William O. DeWitt Jr.

George E. Heekin

Director of Player Personnel

Julie Lautz

Louise Feller

Kathy Borders

Lila Craig

Arlene Jones

William O. DeWitt Jr.

George E. Heekin

Industrious Brian Heekin is the President of Cincinnati's 20 million Riverfront Coliseum. At thirty-three years old, Heekin is on of the youngest Presidents involved in Major League sports.

In the last five years Heekin, along with Stingers Vice President Bill DeWitt Jr have spent long, intense hours that are required to engineer the joint projects of running both the Coliseum and the Stingers.

Heekin comes from a family that has been very prominent in Cincinnati for the last four generations. In the last two generations the name Heekin in Cincinnati has been associated with Heekin Can Company, which in based here in Cincinnati.

Controlling the day to day operations of one of the most beautiful buildings in North America in one thing, but Brian has also managed to keep his association with Kyte, Conlan, Wuslin and Vogeler, the law firm that he was a partner in prior to heading the Coliseum. Heekin had obtained his law degree from the University of Cincinnati after having completed his undergraduate work at Georgetown University.

As one of the youngest Executives in Major League hockey, Executive Vice President and League Trustee Bill DeWitt Jr heads all Stingers operations.

It is easy to see the type of respect that the other league trustees have for Bill's judgement concerning league matters as he serves on the four man Executive Committee of the World Hockey Association. He also was honored as Executive of the Year by the International tabloid, the Hockey News, recognized throughout North America as hockey's most informative publication.

During the past summer DeWitt coordinated all player transactions in a cool and calculated way that has become his trademark throughout the entire WHA. His successful negotiations have resulted in a Stinger team that this season will have an average age of under 23 certainly the youngest professional team in hockey today.

Although DeWitt is now strictly involved in hockey, his sports background stems from baseball. His father Bill DeWitt Sr has been a very prominent name in baseball for over thirty years, and even today he is the Chairman of the Board for the Chicago White Sox, coupled with serving in the same capacity here in Cincinnati with the Stingers.

DeWitt Jr's schooling included an under graduate degree from Yale and a Masters degree from Harvard in Business Administration.

Head coach Terry Slater will be calling the shots behind the bench for the second year of Stingers hockey, although he has been with the Cincinnati team for over three years now. Upon taking the job of Head Coach for the Stingers, he traveled extensively for a year and a half scouting top ranked juniors (along with Stingers Director of Player Personnel Jerry Rafter) and professional players that hopefully would be lured to play in the Queen City.

Considered by many to be one of the most emotional men in all Major League Sports, Slaters personality is such that he is able to get the maximum effort out of each player on his squad, simply by treating each one as an individual.

As an expansion team last year, Slater guided the Stingers to 35 victories, second highest in Major League hockey for a first year club. With the newly acquired talent that Terry will have on the ice this year, the prospects look good for a first place contender, and fans in Cincinnati can rest assured that the second year Stingers will give their maximum efforts in support of a Coach that they highly respect.

Jerry Rafter is the Director of Player Personnel for the Cincinnati Stingers, having been with the club since 1973. Rafter is responsible for scouting and recommending top notch players that will wear Cincinnati colors in future years.

Shortly after Jerry joined the club, top juniors such as Jacques Locas, Dennis Sobchuk, John Hughes and Pierre Guite inked ling term contracts with Cincinnati, thus providing the needed nucleus for a championship contender in the years to come. Since 1973, that nucleus of four of five players has now developed into nine of ten (players such as Claude Larose, Rick Dudley, Peter Marsh, Ron Plumb and Dave Inkpen) and considered that all of these players have an average age of 23 (Dudley is the eldest at 27) it is definitely a team that will be reckoned with.

Throughout the entire league it has been said that many times that this expansion team has gone about building in their proper way; that Cincinnati has secured top flight juniors (such as the ones mentioned above) and that the Stingers are showing patience while the kids develop. In short, these players have come along much quicker than expected, and this simply points out that the thought process behind producing a winning team was right on the money. By no means is this a one man job, but when handing out the credits, a large chunk should be directed to Jerry Rafter.

Head scout Flo Potvin began his professional scouting career after a knee injury sidelined him from what was considered to be a promising playing career.

In the last year and a half, Flo has been virtually all over the United States and Canada scouting graduating juniors who will be eligible for the amateur draft that June. In the two drafts that the Stingers have been in since Flo has joined them, Cincinnati has come away with left winger Claude Larose, goaltender Norm Lapointe, right winger Peter March, center Greg Carroll and defenseman Barry Melrose. Larose has already established himself in the WHA with 28 goals his rookie season as well as being named to the All-Star team. Marsh, Carrol and Melrose were chosen this past June, and reports from scouts with other pro teams indicate that the Stingers have managed to come away with three of the finest juniors in the country.

Potvin also has scouted the pro ranks, including the National Hockey League and again the bottom line spells success. Example of this, would be the signing of former Toronto Maple Leaf Blaine Stoughton, along with Los Angeles Kings property Dennis Abgrall.

Flo Potvin's eagle eye will once more be looking at amateurs and professionals throughout North America to wear the Stingers colors next season.

The Publicity Director for the Stingers is 28 year old John Hewig, a native of Battlecreek Michigan. He joined the hockey club last year and a half ago in the area of publicity and promotion, and in late May, he was named to his current position.

Although John is a native of Michigan, he has spent the last twenty years in Canada, completing his education at the University of Western Ontario, graduating with a degree in Economics and then moving on to post graduate work in Psychology.

In coming to Cincinnati, Hewig brings with him approximately 18 years of amateur and junior playing experience in hockey, football and baseball. Prior to joining the Stingers, John served as the Public Relations Assistant for the Vancouver Blazers also of the WHA.

OTHER

The voice of the Stingers is twenty seven year old Andy MacWilliams who, in just his second year of Major League hockey, has already established himself as one of the very best play by play annoucers in the game. All Stingers games home and away are broadcasted live on the 50,000 watt clear channel station of WLWR Radio (700 on your AM dial).

Prior to coming to the Stingers and WLW, Andy had handled the Broadcasts and Public Relations work for the Syracuse Easgles and the Jacksonville Barons of the AHL, plus the Syracuse Blazers of the EHL.

MacWilliams also doubles as the Sports Director for WLW Radio, doing numerous broadcasts Monday through Friday, both in the early morning hours and later in the afternoon. He has served as the Bengals spotter during their broadcasts, plus he conducts a half hour Reds show on the radio every Saturday afternoon, while they are in season. On top of all this, Andy has narrated the Stingers Informative "Hi_Lite" film, which is sponsered by Southern Ohio Bank.

Head Trainer Don Niederkorn comes to the Stingers this year with a wealth of experience. He has served as Trainer and Equipment Manager for the United States National Hockey Team in '66-67 and also '70-71, he held the same position with the US Olympic Team in 1968, and prior to joining the Minnesota Fighting Saints for the 1972 season, he also was with the Rochester Mustangs in the United States Hockey League.

With the Fighting Saints, 'Neider assisted on all injuries and the rehabilitation of injured players. He also made sure that all equipment had been purchased prior to the upcoming year, and he maintained tight control over inventory. Don also oversaw the transportation of all equipment from one city to another during the season, a fact that is often overlooked but  perhaps one of the most important jobs ion any sport.

The Assistant Trainer for Cincinnati this year is twenty six year old Tim Ringler, who served in the same capacity with the San Diego Mariners last season. Born in Detroit, Tim attended Eastern Michigan University prior to serving two years in the US Marine Corps.

Tim first became interested in hockey and working in his current capacity approximately ten years ago. That's when his mother began working as Gordie Howe's private secretary. It was then that Tim met 'Lefty' Wilson, Head Trainer for the Detroit Red Wings, and immediately Lefty began teaching Ringler some of the 'tricks of the trade'.

Covering Stingers games on TV this season will be veteran Sports Director of WLWT-TV Phil Samp.Phil began his career in communications in Beloit, Wisconsin in 1954 at radio station WGEZ. After serving there for two years Samp moved to Lincoln, Nebraska to work at radio stations KLIN and KFOR for another two years before moving on to Peoria Illinois with WNBD, where he worked on both radio and TV. In 1960, Samp then joined WLWC-TV in Columbus prior to accepting his current job as Sports Director at WLWT-TV here in Cincinnati.

Phil is also a very familiar figure with Cincinnati Bengal followers, having broadcast their games over WLW Radio since their birth nine years ago. He has also done numerous Sports Specials on WLWT throughout the years that he has been here in the Queen City. The Stingers and WLWT-TV will be broadcasting TV games from Indianapolis, New England, Houston and Minnesota. Along with Phil on the broadcasts will be Stinger Director of Player Personal, Jerry Rafter providing his expert color analysis.