Jim Wiste, a co-captain of the 1968 NCAA champion Denver Pioneers ice hockey team, died Tuesday night at Porter Adventist Hospital.
Wiste, who owned and operated the Campus Lounge, a popular gathering place for DU fans and hockey players, for 40 years, was 70.
A forward at DU, Wiste was named to the NCAA all-tournament second team during the Pioneers’ 1968 championship run. The Pioneers defeated North Dakota 4-0 for the crown.
Out of college, Wiste was drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks, where he was briefly reunited with DU teammate Keith Magnuson. In 52 career NHL games over three seasons with the Blackhawks and Vancouver Canucks, Wiste had one goal and 10 assists for 11 points.
In 1972, Wiste played for the Cleveland Crusaders of the World Hockey Association. In two seasons with the Crusaders, Wiste had 51 goals and 78 assists. His professional hockey career wrapped up in 1976 with the Mohawk Valley Comets of the North American Hockey League.
“Everyone thought Jim’s talent was his hockey and his captaincy of the 1968 national championship team or his seven years (of) professional days. But his real talent was his kindness and his ability to make people feel comfortable around him no matter who they were or what background they came from,” said Don Mercier, a DU player from 1983-86 and a long-time patron of the Campus Lounge. “He always had a joke and kindness for you when you walked in his place.”
Wiste was born on Feb. 18, 1946, in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, where he played for the Canucks of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, according to the Legend of Hockey website. At DU in the 1967 and 1968 seasons Wiste was named to the Western Collegiate Hockey Association first-team all-star and the NCAA West first-team All-American.
“Winning the NCAA title was the biggest thrill in my hockey career because I look back on how tough it was,” Wiste told Irv Moss of The Denver Post in 2006. “In the championship game against North Dakota it was 0-0 with 10 minutes left in the game.”
In 1976, at the age of 30 and out of hockey, Wiste found his way back to Denver, purchasing the Campus Lounge.
“I didn’t know a thing about the restaurant business,” Wiste told Moss. “But like with sports, the timing was good, I was lucky and I knew this area as it was close to DU.”
College players, NHL players and hockey fans frequented the lounge where hockey stories, including recollections of DU versus in the Russian national team in 1968, make there way around the room. The bar was a booster of Denver area hockey.
“Jim Wiste was a true Pioneer who elevated Denver Hockey as a player, leader of our Denver Hockey alums and entrepreneur in the Denver community,” said DU coach Jim Montgomery.
Montgomery, who has coached DU since 2013, said he met Wiste on the first day he took the Pioneers’ top job at an alumni gathering at the lounge. “I lost a great friend (Tuesday) who had the ability to put a smile on everyone’s face.”
In 2013, Wiste suffered a heart attack while playing in a scrimmage at Magness Arena. Teammates performed CPR and Wiste later had a defibrillator implant. In 2016 he made the decision to sell his longtime business. “After 40 years, I want to do other things, like travel,” Wiste told The Post. “I want it to be under my terms and be the customer now.”
Cliff Koroll, co-captain of the 1968 championship team, knew Wiste for 53 years. They played all four years together at DU. “Jim was a good hockey player,” Koroll said. “Most of all he was a good human being.”
Wiste is survived by his longtime partner, Joanie Cunningham; a daughter, Courtney; and two grandchildren.
