John Hack was born, raised and spent his entire working life in Superior, and, by his own admission, came late to the party of ice hockey.  Though he comes from a basketball family, he was influenced into the Hockey Family by his brother, whose own son played amateur hockey in Spokane, Washington, and by friends in Superior, whose own children grew up in the Superior hockey tradition.  Like many volunteers, Hack’s real introduction to the sport came as a result of his son getting into the sport at a very young age.  However, from that point on, Hack turned a little volunteer work with the local hockey association, into a lifestyle.

 

Hack was first elected to the board of directors of the Superior Amateur Hockey Associaton, or SAHA, as it is known by its acronym, in 1982.  As one of those people who can never say no, he served in numerous capacities over the next 10 years and was eventually elected Vice-president of the association.  However, his most notable accomplishment was as one of the key members of the association who worked tirelessly toward the construction of a new arena in Superior.  The Superior Ice Arena opened in December 1989 and though Hack didn’t know it at the time, this facility would play a large part in his future.  In August 1996, the arena manager at the Superior Ice Arena left the position to return to coaching, and Hack, who was working on a Master’s Degree at UW-Superior was hired to fill the vacant slot.  Though he had no formal training in the position, Hack brought his considerable organizational skills to the table and proceeded to turn the Superior Ice Arena into one of the best-maintained facilities in the Midwest.  Though the challenges were many, the updates and upgrades that Hack spearheaded easily extended the life of the facility well beyond his departure to retirement in October 2014.  Retirement would be but from the arena, because he continues his ice hockey adventure with the Wisconsin Amateur Hockey Association and plans to for some time to come.

 

In 1988, Hack was elected a Regional Director for WAHA and would serve continuously in this capacity for the next 27 years.  In 1990, then WAHA president Bill Sparks appointed Hack the chairman of the WAHA Disciplinary Committee, a position he holds to this day.  Upon the untimely passing of Don Kohlman in 2008, Hack was elected Secretary of WAHA and he continues in that officer position.  In 1995, he was elected to the board of directors of the Wisconsin Hockey Hall of Fame, and now serves as the Vice-president and Secretary of the Hall.

 

An accomplishment of which Hack is most proud is to be one of the founding members of Wisconsin Selects, the first truly, summer AAA hockey program in Wisconsin.  Wisconsin Selects brought together, under one roof, most of the best youth hockey players in the State.  With the help of high school, Junior and college coaches like Steve Nelson, Dean Talafous, Joe Baldarotta, Dave Witting, Mike Cowan, Steve Kirley, Tom Kuklinski, Steve Freeman, Bob Ritzer and Jack Stoskopf, the Wisconsin Selects program helped these youth players not only take their game to the next level, but gave some of these Wisconsin kids their first real exposure to big-time hockey against teams from across the United States and Europe.  At the height of the program in the late 1990’s the list of players and coaches read like a Who’s Who of Wisconsin Hockey.  Many of these players would go on to stellar collegiate careers, and a few into the National Hockey League.

 

Hack retired from his position as the Arena Manager of the Superior Ice Arena in October 2014.  A graduate of UW-Superior, he is also a veteran of the United States Army and served a tour in Vietnam where he was awarded the Bronze Star for Meritorious Service.  He has three children, Christian (Susan), Waco, Texas, Jamie (Dan), London, England, and Lindsay (Matt), Superior, and seven grandchildren.