John Cumming Carlyle was born in Falkirk on 31st July 1929 and learned to skate in the local rink during the war years. He graduated through the Lions reserve team, the Cubs, and made his senior debut aged seventeen.
After his National Service, he was instrumental in the Lions successes in three Scottish National League playoff series, before hockey ceased in Falkirk in 1955. In all, Johnnie Carlyle appeared in 297 games for the Lions, scoring 74 goals with 116 assists for 190 points and amassing 311 minutes in the penalty box.
The following season, 1955/56, he moved south to join the Harringay Racers, and the next year be became the only British player ever to be appointed as club captain. He was also voted onto the All Star B-team, a rare honour for a true British player in those days of Canadian domination.
1958 saw the Harringay club drop out of senior hockey, so Johnnie Carlyle returned to Scotland to ice for the Edinburgh Royals, but when they too ceased to operate in mid-season; he completed the campaign in the colours of the Nottingham Panthers. Another move followed as he spent the 59/60 season, the last of the British League playing on the south coast for the Brighton Tigers.
He took to coaching in 1960, with the Edinburgh Royals team who swept all before them both north and south of the border, but returned to playing in 61/62 as player/coach of the Brighton Tigers. After completing two highly successful seasons with the Tigers, once again Johnnie Carlyle was lured back to Scotland, this time to take up the reins in Murrayfield where he spent ten years with the club before finally retiring. An outstanding coach, between 1967-72, he was All Star A-team coach on four occasions.
Internationally, Johnnie Carlyle played nine times for Scotland and appeared for Great Britain in the world championship tournaments of 1950 and 1951. He was player/coach to the squad in 1961, which went undefeated in the Pool B tournament, but finished runners-up to Norway on goal difference and also coached the national team in 1971 and 1973.
When he started out, Johnnie Carlyle was a forward, but made his name as arguably the best British defencemen of his era and one of the best of all time. His rugged style made him very much a hockey player’s hockey player. As a coach, he knew exactly what he wanted from his players and the best way to get it. Although he worked his players hard, many of the most successful British players of the period attributed much of their success to his early guidance.
Compiled with research, provided by Martin C.Harris - April 1988.
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