Paper media guides were once the norm for all professional hockey teams. They were small in physical dimensions, usually around 6" wide and 8" long - perfect to fit into a pocket or briefcase. Their main purpose was to give newspaper, radio, and TV media professionals a quick reference guide for their reporting, but they were also used widely by team and league personnel. Like paper game programs, the paper team media guides were phased in the early 2000s, and today they are sadly replaced by electronic download files and web site pages. Back in the 1970s each World Hockey Association team would publish their own media guide, and the league would also print a tome that covered the entire circuit. It is those WHA league guides, from 1972-1979, that we have restored as an archive and are reproducing here. They are fascinating artifacts of a major league's birth, expansion, contraction, and then concerted stab at promoting a merger with the rival NHL.

Author Timothy Gassen is president of the World Hockey Association Hall of Fame, and an acknowledged expert on the history of the WHA. He has written, produced, and directed the more than 12 hours of WHA video documentaries for the WHA Hall of Fame DVD and Blu-ray Disc series. His other books on the World Hockey Association include "The WHA Hall of Fame: A Photographic History Of The Rebel League 1972-1979," published by St. Johann Press. It features many previously unpublished WHA photos and a complete league history. He is also author of "Positive Waves: a history of Indianapolis Racers hockey 1974-1979," published by the WHA HOF. Gassen has won Arizona Press Club Awards for his hockey coverage, and he's served as a college hockey team media director, college and pro hockey radio man and TV broadcaster. He has also been a longtime columnist for hockey magazines and the Arizona Daily Star newspaper, and this is his fifth book. Visit the author's company Web site at www.purple-cactus.tv and the WHA Hall of Fame at both WHAhof.com and whaRACERS.com