Born in England in 1877, Frank Calder emigrated to Canada rather than the U.S., the result of a coin toss. Arriving in Montreal he found work first as a teacher and later in journalism.

Active in sports as a youth, he gravitated to athletics once he was on this side of the Atlantic, involving himself in both rugby and hockey circles. The treasurer of the National Hockey Association when it dissolved, he was named president of the National Hockey League when it set up shop in 1917.

For the next quarter century, Frank Calder’s iron hand guided the NHL through some of the roughest years of its existence, riding herd on the fractious group of hustlers and promoters who represented the ownership side of things and severely disciplining players who ran afoul of established procedures.

In 1933, he asked for and was given permission to buy a trophy to be awarded to the NHL’s rookie of the year. Every year until his death in 1943, some youngster got to not only take home a piece of silverware, but keep it. The league picked up the tab for the present trophy, renamed the Calder Memorial and continued the practice of honoring the best first year performer in the NHL. The honoree has to return the trophy at the end of his reign, however.

Carl Voss, who took home the inaugural trophy, went on to serve as head of officiating for the league, often caught in the middle when disputes broke out between then-president Clarence Campbell and fiery referee, Red Storey.

Others made their lasting marks on the ice. Twenty-two of the first 50 recipients have been enshrined in the hockey Hall of Fame. Their names would be welcome additions to any team, anytime. They include Sweeney Schreiner, Syl Apps, Frank Brimsek, Edgar Laprade, Terry Sawchuk, Boom Bernie Geoffrion, Gump Worsley, Glenn Hall, Frank Mahovlich, Dave Keon, Jacques Laperriere, Bobby Orr, Tony Esposito, Gilbert Perreault, Ken Dryden, Denis Potvin, Brian Trottier, Mike Bossy, Raymond Bourque, Peter Stastny, Dale Hawerchuk, and Mario Lemieux. Add Howie Meeker to the mix if you consider his media mention as deserving of bona fide Hall of Fame status and the number swells to 23.

It’s no stretch to figure that several winners of the relatively recent past will get the nod in upcoming years. A five-year span in the early 1990s saw the names Belfour, Bure, Selanne, Brodeur and Forsberg added to the plaques on the wooden base under the silver cup.

While winning the Calder seems to indicate a stellar career will follow, a number of men who didn’t take the Rookie of the Year title still managed to give a good accounting of themselves over the years.

Milt Schmidt debuted in 1936-37 but the Calder went to Syl Apps. Gaye Stewart, who went on to a very successful career after his 1943 win, was somewhat overshadowed in the long run by a fellow named Maurice Richard, who also played his first full NHL schedule that year. Neither Gordie Howe nor Howie Meeker had exciting rookie seasons. The scrappy Maple Leaf forward recorded 27 goals and added 18 assists while the farm boy from Floral, Saskatchewan managed just seven goals and 22 points overall. Howe’s many other hockey honors more than made up for a lackluster first year.

Jean Beliveau was the most highly touted rookie in more than a generation when he finally signed with the Montreal Canadiens before the 1953-54 schedule got underway. Big, strong and stylish even then, he was the first unproven rookie to be given a multi-year contract at a salary of his own choosing, a four-year, six-figure deal, absolutely unprecedented in both respects.

He picked up 13 goals and added 21 helpers while being closely checked every step of the way by veterans whop could only dream of pulling down comparable money. New York’s, Camille Henry, feistier and flashier that the regal 22-year-old Habs center, scored 27 goals and finished the season with 39 points.

Bobby Hull broke in with the Blackhawks in 1958-59. The big blonde kid with the booming shot found the twine 13 times himself and showed a remarkable ability as a playmaker with 34 assists but lost the Rookie of the Year award to Montreal’s Ralph Backstrom, a speedy, somewhat undersized center who spent many years buried behind Beliveau and Henri Richard on the Habs depth chart while Hull became the Golden Jet.

Gus Bodnar arrived with a bang, scoring his first NHL goal 15 seconds into his big time career. He played on a pair of Stanley Cup teams with Toronto and was named to an All-Star team. Runner-up for the 1943 Calder, Bill Durnan’s name comes up a lot more often when talk turns to the immortals of the game.

Rangers forward Kilby MacDonald’s name hardly ever comes up anywhere at all but he won the 1940 Calder Trophy after a 15-goal, 28-point curtain riser and went on to play all of 151 NHL regular season games. Leafs’ defenseman Wally Stanowski came second in the balloting that year. His career lasted almost 500 games, all told, and included two Stanley Cup mentions.

Shining brightly in your initial season is not necessarily a sign that you’re going to stick around. This was especially true for Rangers prospects in the 1950s. Gump Worsley took rookie honors in 1953 and found himself in the minors the following year, backstopping the WHL’s Vancouver Canucks. Camille Henry went from the bright lights of Manhattan, where he won the Calder Memorial Trophy in 1954, to Quebec City, spending a big chunk of the next season with the AHL Aces.

It seems to help if a youngster is the first from his country to make the NHL. Sweeney Schreiner, who won in 1935, was the first Russian-born NHLer. The best newcomer of 1949, Pentti Lund was the first Finn.

In 1978-79, the writers who vote on the matter awarded the Calder Trophy to Minnesota’s Bobby Smith. Washington Capitals forward, Ryan Walter, finished second. In 1986, both got had their names engraved on Lord Stanley’s Cup as members of the Montreal Canadiens.

The NHL is not the only hockey loop to honor Frank Calder. The American Hockey League’s championship Trophy is the Calder Cup. Five men have won both the Calder Trophy and the Calder Cup. Two are mentioned in the text above.

Who are the other three? Call the Inside Hockey Radio Show at (866) 337-9663 at 3:30 PM ET on Saturday March 3, 2007 with the answer. The first caller with the correct answer wins a copy of Stephen Brunt's Searching for Bobby Orr.