the developer of Greenway Plaza.

In Houston, the Aeros became one of the most successful franchises in the WHA. They won four consecutive Western Division titles, from 1973–74 to 1976–77, and finished second in the Western Division in 1972–73 and third in the league in 1977–78. They won the AVCO World Trophy in 1974 over the Chicago Cougars and in 1975 over the Quebec Nordiques, winning both series in four-game sweeps.

Despite their success on the ice, the team never made a profit in six seasons of play. By late 1976, rumblings of the Howes leaving Houston were present in the press. In the offseason prior to the 1976–77 season, Gordie Howe resigned as team president and signed a one-year deal to play with his sons, who while under contract for the season, did not sign a contract beyond that. After the season ended, the Howes were traded to the New England Whalers. By early 1977, it was reported that the Aeros were facing a financial crisis that could have necessitated having deferred paychecks for players (who were making an average salary of $75,000 that paled to the WHA league average of $85,000). Fan attendance was at just over 9,500 in the 1975–76 season that saw them go down to barely over 8,000. In 1977, John Ziegler became president of the National Hockey League, the WHA's established rival, and soon began the first serious discussions of merger with the WHA. Having run out of options, Schnitzer folded the Aeros on July 9, 1978; the Aeros were thus the only WHA champion that did not join the NHL.

Mark Howe was the last active member of the Aeros, retiring as a member of the Detroit Red Wings, his father's old team, in 1995.

Franchise scoring leaders

These are the top-ten point-scorers in Houston Aeros history.

Legend: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

|+ style="background:#FFFFFF; border-top:#081073 5px solid; border-bottom:#31ADCE 5px solid;"|Points

! class=unsortable | Player

! class=unsortable | Pos

| style="text-align:left;"|Larry Lund || C || 459 || 149 || 277 || 426 || 0.92

| style="text-align:left;"|Gordie Howe || RW ||291||121||248|||369||1.26

| style="text-align:left;"|Poul Popiel || D||468||62||265||327||0.69

| style="text-align:left;"|Mark Howe|| LW ||279||136||170||306||1.09

| style="text-align:left;"|Frank Hughes || LW || 337||149||151||300 || 0.89

| style="text-align:left;"|Ted Taylor || LW ||420||123||164||287||0.68

| style="text-align:left;"|Gord Labossiere||C||300||102||162||264||0.88

| style="text-align:left;"|Terry Ruskowski || C||294||63||188||251||0.85

| style="text-align:left;"|André Hinse || LW ||240||100||144||244||1.01

| style="text-align:left;"|Rich Preston || RW ||308||105||120||225|| 0.73

Season-by-season record

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:95%"

! rowspan="2"|Season

! rowspan="2"|Team season

! rowspan="2"|Division

! colspan="8"|Regular season

! WHA Playoffs

! Finish !! GP !! W !! L !! T !! Pts !! GF !! GA !! Result

| 1972–73 || 1972–73 || Western || 2nd ||78 || 39 || 35 || 4 || 82 || 284 || 269 || Won quarterfinals vs. Los Angeles Sharks, 4–2 Lost semifinals vs. Winnipeg Jets, 0–4

| 1973–74 || 1973–74 || Western ||1st|| 78 || 48 || 25 || 5 || 101 || 318 || 219 || Won quarterfinals vs. Winnipeg Jets, 4–0 Won semifinals vs. Minnesota Fighting Saints, 4–2 Won Avco Cup Finals vs. Chicago Cougars, 4–0

| 1974–75 || 1974–75 || Western || 1st||78 || 53 || 25 || 0 || 106 || 369 || 247|| Won quarterfinals vs. Cleveland Crusaders, 4–1 Won semifinals vs. San Diego Mariners, 4–0 Avco Cup Finals vs. Quebec Nordiques, 4–0

| 1975–76 || 1975–76 || Western ||1st|| 80 || 53 || 27 || 0 || 106 || 341 || 263 || Won quarterfinals vs. San Diego Mariners, 4–2 Won semifinals vs. New England Whalers, 4–3 Lost Avco Cup Finals vs. Winnipeg Jets, 0–4

| 1976–77 || 1976–77 || Western ||1st|| 80 || 50 || 24 || 6 || 106 || 320 || 241 || Won quarterfinals vs. Edmonton Oilers, 4–1 Lost semifinals vs. Winnipeg Jets, 4–2

| 1977–78 || 1977–78 || WHA || 3rd|| 80 || 42 || 34 || 4 || 88 || 296 || 302 || Lost quarterfinals vs. Quebec Nordiques, 4–2

! colspan="4"|Totals !! 474 !! 285 !! 170 !! 19 !! 589 !! 1928 !! 1541 !!  

Awards and honors

Gary L. Davidson Award / Gordie Howe Trophy

Gordie Howe (1974)

Lou Kaplan Trophy

Mark Howe (1974)

Ben Hatskin Trophy

Don McLeod (1974)
Ron Grahame (1975)
Ron Grahame (1977)

Howard Baldwin Trophy

Bill Dineen (1977, 1978)

WHA Playoff MVP

Ron Grahame (1975)

WHA All-Star Team

1973–74: Gordie Howe (RW, 1st), Don McLeod (G, 1st), Mark Howe (LW, 2nd)
1974–75: Gordie Howe (RW, 1st), Ron Grahame (G, 1st), Poul Popiel (D, 2nd)
1975–76: Ron Grahame (G, 2nd)
1976–77: Mark Howe & Poul Popiel (D, 2nd)
1977–78: Ernie Wakely (G, 2nd)

Notes

References

External links

Aeros Index on Pro-Hockey-Reference
Aeros All-Time Records on Pro-Hockey-Reference