Jim Fullerton, tonight’s honored guest, became Brown University’s first full-time hockey coach in 1955 and guided the Bruins to an eminent position in Eastern intercollegiate hockey competition.

The high honors that Fullerton brought to himself and to Brown were many. His lifetime record is 176-168-9 and included eight straight winning seasons. The highlight came during the 1964-65 season when the Providence, Rhode Island school finished fourth in the NCAA tournament and captured the Ivy League championship.

Fullerton, always modest, said, “Give all the credit to the boys. They went out and did the job.”

That team’s 21-9 record is rivaled only by the 17-6 mark posted by the 1950-51 team as the school’s finest in history.

Fullerton tutored two All-Americans, Bob Gaudreau and Wayne Small, and a long line of All-Ivy and All-East selections. His teams were frequent entrants in the prestigious Eastern Collegiate Athletic conference tournaments and were usually perched high in the first division of the Ivy League.

Fullerton won the dark Hodder Award, presented annually to the New England College Coach of the Year four times. In 1965 he received the Spencer Penrose Coach of the Year Award from the American Hockey Coaches Association. In 1968 he received the Sheaffer Pen Award, given by the New England Hockey Writers Association.

He has served on Olympic ice hockey committees, was a hockey official for 20 years and was one of the driving forces behind the American Hockey Coaches Association. A native of Beverly, Mass., he was a football and hockey star at Norwich University in Vermont. An outstanding goalie, he turned down pro offers upon graduation in 1930 and instead launched his coaching career at his alma mater.

After one season at Norwich, he moved to the Northwood Prep School in Lake Placid, N.Y. where, in addition to his football, hockey and crew coaching duties, he taught three subjects and later served as athletic director and assistant headmaster.

During his 24 years at Northwood, Fullerton’s hockey teams won 86 percent of their games, had four undefeated seasons, captured the Northwood Prep Invitational Tournament seven out of 11 times and were the first squads to win the Lawrenceville Tournament two years in succession.

Fullerton helped develop such stars as Don Sennott, a big gun and the East’s leading scorer on the 1951 Brown team that finished second to Michigan’s national champions, Jackie Mulhem and Jim “Wah” Tiernan, Rod Dashnaw and Pete Tutless.

Fullerton was recognized by his fellow coaches as one of the finest in the business. They held him in high regard not only for his coaching ability but also for his sportsmanship.