The AHL announced its Hall of Fame Class of 2011, and one of the four has heavy ties to New Haven: Maurice Podoloff. Podoloff’s family built the New Haven Arena and took teams into the AHL and EHL; Podoloff served as AHL president until 1952. In the meantime, he was the first president of the Basketball Association of America, which became the NBA after merging with the NBL. He attended Hillhouse High School and Yale, earning a law degree.
Among his honors, Podoloff is a member of the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, the Hillhouse Athletic Hall of Fame and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Other enshrinees are Mitch Lamoureux, Larry Wilson (Ron’s father), and Harry Pidhirny.