"When we finished, there was a hockey celebration at City Hall. It was great. And then there were speeches in the big hall. There was the mayor of the city and such officials. And suddenly I was attacked by Bohouš Prušek, a communist. In front of the whole society - hockey players and the city [officials] - he called me a fascist in front of the gathering. Well, that was a shock. That was my last assignement."
Vlastimil Sýkora was born on May 4, 1922 in Kladno. He became a league hockey player in the Kladno team and coached the team since the mid-1950s. In 1959 he successfully led his team (then called TJ SONP Kladno) to the Czechoslovak league title. He also led the national team, but in 1960 he was unable to participate in the Winter Olympic Games in Squaw Valley, California, allegedly due to State Security pressure. In the 1960s, he was forced to end his coaching contract in Kladno, then he trained in Vítkovice, České Budějovice, Gottwaldov (today’s Zlín), Pilsen and Chamonix in France. In 2011, he was inducted into the Czech Hockey Hall of Fame. In 2013, Vlastimil Sýkora died at the age of 91.
