Edmonton Oilers Legacy

Bill Hunter, who passed away at the age of 82 on December 16, 2002, was more than the founder of the Edmonton Oilers. He was also an architect of the World Hockey Association (WHA), which began play in 1972.

Gary Davidson and Dennis Murphy were the founding fathers of the WHA. But the two Californians that had given birth to the American Basketball Association needed someone with hockey savvy. Hunter, also known as "Wild Bill," was their man.

William Dickenson Hunter was born in Saskatoon, Sastachewan, and, as many young Canadian boys of his generation, got his start in hockey at a very early age. However, Hunter's aspirations were more than simply playing the game. He started his first team while still in high school and even organized, funded and drafted a junior football team that evolved into today's Saskatoon Hilltops.

Bill Hunter spent the Second World War in England where he flew Beauforts, Spitfires and Hurricanes for the Royal Air Force's International Squadron. Following his return from the war, it didn’t take Bill long to find his way back into the local hockey arena’s, where he would spend the majority of the rest of his life. From the late 1940s to the 1980s, Hunter would own, manage or coach minor-league teams in Saskatoon, Regina, Medicine Hat, Moose Jaw, Yorkton and Edmonton.

In 1966, his love and commitment to the game led him, and a group of western hockey owners, to form what is known now as the Western Hockey League and, in the process, change forever the way the game was structured. During the early years, it was known in hockey circles as the “Outlaw League,” but eventually grew to become one of the largest junior leagues in the world.

The WHA would change pro hockey forever. It broke the National Hockey League’s reserve clause, which bound players to their team and destroyed their bargaining power. The new league gave hockey its first million-dollar contract when Bobby Hull signed with the Winnipeg Jets, and also brought hockey to new markets.

The Oilers were first known as "Billy’s Boys," as Hunter made a conscience effort to recruit local talent.

"Where other WHA teams attempted to secure fan bases by luring marquee talents from the NHL, Hunter adopted a less expensive strategy: key in on Alberta-born players, or players who had played their junior hockey in the province, to give the fans familiar faces," wrote Douglas Hunter in The Glory Barons.

Hunter decided to call the team the Alberta Oilers, intending to split home games between Calgary and Edmonton. However, the Calgary connection did not work out and the Oilers played all their home games in the provincial capital. The team officially became the Edmonton Oilers before its second season.