Jack Kirrane John Joseph " Jack " Kirrane , Jr . ( ; born August 20 , 1928 ) is an American former ice hockey defenceman . Kirrane was a member of the United States 1948 Winter Olympics and 1960 Winter Olympics teams , winning the gold medal in 1960 . He was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 1987 . Kirrane went on to serve 38 years with the Brookline , Massachusetts Fire Department and also spent 15 years as the rink manager of the Bright Hockey Center at Harvard University . Playing career . Kirrane began playing hockey as a child on a neighbor ' s pond with his brothers . In high school he participated in baseball , track and field , American football and ice hockey . In 1948 Kirrane became the youngest member of the United States Olympic ice hockey team . When the team headed to St . Moritz , Switzerland to take part in the Olympic Games , there was a conflict over what truly constituted an amateur athlete and two United States teams were sent . It was a situation that nearly caused the cancellation of the entire ice hockey tournament . Eventually a compromise was made . Kirrane ' s team was allowed to play , but were disqualified from medal contention . In the end the disqualification was unnecessary as the United States finished the tournament in fourth place . Following the Olympics Kirrane continued to play amateur hockey for the Boston Olympics in the Eastern Amateur Hockey League ( EAHL ) , a farm team of the National Hockey League ' s Boston Bruins . He lost out on a chance at an NHL career when he was drafted into the United States Army to serve in the Korean War . When he returned home from the Army , he became a firefighter in his home town of Brookline , Massachusetts . He played one more season in the EAHL this time with the Worcester Warriors . In 1957 , two years after his last season in the EAHL , Kirrane again played for the US national team and led his senior team to the Amateur Hockey Association of the United States National Senior Championship . Leading up to the 1960 Winter Olympics Kirrane had an opportunity to play for Team USA once more . In order to play for the team he had to take an unpaid leave from the fire department . He also needed to sell his pickup truck in order to afford a plane ticket , as at the time players who tried out for the national teams paid their own way . The 1960 team was hastily put together and a few days before the tournament was set to begin head coach Jack Riley planned to add brothers Bill and Bob Cleary . Their late addition caused players to threaten a boycott . However , Kirrane opposed the idea , and stated that he was going to play even if it meant going on the ice alone , after which the talk of a boycott ended . Twelve years after being the youngest player on his first Olympic team Kirrane , the oldest player in 1960 , was named team captain . Team USA entered the tournament as underdogs . They had a " terrific " start to the Olympics but in the championship round had to face Canada and the Soviet Union back to back . The Canadians had dominated the Americans registering a 15 – 2 – 2 record in World Championship and Olympic play between 1920 and 1959 . However , the United States upset Canada 2 – 1 . Team USA next played the Soviet Union . Similar to the Canadians the Soviets held a 5 – 0 record against the US leading up to the tournament , outscoring the Americans 21 – 5 in those games . Team USA pulled off its second straight upset defeating the Soviets 3 – 2 . In their final game the Americans faced Czechoslovakia . A win would give the US the gold , but a loss meant that they would receive silver with the Canadians taking the gold medal . After two periods of play , Team USA trailed 4 – 3 . They rallied with six third period goals to win the game 9 – 4 , earning the United States its first Olympic gold medal in ice hockey . After the medal presentation Kirrane received a congratulatory telegram from fellow Brookline native John F . Kennedy , then a US Senator . When he returned home Kirrane was taken from the airport on top of a firetruck , and a banquet was held in his honor at the Brookline High gym . Kirrane made one more foyer into competitive hockey playing with the US national team in 1963 . Team USA struggled at the World Championships losing all but two games , defeating West Germany 8 – 4 and tying East Germany 3 – 3 . The United States three points tied them with three other nations , but due to their goal differential , Team USA officially finished last . In 1987 Kirrane was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame .