Odie Cleghorn
Canadian ice hockey player (1891–1956)
James Albert Ogilvie "Odie" Cleghorn (September 19, 1891 – July 13, 1956) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player, coach, linesman and referee. His brother Sprague Cleghorn also played professional ice hockey and the two played several seasons together.
Ice hockey career
Odie Cleghorn came up through the ranks of the Montreal Westmount of the intermediate section of the CAHL, where he played alongside his older brother Sprague and future Hockey Hall of Fame referee Cooper Smeaton. For the 1909–10 season the trio left for New York to play for the New York Wanderers of the American Amateur Hockey League, finishing second in the league standing behind the New York Athletic Club. Although the Brooklyn Daily Eagle praised Cleghorn after the season as "one of the best right wings that ever has played on a New York team", the newspaper also brought criticism over his rough play "that kept him with the timers for long sessions in every contest.
The next season, in 1910–11, Odie and Sprague left New York to play with the Renfrew Creamery Kings of the National Hockey Association.
Cleghorn played ten seasons in the National Hockey League for the Montreal Canadiens and Pittsburgh Pirates. On Jan. 14, 1922, Odie and his brother Sprague Cleghorn each scored 4 goals in a 10-6 victory for the Montreal Canadiens over the Hamilton Tigers. Cleghorn won a Stanley Cup in 1924 with Montreal.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Odie Cleghorn” is canadian ice hockey player (1891–1956). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Odie, Cleghorn and Canadian, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “canadian ice hockey player (1891–1956)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q742475. The first chronological checks are 1891, 1956, 1909 and 1910.
A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Odie Cleghorn”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Odie Cleghorn primary sources, Odie Cleghorn archive and Odie research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Odie Cleghorn”?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Odie Cleghorn” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.