THANKS TO NELSON BURBANK’S GENEROSITY & FORESIGHT


Burbank Ice Arena Celebrates 25 Years!


by Ed Peduto


Burbank Ice Arena General Manager


B


URBANK ICE ARENA in Reading, Mass., celebrates their 25th anniversary this year. We kick-


started our silver-anniversary festivities in December with a special evening honoring founder Nelson Burbank.


Since Mr. Burbank is 98 years old, we decided to celebrate at the start of our 25th


season of high school hockey rather


than wait until the facility’s birthday in November.


We opened in November 1994 after


Mr. Burbank persevered in getting a rink built for the Town of Reading residents. He overcame the “Not in My Back Yard” opponents as well as resistance from many on both the conservation and finance committees, and he made a large contribution to the 501 (c)(3) Reading Ice Arena Authority, Inc.


Since the bank financing the remainder


of the construction could not take possession of the arena if it went into default — the land is town-owned — Mr. Burbank had to put up collateral for the balance needed to build the arena — approximately $1 million in additional funds.


Born and raised in Reading, Mr. Burbank always believed that athletics could help teach the life skills of teamwork, discipline, performance under pressure and many other lessons not learned in the classroom.


16 SPRING 2019 Early Years


After returning from flying planes in WWII, a young Mr. Burbank ran into a gentleman for whom he had sold flowers before the war. Te floral business had been a casualty of the war and the older gentleman was now selling office supplies. When Mr. Burbank informed him that he was striking out finding a job, the gentleman directed him to a man at a growing company, who was buying a lot of office supplies.


After meeting with this man, Mr.


Burbank was initially hesitant about selling a product that he had never heard of — mutual funds. After much deliberation, however, he accepted the sales position and knocked on every door in any community he thought might have a few extra dollars to invest. His integrity, great sense of humor and strong work ethic eventually led him to form Burbank & Company, which ultimately sold out to AG Edwards (now a division of Wells Fargo). He was involved in high-level industry associations along the way, even serving on a board with infamous fraudster Bernie Madoff. “I could never warm up to him,” says Mr. Burbank, referring to Madoff.


When Mr. Burbank entered semi-


retirement, he never forgot the athletes of Reading. Having skated on makeshift


outdoor ice rinks and ponds from morning ‘til dark, Mr. Burbank wondered just how good a Reading team could be if only they had their own in-town rink to skate on rather than travel to other areas for all practices and “home” games.


He began studying the rink business


diligently. He met with many arena managers throughout Greater Boston, sought profit and loss numbers from any that would give them up (many rinks are publicly owned and can do so freely), and attended multiple meetings of ISI District 1 and the North East Ice Skating Managers Association (NEISMA).


I was one of the managers he met


during his research. As the manager of the Town of Watertown, Mass., Municipal Skating Arena, I thought my encounter with him was just another meeting with another wealthy individual who would decide NOT to build a rink.


The meetings to overcome the


vocal opponents of the rink were both numerous and lengthy. When the town finance committee expressed reservations about approving a building that would be a costly “white elephant” to the town, Mr. Burbank pledged an additional $50,000 to be placed in escrow to demolish the building if it failed. Even with that on the table, the gift of the rink was only approved by the finance committee by a margin of 3-2.


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