Golden Glove boxing will return to the Log Cabin next month.
He had a role with Springfield’s Calder Cup teams of 1975 and 1990. He worked with Springfield hockey players for 18 years, then took his talent to the National Hockey League with the New York Islanders.
That was Eddie Tyburski, an Agawam resident who was widely respected as an athletic trainer in the world of professional hockey.
He passed away Nov. 15, at the age of 58.
Tyburski began his training career with the Springfield Kings in the 1972-73 season, and worked here until 1990. Then he moved on to the NHL.
“I remember Eddie treating me when I was a player (in 1977-78),” said Bruce Landon, president/general manager of the American Hockey League’s Springfield Falcons. “When we had our night to remember Springfield Calder Cup teams last February, he was here to be part of it. We gave him a Calder Cup replica as part of the
ceremony.”
Tyburski worked with the Springfield Indians during Peter Cooney’s time as owner of a franchise that he eventually moved to Worcester (a decision which led Landon and Wayne LaChance to start the Falcons as an expansion team).
Since 1996, Cooney has been working as a sports agent, with 40 hockey players among his clients.
“With the Indians, I was fortunate to have Tybur, the best trainer in the business, and Ralphie Calvanese, the best skate-sharpener,” Cooney said. “Tybur had a wealth of knowledge about how to care for athletes and their injuries.”
GOLDEN GLOVERS: Saturday night’s boxing card at the Holyoke Boys & Girls Club will be a prelude to the return of the Golden Gloves Tournament to the Connecticut Valley.
For years, the Glovers drew capacity crowds to the Holyoke club, but the event was dropped in 2005.
It will be back Jan. 17, 24 and 31, with the Log Cabin in Holyoke as its venue. The restaurant has had success recently in presenting dinner-and-boxing shows.
Saturday’s program, dedicated to the memory of Holyoke Boys Club legend Nick Cosmos, will feature competitors from the Westover, Holyoke and University of Massachusetts boxing clubs, and Whitley Brothers Boxing and Fitness.
LIONS ON ICE: As a kid attending Saturday night games at the Eastern States Coliseum in the late 1940s, Yours Truly can remember seeing the Springfield Indians pummel a hapless foe, the Washington Lions.
Yes, Washington had an AHL franchise from 1940 to 1943, and again from 1947 to 1949.
For the first time since ‘49, the AHL returned to Washington Thursday night, when Hershey defeated Norfolk 2-1 before a crowd of 18,506 at Verizon Arena, home of the locked-out Washington Capitals.
The game, scheduled as an AHL showcase long before the NHL’s work stoppage, turned out to be the only hockey Washington fans have seen so far this season.
BEST BET for the weekend: Executiveprivilege, in the Hollywood Starlet Stakes.