1955: Inventor of the first Ice Hockey helmet, the SPAPS helmet.

Born Sven Johansson in 1931, he changed his surname in 1965 to his birthplace Tumba, a small town south of Stockholm. "Swedish ice hockey has lost one of its biggest players through time," SIHA Chairman Christer Englund said. "With his ice hockey knowledge and with his enthusiasm he made ice hockey popular and attracted more people to our sport."

Starting in 1951, Tumba also played hockey for Djurgarden and won eight Swedish championships and three goal titles for Sweden's winningest hockey club. He played in 14 world championships and four Winter Olympics for Sweden, and was selected the best forward at the 1957 and 1962 worlds. He was the top goal scorer in the 1964 Winter Olympics when Sweden finished second behind the Soviet Union.

In 1957, he helped Sweden win the World Championship title ahead of the Soviet Union before an outdoor crowd of more than 50,000 at Lenin Stadium.

The organizers did not have the Swedish national anthem ready for the post-game ceremony, so the Swedish players instead sang Sweden's most famous schnapps song that was broadcast over the PA system.

In 1957, Tumba became one of the first European players to attend an NHL training camp with the Boston Bruins. “I played in an exhibition game against the New York Rangers, and I was a little nervous. But we played a 1-1 tie, and I scored our goal. After my second game, I was sent to the Quebec Aces, and after that, I did get a contract offer for a fantastic 50,000 dollars. But I wasn’t ready for that style of hockey, so I returned home,” Tumba said.

Among his many honours, he won three World Championships - in 1953, 1957 and 1962, Olympic silver in 1964 and bronze in 1962. He scored a national record 186 goals in 245 internationals from 1950 to 1966.

In 1997 he was inducted into the International Hockey Hall of Fame and in 1999 he was named Sweden's best-ever player, beating out prominent players such as former NHL MVP Peter Forsberg and Mats Sundin, both Olympic champions.

"Hockey was my whole life, that's what my heart was in," he told Swedish Radio in an interview this summer.

During most of his retired life, Tumba lived with his wife Mona in West Palm Beach, Florida, visiting Sweden only in the summer.

Tumba is survived by his wife and four sons  - Tommie, Johan, Stefan and Daniel.

Wikipedia Info on Sven Tumba http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sven_Tumba

Sven Tumba Education Fund http://www.sportforeducation.org/