Hockey player, golfer.
Born at Winnipeg on 11 March 1924 to Olena “Helen” Herchuk (1895-1982) and Franciszek “Frank” Ezinicki (1889-1967), as a child he would often take a bag of golf balls with him on his bike to a farmer’s field near his home, where he would practise his golf swing. He also showed a talent for hockey in childhood and launched into a professional career in the sport that began with the Winnipeg Rangers and quickly led to a position with the Oshawa Generals Memorial Cup championship team of 1944.
Being a particularly punishing body checker, he earned the nickname “Wild Bill” in the media and became the first-line right winger for the Toronto Maple Leafs. To his teammates he was “Ezzie.” During a game against the Montreal Canadiens, his fans cheered when, in a fight with the famous Maurice Richard, he rubbed Richard’s face in the ice. In 1951, he was involved in an altercation with Ted Lindsay that for decades later was still considered to be the most violent on-ice incident in the history of the NHL. Also known for enraging fans of opposing teams for his aggressive behaviour, he was more than once the target of angry women wielding large handbags and hat pins. Between 1947 and 1949, the Leafs won three consecutive Stanley Cup championships. He was elected to play in the NHL All-Star games of 1947 and 1948 and was later traded to the Boston Bruins, where he skated for two seasons before finishing his NHL career with the New York Rangers.
Upon retiring from hockey, he pursued the gentler game of golf and became one of the greatest players in New England PGA history. He was a long-time Head Golf Professional with several courses, most notably the International Golf Club at Bolton, Massachusetts, and won titles throughout the region, including 1956 and 1958 New England PGA Championships. His finest year professionally in 1960 earned tournament victories at the Massachusetts Open, Rhode Island Open, New Hampshire Open and Maine Open. Following time on the PGA Winter Tour, he became a contender on the New England PGA Senior circuit, winning NEPGA Senior Championships in 1981, 1984, and 1987.
His accomplished career as a dual sport professional athlete has been acknowledged with inductions as Honoured Member of the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame (1986), Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame (2004), Toronto Maple Leafs Hall of Fame, New England PGA Hall of Fame, and Massachusetts Golf Association Hall of Fame. He received the distinguished Skip Wogan Award for Player of the Year from the New England PGA three times, in 1958, 1960, and 1964.
In 1951, he married Jane McPherson (1927-2003) and they went on to have three children. He died at Gloucestershire, Massachusetts on 11 October 2012.
Birth registration [Bill Ezinicki], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 22 October 2012.
“Wild Bill Ezinicki: From the Ice to the Greens,” Ted Talks Hockey.
“William (Bill) Ezinicki,” Harrison-Shuturma Family Tree, Ancestry.
This page was prepared by Lois Braun.
Page revised: 6 March 2026
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