Ken Ullyot, 78, came to Fort Wayne to coach the Komets in 1958 and has stayed ever since, also serving the team as general manager and owner at different times until he retired in 1986. He led the Komets to the 1963 Turner Cup as a coach, the 1965 championship as a general manager and the 1973 title as an owner. From 1959 to 1967, the Komets won two Turner Cups and were finalists four other times. In 1997 the Hockey News named him the IHL’s all-time greatest general manager, and the IHL honored its Western Conference champion by presenting them with the Ken Ullyot trophy.

During his tenure as an IHL governor, Ullyot and Komets business manager Colin Lister were credited with keeping the league alive through some very lean years. In the summer of 1958 when he came to Fort Wayne, the Komets had lost $87,000 the season before. Between the time Ullyot agreed to his Fort Wayne contract, written on the back of a pack of cigarettes, went home to Prince Albert to gather his family and returned, the IHL had decreased from five to three teams.

"These things happened all the time with us," Ullyot said in 1999. "Practically every summer we had to find different teams or we had to help somebody out of a problem to keep them alive so that we could have a league. All those times we fought to survive we didn’t have another league to go to."

Did the IHL ever come close to folding?
"We didn’t think of that," Ullyot said. "We knew we were going to have a league. We knew we’d come up with something."

Though he’s retired, Ullyot still keeps in constant contact with the hockey world, and the Komets have no bigger fan, except perhaps for his wife Violet.

"Mr. Ullyot was a leader in the IHL and through his wisdom and stewardship, it can be argued that he was responsible for the IHL remaining in tact when, in fact, this proud hockey league was on the brink of outright collapse," former IHL Commissioner Bill Beagan said.

"Actually, it comes as a shock to discover he is not already there," Bud Poile wrote in his letter. "Obviously, when one thinks of the Fort Wayne Komets Ken’s name automatically comes to mind. In fact, when talking about minor hockey and the IHL, Ken’s contributions and dedication is quite evident."

"Ken is, without a doubt, the BEST coach and one of the most knowledgeable people in all of hockey besides being a fine gentleman," said John Ferguson, the first Komet to make it to the NHL.