Olympic Hockey Team Dinner

TRUDEAU

Ten miles west of Lake Placid is the Village of Saranac Lake, and, just to its north is the old Trudeau Sanatorium. The Sanatorium treated patients with Tuberculosis and other serious pulmonary diseases. In 1944 the drug streptomycin was found to not kill the Tubercle Bacillus, but interfere with its reproduction without killing the host. Thus, there was a cure for TB. Trudeau Sanatorium closed in 1954 and was purchased in 1957 by American Management Association (AMA).

AMA restored many of the buildings to create a management academy whereby registrants could live and attend classes and seminars. Seminars ranged from basic management to highly advanced. The point of arrival was Dodd Hall. Dodd had a large dining room to feed workers and registrants. It also hosted testimonial dinners and sports banquets for the local community. The cooking and reception staff, although small, was excellent.

Just after noon, on Sunday, February 24, 1980, the staff was called in to prepare a banquet. This infuriated many members of the staff. This was the last day of the XIII Olympic Winter Games for which they had waited six years. A figure skating exhibition and the closing ceremonies were to be that evening. On top of that, the USA Men's Hockey Team had just won the Gold Medal. It was terribly disappointing to miss all that because of a banquet for some visitors. The video recording era had not yet occurred. No wonder the staff was so resentful of their manager who had accepted work that day.

Nevertheless, there were wonderful people in Saranac Lake and the Adirondack North Country. The staff members were not members of a union but friends. Many had worked at Trudeau for years, some following the footsteps of relatives. They all dutifully arrived for work and began preparing the banquet. There was little small talk. Even through in great distress they prepared a good feast.

Finally, around 4 PM a bus arrived bearing the visitors or dignitaries, whomever they were. The first person out of the bus was Herb Brooks who came into Dodd to see that everything was prepared. Everything was fine and Herb gave a wave and into Dodd marched the USA Men's Hockey Team. They were still wearing the warmup suits they had when they received their Gold Medals. Intense anger and resentment in the staff turned to absolute joy. It was said that many of the staff wept. The staff then went out of their way to make it extra special for the visitors, who would forever be national heroes.

Members of Team USA would go their separate ways after the closing ceremony and wanted a nice, private, dinner to close out their time together. The staff understood why they were called in on that historic day. They also knew that the event had to be hush-hush, or the team would not have been able to fend off reporters or delirious fans.

After the last food was served, Herb Brooks called the staff into the dining room, thanked them, and introduced the players to them one-by-one. Team USA then departed for the closing ceremonies. Somewhere in Dodd a television was set up for the staff members, who lived far away, to stay and view the events.

Most of the staff have passed on. But for a couple of hours on February 24, 1980, they had their "Miracle in Dodd".

By James C. Hayes