Michael Miroslav Slama

1917 - 2008

Michael Miroslav Slama died Nov. 30, 2008 from complications of old age.

He was born Aug. 3, 1917, in Trebic, Moravia, in what is now in the Czech Republic. The youngest of eight children, he began playing hockey as a small boy, encouraged by an older brother, and became a renowned player in Trebic. In 1936 he entered law school at Charles University in Prague and played on the university's hockey team, which won the international championship of university teams in Norway in February 1939. A month later, the Nazis seized control of Prague and the Czech lands. When the Nazis closed Czech universities in the fall of 1939, he was forced to find work as an accountant. During the war, he joined CLTK, one of the two best hockey teams in Czechoslovakia. Originally a forward, he began to play defense. He was briefly held in Terezin, a concentration camp north of Prague, as he tried to free a friend's mother imprisoned there; he was released unharmed when the Soviets liberated the camp. In September 1945, he completed his doctorate in law. In 1947, he was selected for the national all-star team. It became the first Czech team to win the world hockey championship, which was played in Prague that year. In 1948, he competed in the Winter Olympics at St. Moritz, Switzerland. The Czechs tied with the Canadians for first place; however, because the Canadians had a better goal average, they were awarded the gold, and the Czechs the silver. According to the Prague newspaper Mlada fronta, he was "our best defenseman, [a] reserved, proper, and tenacious fighter." He was known for his speed, agility, and strategic playing and was a commanding player in spite of his small build. He was dubbed an "amphibian" because he was an exceptional defenseman and a consistent scorer. In December 1948, at Spengler Cup in Davos, Switzerland, he and several Czech hockey players tried to persuade the entire team to defect to protest the new Communist regime. Only he and another teammate followed through. He stayed in Switzerland 5 1/2 years playing and coaching hockey. In 1953, he immigrated to the U.S. and earned a master's in library science from Denver University, where he met his wife, also in library school. He worked at several colleges before becoming, in 1966, the first library administrator of Moorpark Junior College. He retired in 1980. He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Betty, his three daughters, Jane Slama Mackenzie, Judy de Paris, and Ann Slama Caswell; his three grandchildren, Rachel Reid, Henna and Kyle Raja; and two great-grandchildren, Kaelob and Zoe Reid. A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2008, at Emmanuel Presbyterian Church, 588 Camino Manzanas, Thousand Oaks, Calif.