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Yet More Zamboni Drivers: Jack Kirrane, driving for over 30 years, started as a snow catcher and a "rink rat." He competed in the Olympics an 1947 at the age of seventeen and returned to Captain the U.S. gold medal team of 1960. He has driven at Harvard for eighteen years. He knows his ice. Jack was inducted into the Zamboni Hall of Fame, an award given yearly by the North East Ice Skating Manager's Association (NEISMA). "He is the best in the business," says his pal and president of NEISMA, Al Tyldesley. Jack talks of the pressure of driving during the games: "It breaks down and you feel like a clown." He tells me that there's a blind side, and that the right sticks out a lot. "A perfect ice job is seamless; it looks like a mirror, a sheet of glass." Al says you can tell good ice by listening: "I learned that one of the easiest ways for me to see if my eyes are telling me the truth is to listen to the ice skater's blade cutting through the ice. If you hear a crunch, that's not a good sign. If you hear a shhhhush sound, you know that people are skating on the best ice you can give them. You can see the difference on the ice, and you can hear the difference." Inside the business, there are two industry-wide problems: 1) air quality 2) lack of experienced ice rink managers Driving can be dangerous: exhaust from the ice-resurfacing machines in areas with improper ventilation have caused cases of so-called "Zamboni Disease" or "ice-hockey lung." |
  
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