Mario Lemieux Trademarks

Known as “Super Mario” and “The Magnificent One,” Mario Lemieux is widely considered to be one of the greatest hockey players of all time. He played professionally for 17 seasons and is a Stanley Cup Champion, Olympic Gold Medalist, NHL Hall of Famer, and Pittsburgh Penguins owner.

Mario Lemieux was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on October 5, 1965. He and his brother, who he played hockey with as a small child, was raised in a working-class family. Initially, the brothers played hockey with kitchen spoons and bottle caps, before their father constructed a rink in their yard for them to practice and play on.

Lemieux began playing hockey for the minor ice hockey team of his home district, Ville-Émard. He played on the same team as future National Hockey League stars J. J. Daigneault and Marc Bergevin. Lemieux and Daigneault would help their team to win the 1977 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament when Lemieux was just 12 years old.

Lemieux’s hockey career officially began in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) with the Laval Voisins (which existed from 1971 until 1998), when he was drafted at fifteen years of age. He made quite a splash playing alongside Jacques Goyette, where he broke both the league record for points in a season and Guy Lafleur’s record of 130 goals. Years later, Lemieux was inducted into the QMJHL Hockey Hall of Fame. In 1984, he helped to lead the Laval Voisins to the Memorial Cup, however, the team lost and he would only score two goals.

In 1984, the Pittsburgh Penguins selected Lemieux first overall in the NHL Draft. After his contract negotiations with the team stalled out, Lemieux begrudgingly signed a contract for two years at three-quarters of million dollars. It’s thought that negotiations stalled as the Penguins had filed for bankruptcy and ticket sales were not great.

On the night that Lemieux debuted for the Penguins, he took to the ice, stole the puck from a future Hall of Famer, and his first shot went into the goal for a score. He was invited to the NHL All-Star Game that year and then went on to become the very first rookie to be named the most valuable player of the NHL All-Star Game. That season, even though he missed seven full games, he scored over 100 points and won the Calder Memorial Trophy.

In 1985, Lemieux helped Team Canada to a silver medal at the World Championships. He also represented his country and helped his team to a gold medal at the Canada Cup in 1987, the Salt Lake City Olympic Games in 2002, and the World Cup in 2004.

During the 1987–88 season, Lemieux would win his first NHL scoring title, as well as his first Hart Memorial Trophy (NHL MVP). Additionally, he was invited to the All-Star Game, where he was named the Game MVP. While he had not managed to lead the Penguins to the playoffs, this was their first winning season in almost a decade. Lemieux won his third All-Star Game MVP during the 1989–90 NHL season. In the following season, he missed 50 games due to a herniated disc in his back but returned to lead the Penguins to their first-ever Stanley Cup. He also won the Conn Smythe Trophy for MVP of the Playoffs.

In 1993, Lemieux was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He was forced to miss two months of playing time but did play in a game on the same day as his final radiation treatment. Although he continued to play at a high level, he underwent back surgery in 1993, and in 1997 he retired from playing professional hockey.

His former team, the Pittsburgh Penguins, continued to struggle financially over the years and after asking many prominent players to defer their salaries, they were facing bankruptcy. Ironically, Lemieux was the team’s largest creditor at this point. With some maneuvering, he was able to convert the debt into equity and propose a settlement that would ultimately repay the team’s debts. After a reorganization, his plan was approved and Lemieux became the majority owner of his old team. He did come out of retirement and play for the team again from 2000 until 2006, at which time he retired from the sport permanently.

Lemieux ended his professional hockey career as one of the most decorated hockey players of all time, coming in second to Wayne Gretzky.

Mario Lemieux established The Mario Lemieux Foundation. In 2007, the foundation obtained a federal trademark registration for a logo, which consists of a star on top of a drawing of a golf tee to be used for golf tournaments.

In 2007, The Mario Lemieux Foundation also obtained a federal trademark registration for “MARIO LEMIEUX FOUNDATION” for charitable funding. It also obtained a federal trademark registration for the Mario Lemieux Foundation logo for charitable fundraising in 2007.