Editing Dit Clapper (section)

==Retirement and legacy==
[[File:Dit Clapper jersey at IHHOF.JPG|thumb|right|Clapper's #5 jersey on display at the [[International Hockey Hall of Fame]]]]
Hobbled by injuries and with his skills eroded, Clapper originally retired before the start of the [[1946–47 Boston Bruins season|1946–47 season]], but returned to play in November 1946 to replace the injured [[Jack Crawford (ice hockey)|Jack Crawford]] in the Bruins' lineup.<ref name="Coleman4">{{cite book |title=Trail of the Stanley Cup, Vol III |last=Coleman |first=Charles |year=1976 |publisher=Progressive Publications Ltd. |location=Sherbrooke, PQ |page=25 }}</ref>  He played only sporadically thereafter, and retired for good on February 12, 1947. Leading the Bruins to a 10–1 victory over the [[New York Rangers]] in his final game (in which [[Bill Cowley]] broke the league career scoring record),<ref name="Coleman4"/> the Bruins further announced that day that his number #5 [[hockey jersey|sweater]] would be retired, and the [[Hockey Hall of Fame]] immediately inducted him as an Honoured Member.  Clapper was the only active player ever to be inducted into the Hall,<ref name="Duplacey">{{cite book |title=Hockey's Book of Firsts |last=Duplacey |first=James |publisher=JG Press |isbn=978-1-57215-037-9 |page=25 |date=February 2008 }}</ref> and at the time the only living Member inducted.<ref name="Coleman4"/>

Of his prowess, Bruins goaltending legend [[Tiny Thompson]] said: <blockquote>"Clapper diagnosed the plays like a great infielder in baseball. He put himself where the puck had to come."<ref name="Pelletier"/></blockquote>

Clapper coached the Bruins for two more seasons until, unhappy with the club's performance in the 1949 playoffs against Toronto and uneasy about coaching friends with whom he had played, he resigned.<ref name="Pelletier"/>  Save for a single season coaching the [[American Hockey League]]'s [[Buffalo Bisons (AHL)|Buffalo Bisons]] in 1960, in which the team recorded a 33-35-4 record and failed to make the playoffs, he did not again participate in professional hockey.

Clapper ran a plumbing firm and a sporting goods store in [[Peterborough]] in retirement, while serving as a director of the [[Peterborough Petes]] of the OHA.<ref name="HHOF2"/>  He briefly attempted a political career, standing as a [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]] candidate for the [[Peterborough West]] riding in the [[1949 Canadian federal election|1949 federal election]], losing by fewer than 250 votes to incumbent [[Progressive Conservative Party of Canada|Progressive Conservative]] [[Gordon Fraser (Canadian politician)|Gordon Fraser]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Dit Clapper Candidate |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2194&dat=19490513&id=wx0vAAAAIBAJ&sjid=mNwFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4524,3432558 |newspaper=Ottawa Citizen |date=May 13, 1949 |access-date=3 April 2012}}</ref>

Clapper died of complications from a 1973 stroke, which had left him confined to a wheelchair, on January 20, 1978.<ref name="Fischler1">{{cite book |title=Who's Who in Hockey |last1=Fischler |first1=Stan |last2=Fischler |first2=Shirley |year=2003 |publisher=Andrews McMeel Publishing |page=69 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Dit Clapper Dead At 70 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=CFc_AAAAIBAJ&sjid=m1IMAAAAIBAJ&pg=1098,2003149&dq=dit&hl=en |newspaper=Windsor Star |date=January 21, 1978 |access-date=3 April 2012}}</ref> He is buried in Trent Valley Cemetery in [[Hastings, Ontario]].

In [[1983–84 NHL season|1983]], the Bruins signed former [[Montreal Canadiens]] star [[Guy Lapointe]], Lapointe sought to wear his customary #5 jersey, which had been retired in Clapper's honour nearly forty years before.<ref name="McFarlane"/>  Team general manager [[Harry Sinden]] agreed to Lapointe's request, but under protests from Clapper's family, Bruins superstar [[Bobby Orr]] and the public, Lapointe was switched to #27 after a handful of games.<ref name="McFarlane"/>

On August 11, 2012, former Hockey Hall of Fame coach [[Scotty Bowman]], who was a young [[Peterborough Petes]] coach when Clapper served on the club's board of directors, paid tribute to Clapper. The occasion was the unveiling by Clapper's daughter, Marilyn Armstrong, of a new street sign named "Dit Clapper Drive" in [[Hastings, Ontario]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.emcquinte.ca/20120816/news/Hockey+hero+gets+his+day+in+Hastings|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130116061646/http://www.emcquinte.ca/20120816/news/Hockey+hero+gets+his+day+in+Hastings|url-status=dead|archive-date=16 January 2013|title=Hockey hero gets his day in Hastings|newspaper=Northwest EMC|first=Bill|last=Freeman|date=16 August 2012|access-date=18 August 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.communitypress.ca/2012/08/16/hastings-honours-hockey-great-dit-clapper|title=Hastings honours hockey great Dit Clapper|newspaper=Community Press|first=Mark|last=Hoult|date=16 August 2012|access-date=18 August 2012|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304073218/http://www.communitypress.ca/2012/08/16/hastings-honours-hockey-great-dit-clapper|url-status=dead}}</ref>