to support two teams and hoped that a rivalry between the two would develop. On February 10, 1926, he resigned as president of the Americans to devote his time to organizing the new team, which became the New York Rangers. Hammond signed Conn Smythe, head coach of the University of Toronto's hockey team, to serve as general manager. On October 27, 1926, before the Rangers had played a regular-season game, Hammond fired Smythe in favour of Lester Patrick. Smythe believed Hammond fired him because of his refusal to sign two-time NHL scoring champion Babe Dye, against Hammond's wishes. In their second season, the Rangers won the Stanley Cup finals by defeating the Montreal Maroons three games to two. In 1928, Hammond succeeded John M. Chapman as assistant general manager of Madison Square Garden. Rickard died on January 6, 1929, and the following day, Hammond was appointed by the board of directors to serve as acting general manager of the Garden. On March 19, 1929, William F. Carey, a railroad builder and contractor, was chosen to succeed Rickard and Hammond returned to his role as vice president. On December 21, 1932, Hammond resigned as vice president of the Madison Square Garden Corporation and president of the New York Rangers, citing "disagreement with certain policies of the president [William F. Carey]". He was succeeded in both roles by Lester Patrick. On May 2, 1934, Hammond announced that he and his associates had purchased controlling interest of Madison Square Garden from Richard F. Hoyt for an estimated $546,000. He succeeded Hoyt as chairman of the board and returned to his former position as Rangers' president. John Kilpatrick, who had succeeded Carey as president, stayed on in that role. By August 1935, however Hammond and Kilpatrick were fighting for control of the corporation. On September 27, 1935, stockholders voted 143,921 shares to 129,387 in favor of directors backing Kilpatrick. On October 2, Stanton Griffis was elected to succeed Hammond as chairman. On March 4, 1936, Griffis announced that Hammond and his associates had sold their shares to Hemphill, Noyes & Co. Personal life and death In 1907, Hammond married Hester Reilly. They had two children - Orson Smith Hammond and John Hammond Jr. She died in 1927. Two years later, Hammond married Louise Schulze Pomeroy. Hammond's four brothers, Thomas S. Hammond, Harry S. Hammond, Robert Hammond, and C. Herrick Hammond, were all noted amateur