College hockey coaching icon Len Ceglarski has been named the 1996 recipient of the Legend of College Hockey Award. The honor is presented each spring to an individual who has made substantial contributions to col¬lege hockey.

A member of the United States Hockey Hall of Fame, Ceglarski retired in 1992 after 34 seasons of coaching college hockey. He went out as college hockey’s all-time winningest coach with a career record of 673-399-38.

The native of Walpole, Mass., attended Boston College where he played hockey and baseball for the Eagles. Ceglarski was awarded six athletic let¬ters at BC, and scored the tying goal during the team’s 1949 NCAA Championship win over Dartmouth. As a junior he was an All American and served as the Eagles’ captain as a senior before playing with the 1952 U.S. Olympic team, which won the silver medal in Oslo, Norway.

Ceglarski served a tour of duty with the U.S. Marine Corps, then returned to his native Massachusetts where he coached Walpole High School’s hockey team to the 1958 New England Scholastic Championship. His college hockey coaching career began in the fall of 1958 with Clarkson College in Potsdam, New York. Over the course of 14 seasons with the Golden Knights, Ceglarski’s teams went 254-97-10, and advanced to the NCAA title game three times. He was awarded his first Spencer Penrose Trophy, which annually goes to the national coach of the year, in 1966.

In 1972, Ceglarski returned to his alma mater, where he would coach the Eagles for 20 seasons. Over the course of his two decades behind the BC bench, Ceglarski’s Eagles sported a 419-242-27 mark, while winning two Beanpot titles, one ECAC title, six Hockey East regular season titles, two Hockey East tournament titles and advancing to the NCAA playoffs 10 times. He won the Spencer Penrose Trophy twice more at BC, in 1973 and 1985.

“There isn’t a guy in the world who cares more about his players than Coach Ceglarski,” said David Emma, who played for Ceglarski while winning the 1991 Hobey Baker Memorial Award. “If you ever need to get help, he’s always there for you. He taught me a lot about hockey and about being a great person. It’s a reflection on him because that’s the kind of person he is.”

Len and his wife Ursula live in Duxbury, Mass. They are the par¬ents of six sons and have 16 grandchildren.

Ceglarski becomes the 16th Legend of College Hockey hon¬ored by the Decathlon Club. Past recipients (in order of presentation) are Snooks Kelly (Boston College), Vic Heyliger (Michigan), John Mariucci (Minnesota), Murray Armstrong (Denver), Herb Gallagher (Northeastern), Amo Bessone (Michigan State), Murray Murdock (Yale), Fido Purpur (North Dakota), Jim Fullerton (Brown), Al Renfrew (North Dakota/Michigan), Jack Riley (Army), Connie Pleban (Minnesota-Duluth), Bill Cleary (Harvard), Jack Kelley (Boston University) and John Mayasich (Minnesota).