Niilo Tammisalo

Niilo Rudolf Tammisalo (originally Ekbom; 15 October 1894 - 5 February 1982) was an influential figure in Finnish sports in the first half of the 20th century. He was a versatile athlete who represented Finland as a player with the national teams in football, ice hockey, and bandy; he was also on Finnish Champion teams in each of the three sports with domestic clubs. When his career as a player came to a close in the early 1930s, he dedicated himself to coaching, refereeing, teaching, and administrating sports organizations.

Tammisalo was a founding member of the Ilves Sports Club and won the Finnish Championship in ice hockey as head coach of Ilves in 1936 and 1937. He was the first chairman of Basketball Finland (1939-1943), served as head coach of the Finland national team (1937-38 & 1946), was a sports instructor and lecturer at the University of Helsinki (1938-1958), and served as a referee in international competitions for football, ice hockey, and bandy.

Football
Tammisalo played as goalkeeper at the semi-professional level with Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi (HJK) (Helsinki Football Club). He began playing on the club's representative team in 1911, when he was 17 years old, and would remain loyal to HJK throughout his sixteen-season football career, helping them achieve seven Finnish Championship Cup victories (1911, 1912, 1917, 1918, 1919, 1923 and 1925). He is credited as the first Finnish goalkeeper to knock the ball away from the goal with his fist.

Bandy
Tammisalo was a four time Finnish Champion in bandy with HJK, in 1921, 1923, 1924 and 1928.

Ice hockey
Tammisalo was Finnish Champion in ice hockey while playing with HJK in 1929 and with Tampereen Palloilijat (TaPa) in 1931. While acting as captain and coach of the Tampereen Ilves he won Finnish Championship bronze in 1934.

Bandy
Tammisalo played in seven games with the Finnish men's national bandy team. He participated in the particularly significant match at the 1919 Finnish Winter Games, the first game in which players represented the recently independent nation Finland. The national team's roster was dominated by players from Viipurin Sudet and Tammisalo (from HJK) was one of only three players representing a different domestic club. The national team's match against the Swedish club IFK Uppsala resulted in a 4-1 victory that was described in the press as “one of the most amazing achievements of Finnish athletes.”

Ice hockey
Tammisalo is credited with one appearance representing Finland in international ice hockey competition, a three-game series of friendlies against the Swedish national team that were played in Stockholm in February 1933.

Non-playing career
1914-1928: Member of the Board, HJK

1917-1919: Member of the Board, Football Association of Finland

1920: Published Jalkapallo: Käsikirja jalkapalloilijoille [Football: A Handbook for Football Players], the first comprehensive guide for association football written in Finnish

1922-1947: Coach and referee with the Football Association of Finland

1927-1928: Head coach of the Viipurin Reipas ice hockey team

1929-1937: Instructor at the Tampere Lyceum

10 April 1931: Founding member of the Ilves Sports Association

1931-1935: Chairperson of Ilves Sports Association

30 April 1931: Elected to the Board of the Finnish Ice Hockey Association

1931-1934: Captain-coach of the Tampereen Ilves ice hockey team

1934-1937: Head coach of the Tampereen Ilves ice hockey team ↳ Finnish Champion, 1936 and 1937 ↳ Finnish Championship silver, 1935

1936: Finnish representative to the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) at the 1936 Winter Olympics

1938: Published Jalkapallotaito: miten opin pelaamaan ja opetan jalkapalloa [Football Skills: How I Learned to Play and Teach Football], used in Finland for decades as the principal textbook on coaching football

1938-1939: Head coach of the Finnish men's national football team (first tenure)

1938-1958: Professor of physical education in the Gymnastics Department at the University of Helsinki

1939-1943: Chairperson of Finnish Basketball Association

1941-1946: Member of the Board, HJK Sports Association

1946: Chairperson of the HJK Sports Association

1946: Head coach of the Finnish men's national football team (second tenure)

1949: Published Jääpallotaito [Bandy Skills], the first comprehensive guidebook for bandy written in Finnish

1952: Organized the basketball competition at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki

Awards and honors

 * Golden Cross of Merit of Finnish Sport
 * Sports Legend of Helsinki, designated by the City of Helsinki on 12 June 2019 (Helsinki Day)
 * Valmentajien Kunniagalleria (Finnish Hall of Coaching Excellence) inductee, 2017 (first class)
 * Football Association of Finland
 * Golden Badge honouree
 * Hall of Fame inductee, 1993 (first class)
 * Basketball Finland
 * Honorary President
 * Golden Badge honouree
 * Hall of Fame inductee, 2019
 * Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi (HJK)
 * HJK Centennial All-Star Team, 2009
 * Hall of Fame inductee, 2015

Images

 * An HJK football match with keeper Niilo Tammisalo, date unknown. from HJK Hall of Fame
 * Niilo Tammisalo and Risto Tiitola, c. 1931 (Tiitola (left) is wearing Ilves' first jersey). From Ilves Hockey on Facebook.