Sven Bergqvist

Sven Olof Lennart "Svenne Berka" Bergqvist (20 August 1914 in Stockholm – 16 December 1996) was a Swedish football and ice hockey player, known for representing Hammarby IF in both sports. He also played bandy and handball. Bergqvist is one of only three athletes that has competed in the highest Swedish division in four different sports.
Bergqvist was a prominent ice hockey defender, debuting for Hammarby Hockey in 1932, also aged 17.He would play 13 seasons for the club in the Swedish top division, with Hammarby being crowned champions on five occasions during his tenures: in 1933, 1937, 1942, 1943 and 1945.
He represented AIK during one season in 1935/36, before returning to Hammarby. In total, he made 209 appearances for Hammarby, scoring 63 goals.
He also won 55 caps for the Swedish national ice hockey team during his active career. He appeared in three major tournaments for his country – the 1935 World Ice Hockey Championships in Davos, the Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936 Winter Olympics and the 1938 World Ice Hockey Championships in Prague – but failed to win any of them.
After his playing career, he made one season as the manager of Hammarby Hockey in 1946. He also coached the Swedish national ice hockey team during the 1948 St. Moritz Winter Olympics, where the team finished in fourth place.
In 1999, Sven Bergqvist was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame. He is a recipient of the honorary award Stora Grabbars Märke, which is handed out by Swedish Ice Hockey Association. Only two persons have been awarded the badge in both ice hockey and football.
During his whole active athletic career an onwards, Bergqvist worked full-time as a salesman. On 3 December 1955, he was severely injured in an automobile accident and spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair.Bergqvist was a close friend of fellow Hammarby and Swedish national player Lennart Skoglund, who visited him in the hospital after the incident.
Bergqvist's injuries however did not stop him from continuing to exercise sport at an elite level. He took up archery and was chosen to represent Sweden at the 1960 Summer Paralympics in Rome, but had to decline due to financial reasons, since he would have had to pay all expenses himself.
Sven Bergqvist died on 16 December 1996, at the age of 82. He was buried at the cemetery of Katarina Church, close to his childhood home at Södermalm in Stockholm.
Upon the construction of the Tele2 Arena, Hammarby Fotboll's new home stadium, Bergqvist was honoured with a nearby square being named after him. "Svenne Berkas torg" in Johanneshov was subsequently opened in July 2013
==References==
Category:Hammarby Hockey (1921–2008) players
Category:Ice hockey players at the 1936 Winter Olympics
Category:IIHF Hall of Fame inductees
Category:Sweden men's national ice hockey team coaches
Category:Swedish ice hockey defencemen