This article is featured in Issue 2 of Crease Periodical.

Growing up in the 1920s and 1930s in Minnesota’s Twin Cities, Charles M. Schulz would skate in the backyard each winter with his neighborhood buddies. His father Carl, a neighborhood barber, would flood the yard and it would freeze into a serviceable skating rink. They also skated and played hockey on area ponds and at parks. Schulz, known as “Sparky” to all who knew him, fondly remembered that simpler time, competing fiercely, and even once accidentally giving his close friend Shermy a concussion.

“Our house had a typical Minnesota basement with an open area beneath the stairs. The space beneath the stairs and the supporting post was about six feet and made a pretty good facsimile of a hockey goal. Being very accommodating, my grandmother would take a broom that I gave her and stand in front of this make-believe goal while I shot tennis balls at her with a hockey stick. I like to think she made a lot of great saves.” —Charles M. Schulz

It was the height of the Great Depression, and nearly everyone who played came with rolled-up magazines for shin pads, strapped on with old inner tube rubber they managed to scrounge up. From those early years, a love for skating and hockey played a long-lasting role in Schulz’s life.

Years later, in their adopted home of California, ice skating on ponds or flooded yards was impossible, but the entire Schulz family fell in love with skating at the local ice rink in Santa Rosa. Not long after the Schulz family moved to Sonoma County in 1958, they found the Santa Rosa Ice Arena operated by Meryl and Skippy Baxter, and skated there regularly, with all five of the Schulz children learning to skate there. When the Baxter brothers’ building was forced to close due to structural issues, the Schulzes had an idea: What if they built a new ice arena and had the Baxter brothers operate it? So, in 1969, the Schulz family was able to meet a need and set out to build “the most beautiful ice arena in the world.” Little did the Schulz family know that they would create such a treasured hub in the community; a hub of activity that would hold a cherished place in the hearts of many for years to come—The Redwood Empire Ice Arena (REIA).

Upon opening in April 1969, the 33,500-square-foot facility was one of the largest buildings in Santa Rosa and the largest ice skating facility from the San Francisco Bay Area to Portland, Oregon. The final construction cost was over $2 million in 1969. The Ice Arena was meant to be a world-class skating venue, but it would achieve much more.

Schulz not only played hockey but actively supported hockey at all levels from youth programs, where he would serve as a referee, to senior hockey as a sponsor and player.

At the professional level, he followed the California Golden Seals hockey team in Oakland and designed their team mascot, a seal named “Sparky.” In later years, he and his wife, Jean Schulz, would cheer on the San Jose Sharks.

Schulz also contributed to the popularity of hockey through his depiction of the game in Peanuts and the introduction of the world’s most famous hockey player, Snoopy! Hockey-themed strips and storylines appeared over 150 times in the original 50-year run of Peanuts. No doubt it is the strip with the most appearances of a Zamboni. 

In 1973, Schulz’s Santa Rosa team participated in the 4th annual Senior Olympics Hockey Tournaments in Burbank, California. Returning for the 1974 tournament, the director of the Senior Olympics hockey program asked Schulz to host future tournaments at the Redwood Empire Ice Arena. The tournament was part of the Senior Olympics until 1982 when the event was renamed Snoopy’s Senior World Hockey Tournament, the name it uses today. Schulz played for the Santa Rosa senior team, the Diamond Icers, and played pick-up hockey every Tuesday night until shortly before his death. He played in his final Senior Tournament in 1999, only several months before his passing. 

The tournament is a favorite with participants. It attracts many former National Hockey League players, and in years past has hosted teams from around the world—Austria, Australia, Canada, Finland, Japan, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland. The number of teams participating in the tournament increased rapidly after its inaugural year. In 2018, there were 1,035 participants on 69 teams that played 106 ice hockey games over 11 days. 

The oldest hockey player to date, and according to the Guinness Book of World Records, the oldest in the world as of April 2019, is Mark Sertich, born July 18, 1921, who was aged 96 years and two days when he played in the Snoopy’s Senior World Hockey Tournament on July 20, 2017.

Schulz was inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in 1993. He was also honored earlier for outstanding service to hockey in 1981 with the Lester Patrick Award. Many other awards, recognitions, and acknowledgments followed. But through it all, good ol’ Sparky Schulz simply loved the game.