Louis John SECCO

A lifelong British Columbia resident, Louis Secco had a steady career as an ice hockey forward in the province through the midget, juvenile and junior levels prior to joining the Trail Smoke Eaters in their inaugural 1946 year. He had been invited to play professionally with the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League in 1945, but turned down the offer. He played with the Smoke Eaters for five consecutive seasons before being recruited to the Edmonton Mercurys as a representative of Canada at the 1952 Winter Olympics. At the tournament he played in eight games, scored two goals, and took home one of Canada's last Olympic ice hockey gold medals until 2002. Prior to his international journey that season he also played one game with the Kimberley Dynamiters. He returned to the Smoke Eaters for the 1952-1953 season, but then switched to the British Columbia Amateur Hockey Association's Trial-Intermediates for the next two years, although he did play in one more match with his former team during the second season. He suited up for sixteen games with the Rossland Warriors in 1956-1957, and then had five more games with the Smoke Eaters the following season before retiring from active play for good.

Outside of hockey Secco had been working at the Cominco Mine since April 1943. He retired 42 years later, as a supervisor of the Warfield Fertilizer Operations, in May 1985. As a member of his Olympic team he was inducted into the Alberta Sport Hall of Fame Museum in 1968 and his name is inscribed on the Trail Historical Society's Home of Champions Monument, along with teammate Gordie Robertson's. Unlike Robertson, however, he did not support Vancouver's winning bid for the 2010 Winter Olympics.