Dit Clapper - Retirement and Legacy

Retirement and Legacy

Hobbled by injuries and with his skills eroded, Clapper originally retired before the start of the 1946–47 season, but returned to play in November of 1946 to replace the injured Jack Crawford in the Bruins' lineup. He played only sporadically thereafter, and retired for good on February 12, 1947. Leading the Bruins to a 10-1 victory over the New York Rangers in his final game (in which Bill Cowley broke the league career scoring record, the Bruins further announced that day that his number #5 sweater would be retired, and the Hockey Hall of Fame immediately inducted him as an Honoured Member; he was the only active player ever to be inducted into the Hall, and at the time the only living Member inducted.

Of his prowess, Bruins goaltending legend Tiny Thompson said:

"Clapper diagnosed the plays like a great infielder in baseball," said . "He put himself where the puck had to come."

He coached the Bruins for two more seasons until, unhappy with the club's performance in the 1949 playoffs against Toronto and uneasy about coaching friends with whom he had played, he resigned. Save for a single season coaching the American Hockey League's Buffalo Bisons in 1960, in which the team recorded a 33-35-4 record and failed to make the playoffs, he did not again participate in professional hockey.

Clapper ran a plumbing firm and a sporting goods store in Peterborough in retirement, while serving as a director of the Peterborough Petes of the OHA. He briefly attempted a political career, standing as a Liberal candidate for the Peterborough West riding in the 1949 federal election, losing by less than 250 votes to incumbent Progressive Conservative Gordon Fraser.

Dit Clapper died of complications from a 1973 stroke, which had left him confined to a wheelchair, on January 21, 1978. He is buried in Trent Valley Cemetery, Hastings, Ontario.

In 1983, the Bruins signed former Montreal Canadiens star Guy Lapointe, Lapointe sought to wear his customary #5 jersey, which had been retired in Clapper's honor nearly forty years before. Team general manager Harry Sinden agreed to Lapointe's request, but under protests from Clapper's family, Bruins superstar Bobby Orr and the public, Lapointe was switched to #27 after a handful of games.

In August 2012, former NHL coach Scotty Bowman, who was a young Peterborough Petes coach when Clapper served on the club's board of directors, paid tribute to Clapper. The occasion was the unveiling by Dit's daughter, Marilyn Armstrong, of a new street sign named "Dit Clapper Drive" in Hastings, Ontario.