Biography

Call 1.800.966.1380 to contact Stan Mikita booking agent, publicist, manager, pr firm, representative and management company if you would like to hire Stan Mikita for a speaker appearance, autograph signing, endorsement deal, tradeshow, convention, VIP meet and greet, licensing deal, print advertising, social media marketing campaign, television commercial or corporate event. Here you can find Stan Mikita speaker & appearance fees, booking costs, availability and schedule information. Contact our booking agency for more details. Hockey pro, Stan Mikita, was born on May 20, 1940 in Sokolce, Slovakia. Stan Mikita is a former Canadian hockey player, generally regarded as the best center of the 1960s. In 1961 he won the Stanley Cup with the Chicago Black Hawks.

After three starring junior seasons with the St. Catharines Teepees of the Ontario Hockey Association, Mikita was promoted for good to the parent Chicago Black Hawks in 1959. In his second full year 1961, the Hawks won their third and most recent Stanley Cup, and the young center led the league in goals in the playoffs with six.

The following season was his breakout year as a star, and centring the famed "Scooter Line" (with right wing Ken Wharram and left wingers Ab McDonald and Doug Mohns), became the most-feared center of the Sixties, and with superstar teammate Bobby Hull, the Black Hawks had the most powerful offense of the decade, generally leading the league in goals scored. Combining skilled defense and a reputation as one of the game's best faceoff men with his innovative curved stick, Mikita led the league in scoring four times in the decade, tying Bobby Hull's single-season scoring mark in 1966–67 with 97 points (a mark broken two years later by former teammate Phil Esposito and currently held by Wayne Gretzky).

In his early years, he was among the most-penalized players in the league, but he then decided to play a cleaner game and went on to win the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy for sportsmanlike conduct twice. Mikita's drastic change in behavior came when he returned from a road trip one night. His wife told him that while their daughter was watching the Black Hawks' last road game on television, she turned and said, "Mommy, why does Daddy spend so much time sitting down?" The camera had just shown Mikita in the penalty box serving a penalty.

Stan Mikita finally retired during the 1980 season due to chronic back problems. Upon his retirement he had the second-highest career scoring point total of any NHL player, after Gordie Howe, and had played in the seventh most games of any player at the time. Mikita was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983 and into the Slovak Hockey Hall of Fame in 2002. He currently serves as an ambassador for the Blackhawks' organization.