Height: 6-3
Weight: 200
Shoot: L
Born: 7 Feb 1948, Montreal PQ
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Regular Season & Playoff Scoring Record (key)
| year | team | |||||||||||
| 1972-73 | Cleveland | |||||||||||
| 1973-74 | Cleveland | |||||||||||
| 1974-75 | Indianapolis | |||||||||||
| Totals: |
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Born Across From The Forum ... • by Rich Passan • The Hockey Spectator • March 2, 1973
You might have known Rich Pumple would be a productive hockey player. It was meant to be. After all, he was born directly across the street from the famed Montreal Forum. And his father, Jack, played with the famed Boston Bruins Kraut line on Air Force teams during World War II. It took the young man 24 years to do it however. But it's all been worth, it said the tall left winger for the Cleveland Crusaders. "It's always been my ambition to get into hockey," the articulate Pumple said. "But I had a so-so junior campaign. When I was 16, I was going well in Tier-2, then I went to the Junior Canadiens. After a year there, I knew I was a year too early." "Then I got hurt in my second year, so I looked for a scholarship," he continued. "I had finished high school and was biding my time taking some college courses. I applied at Loyola of Montreal. I wasn't rejected there, but I got a better offer from Providence College. I took it and glad I did." He earned his bachelor's degree in education, something he intends to apply when his playing days are concluded. Throughout his four years at Providence he was on Montreal's inactive amateur list. He was invited to the Canadiens' training camp when he graduated and wound up with the Habs' farm team and Muskegon of the International League last season. "There were a lot of college guys there and I ended up on an all college line with Lou Frigon from New Hampshire and Alex Campbell from St. Lawrence," Rich recalled. "We were all captains of our teams in our senior years and were going great guns until Louis broke his leg." Then Rich broke out in laughter. "The guy who broke his leg was Bill Needham," he chuckled. Needham is now Pumple's coach with the Crusaders, but was the player-coach of the Toledo Hornets at the time. Rich wound up in Cleveland only because of persistence and good old fashioned nerve. The Canadiens wanted to keep him on the inactive amateur list, but he held out for a professional contract. After all, he was 23 years old and going nowhere fast. "They said they would, but I wasn't going to sign it because Montreal has too many players," he said. "That was in February. At the end of the year, I was supposed to be a free agent but I found out I wasn't. So I went to Clarence Campbell's office in Montreal and talked to Don Ellis who heads Central Registry. He called Sam Pollock, Montreal General Manager, while I was sitting there and told him he had five days to make a decision on me. They never contacted me and I became a free agent." The wheels then began rolling and the breaks started coming Pumple's way. Chuck Catto, now the director of player personnel for the Crusaders, was the general manager at Columbus of the IHL last season and remembered Rich. "Chuck called me during that summer and told me he was working for the league to get players for Cleveland and Chicago," Rich reported. "It turned out to be Cleveland and I couldn't be happier." It wasn't that way at first. Rich got off to a rough start after having a fine training camp. "Maybe I was a little big-headed in getting here," he theorized. "I never thought of it that way. It was a big thing to sign a contract." Pumple stopped hustling the way he did at training camp. He soon found himself on the bench. But not for long. A few injuries later, Rich found himself back in the regular lineup and he's been there ever since because of something he learned while riding the pines. "You have to work," he said. "Whatever you put into something, you get something from it. If you don't you won't." Pumple's biggest drawback earlier was his lack of backchecking. He overcompensated by trying to be too offensive minded. Now he's learning to play with his linemates and his plus-minus figures have been on a steady rise since early January. The greatest adjustment Pumple had to make from the college ranks was checking in the offensive zone. "When I was playing, you couldn't do that," he said. "You had to play the puck. I still have the urge and find myself reaching for the puck. I've had to learn to keep my stick beside me and go in and take the man with my body. And Rich throws his 6-2, 195-pound frame around with authority — just ask opposing right wingers. |
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