Ted Nolan sits at a table, alone, in the large upstairs cafeteria at Niagara County Community College. Two groups of Native American high school students slowly file into the large room, most passing by Nolan who smiles at them.

 

The 50 students, who are from Niagara Wheatfield and Akron High Schools, are participating in a leadership workshop for Native Americans being hosted by NCCC. Nolan is the keynote speaker for the morning breakfast session.

 

Following a few short presentations, Nolan is finally introduced to the students. He gets his point across to his audience very quickly.

 

“Perseverance is the key to anyone’s success,” said Nolan, former National Hockey League head coach with the Buffalo Sabres and New York Islanders. “Never give up on your dreams, no matter how big or small they may be.

 

“I never gave up on my dreams of playing professional hockey in the NHL and then coming back as a coach in the NHL.”

 

The story of Nolan’s tenure as a Sabres head coach has been well documented. He returned as a head coach with the Islanders nearly a decade after leaving Buffalo. 

 

Following two seasons with the Islanders, Nolan was dismissed again. 

 

Today, a year after his release from the Isles, Nolan is back in hockey. No, not as a coach.

 

Nolan is Vice President of Hockey Operations for the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League.

 

“Being back in Western New York feels pretty good to me,” said Nolan, who played in parts of three seasons in the NHL with the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins. “It’s near where I got started with the Sabres.

 

“When I was let go by the Detroit Red Wings as a player, it was Rochester I came back to as a player. So Rochester has always been special to me.

 

“So it’s great to be back in Rochester again. But this time it is a bit more special.

 

“The Amerks are now the only Native American-owned team by one individual in North America. That means a lot to me.”

 

That person is Curt Styres, a Mohawk native, who purchased majority ownership of the Americans and Rochester Knighthawks of the National Lacrosse League.

 

“I’m working with a group of people who want to build the team back up again. They haven’t had a lot of success over the past couple of years.

 

“I worked a lot with the team during training camp. I helped in evaluating players. 

 

“But I’m also learning a lot about the front office as well. How a team is run from the top down.

 

“I’ve only seen it as a player and a coach. Now I’m taking a bit more of an active role in trying to improve the image of the Amerks in Rochester.”

 

Lewis Staats, President of the Amerks and a Mohawk from the Six Nations of the Grand River territory in Southern Ontario, sees the addition of Nolan a valuable one for the Amerks.

 

“I’m know that Ted knows hockey,” said Staats. “But I wasn’t quite sure how much he knew about the business side of the game.

 

“But one great thing about Ted is the fact that he likes to learn. And he has learned quickly. 

 

“He has asked a lot of questions. And he has shown a lot of interest.

 

“One interesting thing Ted did when he first came on board was to get a list of all of the season ticket holders who had not renewed their tickets for the upcoming season. He then went and called each one individually and talked to them. 

 

“He got some good results from that. I was very impressed.” 

 

With Nolan working with a hockey team in a capacity of something other than coach, is the Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada native looking at returning to the NHL in a front office capacity.

 

“I still think of myself as a coach,” answered Nolan, who still resides with his wife on the Garden River Ojibwa First Nation Reserve with his wife, Sandra. 

 

Does Nolan want to get back into coaching one more time?

 

“My wife recently asked me that same question,” replied Nolan. “I told her that I did.

 

“Then she said, ‘then start acting like a coach and go out there and pursue a job if you want one.

 

“Down deep I want to coach. But I’m not going to wear it on my sleeve anymore.

 

“But I don’t want to go through what I went through earlier in my stay with the Sabres where I was hurt and frustrated. And I don’t want to go through all the frustration I did in looking for another job that took me 10 years to get.

 

“If I’m offered a job, I won’t hesitate. I will jump at it.”

 

Nolan is also very active with his foundation, the Ted Nolan Foundation.

 

Back in 1981 Nolan’s mother was killed by a drunk driver. I wanted to do something in memory of her.

 

“Women are important in the Native American culture. When I got to the Sabres as a coach, I got invited to a golf tournament.

 

“I asked a lot of questions about the tournament. I then called a buddy of mine back home and told him of the idea I had.

 

“When I got back there, we put together a gold tournament to raise money that is used to give out scholarships with.

 

“The scholarships are given to First Nation women in Ontario. We named it the Rose Nolan Scholarship Fund.

 

“We now give out six to seven scholarships per year to First Nation Women in the amount of about $4000 each. It is designed to help them pursue some type of higher education.

 

“We are also working with some youth programs. We’ve teamed with the Tim Horton’s Children’s Foundation in Canada.

 

“We’re going to be taking groups of kids to camps over the next five years. The foundation is committed to the healing process to renew and revitalize the mind, body and spirit of our young people.

 

“We will explore to help us train a new cadre of Aboriginal leaders today, to take their rightful place in Canadian society tomorrow. We will help develop programs at the community level for First Nations youth in communities no matter how isolated or poverty stricken they may be.

 

“It’s just anther way of giving back. That’s what it’s all about.”

 

 

 

By Randy Schultz

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