Daryl Seaman
Engineer, oilman, and part-owner of the Calgary Flames.
Daryl Kenneth "Doc" Seaman (28 April 1922 – 11 January 2009) was a Canadian engineer, oil executive, and hockey team owner. He founded, served as president, and chaired Bow Valley Industries, a major independent petroleum company in Canada. During the Second World War, he served as a pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force from 1941 to 1945, and from 1980 until his death, he was a part-owner of the Calgary Flames.
Seaman was born on 28 April 1922 in Rouleau, Saskatchewan, the second of four children. His father, Byron Luther Seaman, was born in Wisconsin and came to Canada during the First World War to help with the harvest. After the United States entered the war in 1917, he returned, joined the U.S. Army, and fought in Germany. He came back to Canada in January 1920 and married Letha Mae Patton, who had moved from Nebraska to Canada with her family in 1912. Until 1928, both parents worked a farm; that year, Byron started a road construction company, where all his sons worked during summers.
Seaman graduated high school in spring 1939, just before Canada entered World War II. That fall, he enrolled in technical school in Moose Jaw and played hockey for the Moose Jaw Canucks, but fell ill and dropped out. In fall 1940, he began an engineering degree at the University of Saskatchewan, but left in February 1941 to enlist. Because of his strong marks in math and physics, a recruiter suggested the Air Force. He trained under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan in Brandon, Manitoba, and Regina, Saskatchewan. Selected as a pilot, he was sent to RCAF Virden for flight instruction and first flew in September 1941. He transferred to RCAF Brandon and received his Wings on 12 March 1942.
After training, he was sent to Halifax, spent his twentieth birthday there, and sailed for Great Britain on 1 May 1942 aboard the MS Batory, arriving in Glasgow on 12 May. He moved between Bournemouth, Cornwall, RAF Kirmington, and RAF Harrogate for additional flight training in Airspeed Oxfords. By fall 1942, his initial training was complete, and he was assigned to a Lockheed Hudson as part of a four-man crew at RAF Silloth. From November 1942 to January 1943, the crew practiced navigation and bombing. On 20 February 1943, they flew to RAF Portreath for their first operation: flying the plane to Gibraltar. Poor weather forced Seaman to divert to Casablanca, Morocco.
Quick Facts
- Birth Date
- 1922-04-28
- Birth Place
- Rouleau, Saskatchewan
- Education
- University of Saskatchewan (BS 1948)
- Spouse
- Lois Maureen DeLong · 1948
- Death Date
- 2009-01-11
- Death Place
- Calgary, Alberta
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Seaman was born in Rouleau, Saskatchewan, the second of four children. During World War II he served as a pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force, flying 82 sorties from February 1943 to September 1944. On 29 March 1943 his plane was attacked by a German Messerschmitt Me 210; he was hit twice in the leg but flew the plane back to base. After the war he earned an engineering degree from the University of Saskatchewan in three years, graduating in 1948. He earned the nickname 'Doc' while playing baseball for a Saskatoon veterans' team, carrying his equipment in a satchel.
In 1949 Seaman co-founded a drilling company with Bill Warnke, later buying out Warnke with his brothers B.J. and Don. The company became Seaman Engineering and Drilling Company (Sedco) and then Bow Valley Industries. Bow Valley's largest discovery was the Brae Field in the North Sea in 1975, which flowed 22,000 barrels a day. In May 1994 Talisman Energy acquired Bow Valley for C$1.82 billion. Seaman later co-founded a new Bow Valley Energy in 1996.
Seaman was part of the group that purchased the Atlanta Flames in May 1980 and relocated the team to Calgary. During his ownership, the Flames played in three Stanley Cup Finals, losing in 1986 and 2004, and winning in 1989. He also purchased the historic OH Ranch in 1987, which he owned until his death.
Reader's Guide
Seaman's significance lies in his dual role as a pioneering oil executive and a key figure in bringing and sustaining NHL hockey in Calgary. As a part-owner of the Calgary Flames from 1980 until his death in 2009, he was part of the ownership group that relocated the franchise from Atlanta and saw the team win the Stanley Cup in 1989. He was also instrumental in the construction of the Olympic Saddledome and in bringing the 1988 Winter Olympics to Calgary, linking his hockey ownership to a major international event. In business, he built Bow Valley Industries into one of Canada's largest independent petroleum companies, with a major North Sea discovery at the Brae Field. His engineering background and wartime service as a pilot informed his disciplined approach. At the time of his death, only he, Byron Seaman, and Harley Hotchkiss remained from the original Flames ownership group, underscoring his long-term commitment to the franchise.
More in Hockey Hall of Fame Builders and Executives, Part 3 1-24
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