Gerry Kilmartin won the silver medal at the 1952 Olympic Games as a United States Hockey team member. In addition to playing at the 1952 Olympics, he was on the U.S. National team, which competed at the 1947 and 1949 World Championships. He was born in Providence, Rhode Island, on July 7, 1926. He grew up on 7th Street, in the shadows of Miriam Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island, just four blocks from the Rhode Island Auditorium. Gerry, like countless boys and young men who lived in that area, volunteered to help clean the ice or sweep the stands of popcorn, torn tickets and cigarette butts after events – all for the precious payment of free ice time. Many of these “rink rats” would become not only RI’s mid-century high school hockey stars but also standouts in college, on amateur teams, and on the world stage – and, in some cases, in more ways than one.
An avid RI Reds follower and Auditorium “rink rat,” Gerry would remark how coincidental and convenient it was to live so close to the places where he was born, got repeatedly injured, and then so quickly treated. He starred in the informal local youth leagues surrounding the Auditorium neighborhood. He went to La Salle Academy because his family felt he needed the structure and discipline a parochial school could provide. While at LaSalle, he was named to the All-State Hockey Team on two occasions. He was also a Golden Gloves boxer.
Gerry skated with several amateur clubs in the Boston and Providence area, including the Boston Olympics. Gerry never played professionally, although newspaper accounts reported that he turned down an offer from Lou Pieri to skate for the RI Reds. He played several seasons with the RI Scarlets, with Gerry contributing to the US Senior Amateur Championship in 1948, the first of RI’s many national amateur titles. He then set his sights on a higher level of play – the US National Team. He would more than make the grade.
Over six years, Gerry would compete with the US National Team four times and star for Team USA at the 1946-47 IIHF World & European Championships in Prague, Czechoslovakia, and the 1948-49 IIHF World & European Championships in Sweden. Always a prolific scorer, he tallied a remarkable 75 points on 33 goals and 42 assists in 46 games as the USA National Team prepared for the 1949 Worlds. He would go on to score six goals and three assists in Stockholm as the USA captured the bronze medal. His teammates chose the feisty winger as their flag bearer, as he was in the 1947 World’s. Not a surprise because “Killy,” as he was known, was more than an offensive force. He was the nails of his USA teams. Never one to back down or get pushed around, he always seemed the first to come to a teammate’s defense or drop his gloves if the occasion warranted.
Interestingly, Gerry entered a monastery in upstate New York after his playing days and, perhaps, influenced by his Catholic education and a need to decompress. His family recalls with some amusement that his “retreat” lasted only a few weeks, just long enough for him to fully realize that there was “no one there to do his laundry or iron his shirts.”
Gerry was assaulted at a marina in Newport, apparently because a firecracker he threw landed close to the attacker’s daughter. Two days later, on June 17, 1970, Gerry died of injuries sustained in the attack. He was 43 years of age.
Gerry Kilmartin was inducted into The Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 1968.
For additional reading:
“Gerry Kilmartin,” Look Magazine, December 2015.
“U.S. Hockey team captures the Silver Medal,” New York Times, February 25, 1952.
“Former hocket star dies of injuries,” Providence Journal, June 18, 1970.