Monday, June 8, 2015

Scott Mellanby

Autism Light #408 is Scott Mellanby.


Scott Mellanby was born in Montreal, Canada on June 11, 1966. Scott Mellanby has two sons named Nicholas and Carter and a daugher named Courtney. His son Carter has autism. Scott Mellanby is a retired National Hockey League player who helped found Athletes Against Autism. Scott Mellanby is an Autism Light for his dedication as an autism father and for his efforts to raise awareness for autism through the former Athletes Against Autism and the Mellanby Autism Foundation.

The following is a a YouTube video featuring an interview with Scott Mellanby. In the video Scott Mellanby discusses his willingness to help fellow autism father hockey player Pierre Groulx.


Hockey Career: Scott Mellanby played as a right wing in the National Hockey League from 1985-2007.  He played during his career for the Philadelphia Flyers, Edmonton Oilers, Florida Panthers, St. Louis Blues, and Atlanta Thrashers. On October 9, 1993, he scored the first ever goal in the history of the Florida Panthers franchise. He killed a rat with his goalie stick in 1996 and inspired the "rat trick" movement from the fans of the Florida Panthers, where they would throw plastic rats on the ice after a Panthers goal. Scott Mellanby's career statistics are available at Hockey-reference.com.  Scott Mellanby retired in 2007.

Post-Playing Career: Scott Mellanby continued to be involved in hockey in front office positions after his playing days were finished and most recently he was named the Assistant GM of the Montreal Candiens on July 30, 2014.

Photo of Hockey Player Scott Mellanby

Athletes Against Autism: In 2006, Scott Mellanby joined fellow hockey players Olaf Kolzig and Byron Dafoe as one of the original founders of Athletes Against Autism. Athletes Against Autism is now associated with Autism Speaks

Mellanby Autism Foundation: Scott Mellanby and his wife  Susan established the Mellanby Autism Foundation in 1999 after their son Carter was diagnosed with autism. It is a non profit organization that helps with direct care services to people affected by autism and their families. Scott Mellanby said this about starting the foundation as an acknowledgement to the many others who care and are not autism parents.
We get credited for starting foundations and doing this kind of stuff. Obviously for us there was a direct relationship to our family so it was a natural thing to do, but there are a lot of athletes and non-athletes that are doing what they can nowadays to get involved with charities even if they weren’t affected by it and I think those people are very special for wanting to get involved and they deserve a lot of credit for that (Scott Mellanby, Pros Give Back).

Wikipedia Page: You can find out more information about Scott Mellanby at his Wikipedia Page.

Social Media: You can follow Scott Mellanby on the following social media areas.


Special thanks to Scott Mellanby for being one of the founders of Athletes Against Autism and using his notoriety to promote autism awareness. Autism Light wishes Scott and his family all the best in their ongoing journey with autism.

Autism Light honors diverse heroes to the world of autism.

Photo: The photo of Scott Mellanby is in the Wikipedia Creative Commons.

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