You can long list the titles and awards that the legendary Soviet hockey player Alexander Yakushev, whose biography is presented in this article, has won over his long playing career. In addition to two Olympic gold medals, the striker of the capital “Spartak” and the USSR national team won the World Cup seven times.
First sports steps
Yakushev Alexander Sergeevich was born in 1947 in Balashikha near Moscow. From early childhood, the future star of Soviet hockey was drawn to sports. Just first, Alexander decided to play football at the Spartak school. But after some time, Yakushev decided to try himself in a relatively new kind of sport for the USSR - ice hockey.
For the first year, the young athlete trained with the team of the Sickle and Hammer metallurgical plant, at which his parents worked then. But at age 13, Alexander Yakushev decided to move to the youth school “Spartacus” to coach Alexander Igumnov. When he asked the young man to bring an absentee ballot from the former team, Sasha thought that they simply did not want to take him into the team, and remained in his own.
However, soon the future famous player and coach met again. During the game for the Moscow Children's Cup, Igumnov saw Alexander in the game, and soon took him to his hockey school. It was then, in 1961, that the brilliant sports career of Legends No. 15 began.
Striker club career
When the 14-year-old striker hit the youth team of Spartak, he was the youngest on the team. But Yakushev from the first season with his wonderful game firmly reserves a place in the first team. He helped the “red-white" two seasons in a row to win the youth championship of the USSR.
In 1964, 17-year-old Yakushev was summoned to the adult Spartak team to play with Wings of the Soviets. And he had to play in the first three, along with the famous Mayorov brothers. Despite the great excitement, Alexander Yakushev made his debut just fine, scoring the puck into the gates of the Samara club.
After such a triumphant start, the attacker began to be gradually allowed to play for the adult team. As he grew up and gained experience, Yakushev became a player in the main squad.
1967 was a memorable year for Alexander. This season, under the leadership of the legendary coach Bobrov, “Spartak” became the champion of the USSR. Two years later, the Moscow team repeated this achievement, and Alexander Yakushev repeated the performance record set by Alexandrov - he scored 50 goals in a season.
Spartak won another league title in the 1975/76 season. At that time, Yakushev was considered the undisputed leader of the team, and the striker with him, Shadrin and Shalimov, was considered the best in the USSR.
The following year, Alexander tries on the captain's armband of Spartak. Unfortunately, this season the striker was injured, because of which he missed most of the championship.
The career of the legendary hockey player ended in 1980. The statistics of his performances are impressive - in 568 matches in the championship of the USSR, he scored 339 goals, becoming the Union’s top scorer three times.
Games for the Red Car
Since 1967, the newly made champion of the USSR as part of Spartak Alexander Yakushev is a hockey player of the national team. Then he made his debut at the World Cup. In the match against the GDR, Yakushev came on as a substitute and immediately scored. As a result, the USSR national team became the champion.
Having missed one World Cup, in 1969 the attacker again went to the world championship in Sweden, and another gold medal appeared in his collection of awards. A year later, the USSR team won again in a similar tournament.
In 1972, Yakushev became the Olympic champion. For this achievement he was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honor.
But the real world fame came to the legendary hockey player after the famous “72 Series”, in which the USSR team met with Canadian professionals, who were considered the best hockey players on the planet. Yakushev took part in all eight fights, in which he scored seven goals.
Two years later, he again showed his outstanding skill in a repeated series of games against the Canadians, and in 1975 at the victory for the USSR World Championship he became the best striker, for which he received the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.
The 1976 Olympics in Innsbruck again became a triumph for Yakushev and the Soviet Union team. Three years later, the legendary athlete wins the seventh world title for himself.
Alexander Yakushev inscribed his name in the history of Soviet hockey as one of the most productive players. In total, for the USSR national team “Legend No. 15” or “Yak-15,” as they called the striker for his game number, scored 146 goals.
Coaching career
After leaving Spartak, Yakushev was a playing coach for three more seasons at the Austrian club Kapfenberg, where he also amazed fans with his successful game.
Returning to his homeland, Alexander Sergeyevich began to work as a coach in his own “Spartak”. First, he shared his experience with young hockey players, then he became the second coach of the adult team, and in 1989 he became the main mentor of the Moscow club.
In the mid-90s, Yakushev decided to work abroad. He goes to Switzerland, where he leads the Ambri-Piot team, but in 1998 he returns to Spartak, with whom he has been working for two full seasons. In parallel with the coaching of the “red-white” Alexander Yakushev led the Russian team.
Currently, the legendary hockey player is engaged in the popularization of his favorite sport. He is a coach of the USSR Hockey Legends club, and sometimes leads teams at the All-Star Game. In addition, Yakushev was elected as president of the Night Hockey League.
In 2003, the International Hockey Federation, taking into account all the merits of the legendary player, introduced his name to the Hall of Fame.