Although he never played ice hockey, Norman de Mesquita has served the sport he loves in many different ways.
He was taken to see his first game at the age of 14, in October 1946 and, as he describes it, "...it was love at first sight". He became an instant fan of the sport and of Wembley Lions in particular.
In the late forties and early fifties, he held the franchise for sales of the weekly newspaper "Ice Hockey World" at the three large London arenas, Wembley, Harringay and Earls Court. It was at that time that he got to know many of the major figures in the sport, including the Chief Referee, Ernie Leacock, who was also the Assistant Secretary of the British Ice Hockey Association.
When, in 1954, Norman decided to try his hand at refereeing, it was to Ernie Leacock that he turned for guidance. Starting with junior games in January 1955, he soon worked his way up to senior level, finally hanging up his skates in November 1968 after officiating at what proved to be Lions' last ever game at Wembley.
In the sixties, Norman embarked on a broadcasting career which saw him contribute many reports on cricket, his other great sporting love, before becoming Sports Editor at BBC Radio London. Many fans still recall his Sunday morning sports phone-in, when, whatever the subject under discussion, he always managed to turn the conversation to ice hockey
Ice hockey was briefly revived at Wembley in 1973/74 when the London Lions, a Detroit Red Wings farm team, were in residence. Norman was the PA announcer at their games, as he was for many other major sporting events at the Empire Pool (later to be known as Wembley Arena).
When Heineken staged their first British Championship weekend at Wembley in 1984, Norman was, of course, the man at the microphone, as he was every year until the Heineken sponsorship ended in 1996. During that time, he became known to ice hockey fans up and down the country as "The Voice of Wembley".
When "Ice Hockey World" was revived as a glossy magazine in the 1980s, Norman was one of its regular contributors and, after that publication closed, he began his outspoken "From the Shoulder" column in "Ice Hockey News Review"
Meanwhile, he had taken over from Robert Pryce as ice hockey correspondent of The Times and had been elected Chairman of the British Ice Hockey Writers' Association, holding both positions for some fourteen years until a serious illness in 1999 curtailed his activities.
The lasting legacy of that illness is a speech impediment, which sadly means that his announcing days are but a distant memory. Nevertheless, Norman de Mesquita is still a high profile presence on the British ice hockey scene and he continues to cover the NHL on a weekly basis for "Ice Hockey News".
One other aspect of his involvement with ice hockey merits a mention. In 1979, he took a small group of fans to New York to watch a few NHL games. Since then, he has organised more than twenty trips for his "London Ice Hockey Nuts" taking in several North American cities. Others have since jumped on the band wagon, but Norman pioneered the notion of giving British fans their first glimpse of the "big boys" on the other side of the pond.
Nobody can claim to have done more to spread the ice hockey gospel in Britain over the past fifty years.
Norman died on 25 July 2013.
Compiled by Tony Allen March 2002
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