ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, December 11, 1995 TAG: 9512110112
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: NEWS OBIT
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
COLIN KILBURN was a big part of hockey's glory days in the Roanoke Valley.
Colin Kilburn, one of the major figures in the early years of professional ice hockey in the Roanoke Valley, has died in his hometown of Edmonton, Alberta.
Kilburn, general manager of the Roanoke Valley Rebels team that captured the Southern Hockey League championship in 1974, suffered a fatal heart attack Thursday. He was 67.
``He was a fighter,'' said one-time Rebels owner Thomas Anderton, who hired Kilburn as coach in 1969. ``He put a lot into hockey and a lot into our hockey franchise.''
Kilburn, who succeeded Dave Lucas as coach, resigned in 1972 to become the team's first general manager and was instrumental in a move to the Roanoke Civic Center, where sellout crowds attended playoff games in the early 1970s.
The team was playing at the Salem Civic Center in 1970 when Kilburn, then 42, endeared himself to the local hockey populace by inserting himself for the Rebels' injured goaltender.
It was the first time since his teen-age years that Kilburn had played goalie, but he slipped the pads over his ample belly and enabled the Rebels to overcome a 3-0 deficit and win 6-4.
``It's probably one of my most vivid memories,'' Kilburn's younger daughter, Cindy Bowles, said Sunday. ``I can still see him sprawled on the ice. They called him `The Panda.'''
Changes in ownership and league affiliation contributed to instability in the Roanoke franchise, and Kilburn faded from the local hockey scene in the late 1970s. He managed the Tanglewood Cinema before leaving Roanoke in 1983.
Kilburn worked for several years in Spokane, Wash., before retiring to Edmonton, where he contributed to a book, ``Alberta on Ice.'' Most recently he had served as a counselor for the Salvation Army.
``I wrote [Roanoke Express] co-owner Pierre [Paiement] a letter last year and told him how Dad would be really proud of him,'' Bowles said. ``It's a shame he wasn't around to see what's happening here now.''
Kilburn was the general manager when Paiement came to Roanoke as a player in 1972-1973, and his recruits included Claude Piche and Wayne Mosdell, all-stars who still live in the valley.
Kilburn leaves his wife, Lois, and daughters, Lynne and Cindy, all of Roanoke; and a son, Barry of Spokane. The family asks that contributions be made to the Salvation Army or Roanoke youth hockey.
Kilburn's death comes only months after the death of Gene Hawthorne, who was the team's president as well as the league president when the Rebels won their championship in 1974.
LENGTH: Medium: 55 linesby CNB