finland | Lokka's History Project

Pekka and Juhani: Their Migrant Story

Posted on June 24, 2021 by Jlokka

In late August 1975, Pekka Rautakallio, his wife Arja, and their two-year-old son, stepped off a plane into Phoenix’s sweltering heat. During those weeks, temperature highs floated between 105F/40.5C to 107F/41.6C. Back in Pori, Finland, summer started turning into fall with highs around 57.5F/14.2C. The Rautakallios retrieved their luggage ready to start the upcoming Phoenix Roadrunners’ hockey season. When he stepped off the plane, Rautakallio became a migrant worker as a Roadrunner defenseman.

Excluding advances in transportation, Rautakallio’s story shared many aspects with European migrants of the early-1900s. At the turn of the twentieth century, steamship agents recruited peasants trumpeting America’s wealth. The agents often acted as auctioneers, creditors, and even loaned clothes. Furthermore, agents knew about jobs and wages of destinations. After recruiting a peasant, the agents tagged him, usually with a button, to ensure smooth flow through the pipeline to America (Wyman 1993, 15-31). Sports agents share many commonalities with their steamship counterparts.

In July 1975, Finnish star Juhani Wahlsten convinced Rautakallio and Lauri Mononen to travel to Phoenix. Herb Rudory, a Chicago-based sports agent, met them in Phoenix. Rudoy negotiated two-year contracts for Rautakallio and Lauri Mononen with the Phoenix RoadRunners*. At the contract signing party, Rudoy preened for the publicity shot (Arizona Republic 1975, 30).

Steamship agents of yore accompanied their recruits on part of their journey until passing them to the next link in the chain (Wyman 1993, 29). Waiting outside the airport, the Rautakallios found Roadrunners’ General Manager, Al Rollins, waiting for them. Effectively, Rudory handed them off.

Taking them from the airport, Rollins dropped the Rautakallios off at a motel to find housing, transportation, and other necessities. Rautakallio spoke limited English. At practice, teammate Cam Connor asked Rautakallio about his name. Rautakallio replied in bad English, “It means Iron Rocky”. Thus, Rautakallio earned his nickname, Rocky. Still in adjustment, they lived out of the motel. Unknown to the Rautakallios, Phoenix contained a thriving Finnish community centered around George and Helmi Anttila.

After reading about a new Finnish hockey player, George tracked down the Rautakallios. George’s parents emigrated from Ranua, Finland in the early 1900s as immigrant laborers. George grew up in Michigan. In 1947, George and his wife, Helmi, moved to Phoenix due to health reasons. In 1953, the Finlandia Foundation opened a chapter in Phoenix. George was its first president and held the post for 23 years. Over the years, George assisted Finnish athletes and hobos. For promoting friendship between the United States and Finland, Finnish President Urho Kekkonen awarded George the Medal First Class with Gold Cross of the Order of the White Rose in December 1964 (Cooke 1970). George extended that helping hand to the Rautakallios.

Anttila met Rautakallio in the Roadrunners’ office. From there, Anttila helped Rautakallio rent an apartment just a few blocks away on 17^th Ave. Then, Anttila assisted them with getting furnishings and a car. When Mononen arrived in September 1975, Pekka already started informal training with Roadrunners’ coach, Sandy Hucul. While Mononen met the Anttilas, he received help from fellow Karelian living in Phoenix. Repeating history, both players relied upon the pre-existing community to help them transition.

The 1976/77 season added two more Finns to the Roadrunner roster, Seppo Repo (center) and Juhani Tamminen (left wing). With Mononen at right wing, these three Finns formed the Lappline because they originated from Lapland in northern Finland. The Lappline lived near each other on W. Octollio Rd. They lived so close that they would carpool to practice. Also, Rautakallio moved from 17^th to 27^th Ave. possibly to be close to the other Finns.

Ocotillo Rd and 27th Ave. 1979/2019 (Maricopa.gov)

Although Rautakallio’s English improved, the team declared Tamminen the official team interpreter. In the 70s, Finnish school experienced a systemic reform (Jaatinen 2014, 30). Reforming the schools included replacing German with English in the 1960s (Jaatinen, 39). As result, Rautakallio and the other Finns may have learned Latin and German, but only briefly exposed to English. Tamminen’s college offered a path to learning English not available to the other Finns.

On April 6, 1977, the Tamminen supplied the WHA Phoenix Roadrunners’ final win with three goals and an assist. The team’s 7-3 win against Indianapolis sealed the end of the team, but not the Finns. Tamminen and Repo finished the season with the Oklahoma Blazers. Rautakallio and Mononen returned to Finland. By the 1977/78 season, all Finns played for teams in the top Finnish league. In 1979, Rautakallio returned States-side to play for the NHL’s Atlanta Flames. He became the first Finn to play in an NHL all-star game.

Migration stories rarely end with the accomplishment of a few successful migrants. For example, the US Visa office considered Rautakallios, Tamminen, and the other Finns to be nonimmigrants. Migrating for work does not equate to being an immigrant. Transient athletes acquired an H-1, exceptional ability, or an H-2, temporary worker, visas potentially impacting quotas until 1990. In 1990, the US Immigration and Naturalization Service created a new category, P, to separately cover nonimmigrant, professional athletes. And what of their impact.

Today, the Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum still stands. Its economic impact is modest at best, but its cultural impact significant. It brought world class hockey to the desert. Its ice allowed Finns to demonstrate their hockey prowess for the NHL and the world. Finally, it kept winter sports alive for a young, Mexican-American named Auston Matthews to discover a passion for ice hockey. From San Ramon, California to Scottsdale, Az and now in Toronto, Matthews learned hockey from a Ukrainian who was Mexico’s director of ice hockey. All because of family connections to Mexico (Pinchevsky 2017). Matthews scored the most goals in the 2020/21 NHL season dominating the Rocket Richard race against Alex Ovechkin (Capitals) and Pasternack (Bruins). The circle completed as migrant worker Anttila assisted migrant Rautakallio who kept alive a migrant worker’s sport for migrant Matthews to excel.

*NOTE: This transaction was likely one of Rudoy’s first as an agent. By the 1980s, Rudoy improved how he handled players. Currently, Rudoy performs agent duties for NBA, NFL, and soccer (MLS and FIFA) players.

Links to the other parts of the series:
PART 1: Phoenix: Preparation for Migratory Sports
PART 2: The Coliseum’s Impact
PART 3: Migration Patterns of Hockey Players: Pekka Rautakallio and Juhani Tamminen

Player Stats (Hockeydb):
Pekka Rautakallio
Lauri Mononen
Seppo Repo
Juhani Tamminen

SOURCES:
Pekka Rautakallio (Hockey Player/Coach) in discussion with Hannu Kauhala, June 2021.
Juhani Tamminen (Hockey Player/Coach) in discussion with Hannu Kauhala, June 2021.
Wyman, Mark. (1993). Round-trip to America: the immigrants return to Europe, 1880-1930. Ithaca, N.Y : Cornell University Press, 15-31.
“Publicity Photo of Al Rollins, Juhani Whalsten, Pekka Rautakallio, Lauri Mononen, and Herb Rudoy.” Arizona Republic, June 17, 1975, 30.
Cooke, Ellen “Cooke’s Carte: Someone to put the Finnish to the Food”. Arizona Republic, December 3, 1970.
Order of the White Rose of Finland – Ritarikunnat, last accessed June 22, 2021.
Phoenix Roadrunners [WHA] all-time player list at hockeydb.com, last accessed June 22, 2021.
Jaatinen, R., & Saarivirta, T. (2014). The Evolution of English Language Teaching during Societal Transition in Finland – A mutual relationship or a distinctive process?. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 39(11). http://dx.doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2014v39n11.3
Pinchevsky, Tal “Secret behind Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews’ skating prowess is a Ukrainian via Mexico”. ESPN, Jan 17, 2017. NHL — The secret weapon behind Toronto Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews’ skating prowess is a Ukrainian instructor who moved from Mexico (espn.com) Last accessed June 23, 2021.

Climate data:
Climate Pori (August 1975) – Climate data (29520) (tutiempo.net)
https://www.almanac.com/weather/history/AZ/Phoenix/1975-08-01

Migration Patterns of Hockey Players: Pekka Rautakallio and Juhani Tamminen

Posted on June 18, 2021 by Jlokka

According to Finnish hockey historian Hannu Kauhala, ten Finns played in the World Hockey Association (WHA) opening the NHL for Finns like Pekka Rinne, Tukka Rask, and Miro Heiskanen. Four of them played for the Phoenix Roadrunners. Pekka Rautakallio played defense during the 1975/76 and 1976/77 seasons. For the 1976/77 season, Juhani Tamminen played as left wing on the Lappline along with Seppo Repo (center) and Lauri Mononen (right wing).

In the search of talent, the WHA discovered that talent in Finland with Rautakallio and Tamminen. Rautakallio (in gold and yellow) traveled from Pori, Finland to Phoenix, Arizona. Returning to Helsinki for two years, he joined the NHL’s Flames final season in Atlanta. He stayed with the team in their move to Calgary. Two seasons later, he returned to Helsinki.

Tamminen’s journey (in shades of blue) started in Turku, Finland. He headed to Cleveland and then traded to Phoenix. The Roadrunners declared bankruptcy. Tamminen moved with the team to Oklahoma City to join the Central Hockey League. For the 1978/79 season, he returned to Turku where he finished his playing career.

Of note, Rautakallio mentioned his first apartment was a few blocks away from the Memorial Coliseum on 17th Avenue. Not many two storey buildings existed on 17th Ave. One possible candidate was sandwiched between 17th drive and 17th Ave. along Grand Ave. (Note: Lower right corner below).

Arizona Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum and 17th Ave 1976/2019 (Maricopa.gov)

Similar to the migrant workers of today and the early-20th century, Rautakallio and Tamminen came with different backgrounds and requirements. Their ability to face the challenges of migration drastically differed.

PART 1: Phoenix: Preparation for Migratory Sports
PART 2: The Coliseum’s Impact
PART 4: Pekka and Juhani: Their Migrant Story

SOURCES:
Pekka Rautakallio (Hockey Player/Coach) in discussion with Hannu Kauhala, June 2021.
Juhani Tamminen (Hockey Player/Coach) in discussion with Hannu Kauhala, June 2021.
Kauhala, Hannu “WHA – Unelmien Liiga” 2014. ISBN: 9789526789729
Historical Aerial Photography (maricopa.gov) last accessed June 16, 2021.
HockeyDb “Phoenix Roadrunners 1976-77 roster and statistics” last accessed June 18, 2021.

The Coliseum’s Impact

Posted on June 15, 2021 by Jlokka

The Arizona Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum imported new industries centered around migrant workers whose economic impact was negligible. The Coliseum supported multiple sports teams including the Phoenix Suns (NBA) and the Phoenix Roadrunners (WHL and WHA). Though the Suns migrated players from across the United States, the Phoenix Roadrunners immigrated from Canada. The Suns’ 1968 inaugural roster included 18 American players. Besides being imported from Victoria, British Columbia, the Roadrunners 1967-68 inaugural roster included 28 Canadians.

From 1968 until 1977, The Roadrunners transitioned across leagues while maintaining a largely migrant workforce. From 1968 until 1974, they played in the Western Hockey League, a minor professional league, with affiliation to the Toronto Maple Leafs. In 1974, they switched to the NHL rival the World Hockey Association (WHA). In the WHA, the Roadrunners roster included 48 players with only 4 Finnish, 2 Americans, and 1 Dane. Of interest, two Finns, Pekka Rautakallio and Juhani Tamminen, shared their migration stories.

As migrant workers, Rautakallio and Tamminen are tied into the United States immigration laws and policies. The United States tracks two types of visas, immigrants and nonimmigrant. In the mid-70s, nonimmigrant visas, which includes temporary workers, exploded while immigrant visas remained fixed (Visa Office).

Latin American, usually Mexican, farm hands represent the public memory of migrant workers. These workers received H-2 visas especially after the Bracero program ended (ImmigrationHistory.org). However, most migrant workers, including hockey players, received H-1 visas. From 1974 until 1977, H-1 and H-2 visas represented less than 1% of all nonimmigrant visas. For the Roadrunners, the United States issued four temporary worker visas for the Finnish players. Even this represented a small percentage of temporary worker visas issued to Finland.

Fiscal Year	Country	Temp Worker Visas
1974	Finland	31
1975	Finland	103
1976	Finland	128
1977	Finland	83

When the WHA floundered and merged with the NHL, Phoenix experienced little to no negative economic impact. Andrew Zimbalist identified four underlying reasons why. On the player and business side, he noted teams exert greater cultural impact than economic. Teams typically run a small front office full time. The rest are game day and only work four hours per game. Players rarely make permanent residence of their teams home barn. Most money gets expended in their home town or vacation spots. On the residents side, Zimbalist identified families usually run on fixed budgets. Thus, dollars spent at the rink are taken from other entertainment activities. Since the Memorial Coliseum was self-funded, budget gaps covered by public funding do not apply. Despite being self-funded and sustaining, the Coliseum and the players who called it home contributed little to Phoenix’s economic growth.

In 1962, the Arizona State Fair Commission proposed an exposition center, which became the Memorial Coliseum. Stanford Research Institute studied the development of a exposition center in 1960. The study estimated 237 days of use with a potential profit of $20,250 (Arizona State Fair Commission 1962) [1]. In 2016, the Arizona State Senate reviewed the Fair Commission for privatization. The enlisted research company identified the coliseum and fairgrounds generate 718 full-time jobs with $24.5 million in wages. Additionally, employee spending provided $3.4 million into the economy (Hanna 2016). While this sounds impressive, it was a fraction of Phoenix’s revenue.

In October 2007, Contemporary Economic Policy published an article reviewing research surrounding the economic impacts of professional sports teams and stadiums on their host communities. Most studies concluded “stadiums do not cause income or employment to grow (COATES 2007, 567) [2]. Coates identified flaws in studies supporting positive economic impact. For example, Baltimore’s M&T Stadium accounted for an aggregate income increase of $3 million dollars, which equated to approximately 0.02% of Baltimore’s revenue of $15 billion (568). The Arizona State Senate’s research exhibited the same misrepresentation as M&T Stadium’s impact.

The 1960 promise and the 2016 performance audit highlighted a Coliseum with great cultural significance while hoping for significant economic impact. The Coliseum brought in professional basketball and hockey sports teams. These added to the growth of Phoenix as it moved from 99th to 20th in size. Yet, neither the Coliseum nor the teams contributed significantly to Phoenix’s economic growth. Unlike many other stadiums and arenas, Arizona’s Veterans Memorial Coliseum remains a self-sufficient entity sustaining an ember of winter sports in the desert.

PART 1: Phoenix: Preparation for Migratory Sports
PART 3: Migration Patterns of Hockey Players: Pekka Rautakallio and Juhani Tamminen
PART 4: Pekka and Juhani: Their Migrant Story

END NOTES:

20,250USD is approximately 184,000USD in May 2021 dollars according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index Inflation Calculator, accessed June 2021.
Most studies reviewed by Coates focused on publicly subsidized stadiums and arenas. In 2016, Xia Feng and Brad Humphreys examined property values near privately funded sports facilities. Feng and Humphreys agreed that all sports facilities provide “little to no significant positive tangible impacts”. However, their results suggested an intangible benefits to the local economy. Journal of Sports Economics 19(2), 2016.