Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

Jimmy Skinner, 90, Coach of Red Wings, Dies

DETROIT, July 13 (AP) — Jimmy Skinner, who coached a Detroit Red Wings team starring the Hall of Famers Gordie Howe and Ted Lindsay to the Stanley Cup in 1955, died Wednesday. He was 90.

The team and his family announced the death but did not give a cause. Skinner had been in declining health, said Eddi Chittaro, chairman of the Windsor/Essex Sports Hall of Fame in Windsor, Ontario.

The group inducted Skinner in 2006, and he spoke briefly at the awards ceremony.

The Stanley Cup that Detroit won in Skinner’s first year as coach was the team’s seventh. The Red Wings were 123-78-46 under him.

Skinner was born on Jan. 12, 1917, in Selkirk, Manitoba.

After a minor league playing career, he coached the Windsor Spitfires. The Red Wings made him their coach for the 1954-55 season, after Tommy Ivan left to coach the Chicago Blackhawks. Skinner coached the team through 38 games of the 1957-58 season, when the Red Wings replaced him with Sid Abel.

Skinner then held a variety of management jobs with the club, including scouting and farm team development. He was general manager from 1980-82, when Mike Ilitch bought the team.

Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT