BOWLING GREEN — Jack Vivian, Bowling Green State University's first hockey coach, has died. He was 79.
Vivian helped hockey become a varsity sport at Bowling Green in 1969 and became the program's first coach.
The native of Strathroy, Ont. was originally hired as a football graduate assistant coach, the club hockey team coach, and to lead the completion of BGSU's ice arena now known as the Slater Family Ice Arena.
After Bowling Green played two independent seasons without a conference, Vivian was a key figure in the creation of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, which joined Bowling Green with Lake Superior State, Ohio University, Ohio State, and St.