Pete Muldoon was the first coach of the Chicago Blackhawks. He was also one of the most interesting men in the organization's history. Muldoon led the Hawks to a respectable third-place finish in that first year. The team's owner, Major McLaughlin thought that the team should have been able to do better and he fired Muldoon. Supposedly, Muldoon told the Major, "Fire me, Major, and you'll never finish first! I'll put a curse on this team that will hoodoo it till the end of time!" It looked as if there actually was a curse on the Blackhawks until, in 1967, they finally finished the season in first place.

Toronto sportswriter Jim Coleman wrote about the curse in 1943. After the Hawks had finally broken the curse, he admitted that he had made the entire story up.