Fifty candles today for Paul Kariya, the only Hobey Baker Award winner in the Hockey Hall of Fame

Paul Kariya, the only winner of the Hobey Baker Award who is in the Hockey Hall of Fame alongside the trophy’s namesake, turns 50 today. He was born on this date in 1974 in Vancouver.

Kariya made history in 1993 when, in his first season with the NCAA’s Maine Black Bears, he became the first freshman to score 100 points in a single season and also the first freshman to win the Hobey Baker Award as the top player in U.S. men’s college hockey. Maine won the NCAA championship that season, after which the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim made him their first draft pick in advance of their inaugural season.

Joining the Ducks in 1994-95, Kariya finished third in voting for the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie, then became the first Duck to score 50 goals and 100 points in 1995-96. He won the first of two consecutive Lady Byng Trophies for sportsmanship that season, and also earned the first of his five post-season All-Star Team selections.

Kariya, who also played for the Colorado Avalanche, the Nashville Predators, and the St. Louis Blues, was plagued by injuries throughout his career. He reportedly suffered six concussions, the last of which effectively ended his NHL career in 2010, although he waited for a year before announcing his retirement. He scored exactly one point per game in career regular season play – 402 goals and 989 points in 989 games – and added 39 points in 46 playoff contests.

He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2017, and is to date the only Hobey Baker Award winner who has been enshrined alongside Baker himself.

Also born on this date:

1945 – Norm Ferguson was born in Sydney, N.S. Ferguson came up through the Montreal Canadiens’ junior and farm system but was traded to the Oakland Seals in May 1968. He became a star with Oakland, setting an NHL record for rookies by scoring 34 goals in the 1968-69 season and finishing a close second in voting for the Calder Trophy, losing by only three points to Minnesota’s Danny Grant (who had tied Ferguson’s goals record the day after he set it). Ferguson never reached that number again in the NHL but was a reliable producer later in the World Hockey Association, scoring 26 or more goals on five occasions, including a career-high 39 with the San Diego Mariners in 1976-77.

1955 – Wilf Paiement was born in Earlton, Ont. The second overall pick in the 1974 NHL Amateur Draft by the Kansas City Scouts, he dressed in more than 1,000 regular season and playoff games with six NHL teams and scored 374 total goals. His single-season best was 41 with the Colorado Rockies in 1977-78, but he also tallied 40 with Toronto in 1980-81 and 39 with the Quebec Nordiques in 1983-84. He is also remembered for being one of only three NHL players since the 1950-51 season to wear No. 99 on his jersey, doing so during his tenure with the Leafs.

1967 – Joe Murphy was born in London, Ont. The top pick in the 1986 NHL Entry Draft by the Detroit Red Wings, Murphy never quite lived up to his potential although he did dress in almost 900 games with seven different NHL teams, recording two 30-goal seasons and winning a Stanley Cup with Edmonton in 1990. His final years in pro hockey were tumultuous and his post-hockey career has been even more unpleasant, dealing with health issues, drug and alcohol abuse, and chronic homelessness.