RICHMOND, Va. -- Although the first Winter Olympics were held in 1924, the ice hockey silver medal that Herbert John Drury won in that tournament was his second Olympic silver in the sport. The first came four years earlier in Antwerp, Belgium, at the 1920 Summer Games, which marked the Olympic debut of hockey and included figure skating.
Drury, by then a longtime Pittsburgh hockey fixture after several season skating at Duquesne Gardens for the Pittsburgh Stars and Yellow Jackets, built upon an impressive 6-goal performance in 1920 in a big way in Chamonix, France, in 1924, scoring 22 goals in just five games. The reality of Drury’s feat benefits from just a bit of context, however, as his United States squad won all of their first four games by shutout, besting Belgium, France, Great Britain and Sweden by 19, 22,11 and 20 goals, respectively.
Still, in accounting for nearly a third of his team’s scoring in a short tournament, even against overmatched teams, he earned his place in Olympic lore.
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