WWII Veteran & Captain 1948 US Olympic Hockey Team Ralph A. Warburton Dies at 97
Monday, December 27, 2021
Ralph A. Warburton, a member of the US hockey team that competed at the 1948 Winter Olympics who went on to play professional hockey and then built a career as an investment advisor, died December 25th peacefully in his sleep. He was two weeks shy of his 98th birthday.
Born in Cranston, he was one of eight children of the late William R. and Mary C. (Appleton) Warburton. He was raised in Edgewood and graduated in 1941 from La Salle Academy, where he was an all-state hockey player. After graduating high school, he served in the Navy during World War II. In 1947, Warburton graduated from Dartmouth College, where he was captain of a powerhouse hockey team. As right-wing on the team, he helped Dartmouth achieve a 46-game unbeaten streak. In his last semester at Dartmouth, the team won the Ivy League championship, and as Warburton would recount, “we were the unofficial national champions that year as well. We beat Michigan, Colorado, and California that year and played the University of Toronto from the Thompson Trophy in Rhode Island Auditorium in Providence for the championship of North America. The game was tied 2-2 but it couldn’t be completed because the ice became too soft.”
At Dartmouth, Warburton also played varsity baseball, was elected to the Dragon Society and to the Green Key Student Government. He was also a member of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. After getting his bachelor’s degree, he would go on to attend Tuck School of Business.
In 1948, Warburton was captain of the US hockey team at the Olympics in St. Moritz, one of four Dartmouth players to play on that team. The US team was upset by Switzerland 5-4 in the opening game but Warburton scored a hat trick in a heroic attempt to win the game -- scoring three goals in the 3rd period. He was the first hockey player from RI to be in the Olympics.
He went on to play professional hockey for the next three years in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he met his wife of 58 years, the former Rosemary A. Humer who died in 2009.
In 1951, Warburton turned in his skates for a job in the investment business in Providence. He worked for 25 years at Merrill Lynch and would finish his 47-year career as a vice president at PaineWebber.
Warburton kept hockey close to his heart long after he stopped playing the sport. He loved coaching youth hockey at Meehan Auditorium and over the years, refereed many collegiate hockey games. He served as president of the National Ice Hockey Officials Association from 1965-1967 and was also president of the local chapter here. In 1967, he was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame.
Warburton was a past president of the Dartmouth Club of Rhode Island, served on the board of trustees of Vocational Resources, and was a past member of Ocean Tides. He did investment assignments for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence and served on budget committees for the United Way.
He was a member of Point Judith Country Club, a former longtime member of the Dunes Club, and a member of St. Francis Assisi Church in Wakefield.
Warburton is survived by his daughter, Martha W. Brough, of Exeter, and two grandchildren, Kyle J. Brough and Jacquelyn A. Cavaco, and her husband, Matthew, and a great-grandson, Cal-lan. In addition to his wife, he was predeceased by his son, Paul R. Warburton, and his brothers, William, James, and Leo Warburton, and four sisters, Ruth McEntee, Rita Veech, Anna Reynolds, and Hope Warburton, a Sister of Mercy.
Calling hours will be held on Wednesday, December 29th from 4-6 pm in Avery-Storti Funeral Home, 88 Columbia St, Wakefield.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Thursday, December 30th at 9 am in St. Francis of Assisi Church, 114 High Street, Wakefield.
Masks and social distancing are required.
Burial will be private.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to South County Hospital.
