Stanley was born in Paisley, Ontario, the son of a dairy farmer. He moved west to Medicine Hat, Albertaat 17 to play hockey before settling in Edmonton. He joined the Edmonton Maritimers in 1911–12, then spent the next three seasons as both a player and coach for the Edmonton Dominions and Albertas, all of the Alberta Senior Hockey League. Stanley turned professional in 1915, joining the Vancouver Millionaires of the PCHA. Stanley scored seven goals in his first five regular season contests with Vancouver, of which his first professional goal, in his first game, was assisted by Cyclone Taylor. He won the Stanley Cup with the Millionaires in 1915 as they defeated the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League for the Canadian championship. Stanley scored four goals in the third and deciding game of the series. Stanley was a Second Team All-Star with the Millionaires in 1918 and remained with the team until the end of the 1919–20 season. He then fought to regain his amateur status so that he could take on the role of player-coach with the Edmonton Eskimos of Alberta's Big-4 League. He left the Eskimos after one year to join the Calgary Tigers and in 1921 once again turned professional as the Tigers joined the newly formed Western Canada Hockey League. He scored 26 goals in 24 games for the Tigers in 1921–22 and was named a league all-star on right wing. His rights were sold to the Regina Capitals following the season where served as player-coach and was again named all-star right wing. After two seasons in Regina, he returned to the Eskimos for two more. As player-coach for the Eskimos, Stanley led the team to the top record in the league in 1925–26. Following the collapse of the WCHL in 1926, Stanley purchased the Eskimos and brought them into the newly formed Prairie Hockey League. Before the season began, however, he sold the team and joined the Winnipeg Maroons. He purchased an ownership stake in the franchise, and signed on as a defenceman and coach for the American Hockey Association team. He was hired by the Chicago Black Hawks to be their manager and head coach for the 1927–28 NHL season. Stanley managed the club for only 23 games as the team replaced him following a 4–17–2 start to the season, but not before appearing in one regular season contest as a player with the team. Stanley returned to the AHA, playing his final season of hockey with the Minneapolis Millers before retiring in 1929. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1962.
Personal life
Stanley and his wife Muriel Frances had four children: son Don and daughters Isobel, Dorothy and Frances. Following the death in 1951 of his first wife, Stanley married Margaret Muir. He had three brothers and a sister. His son was also a hockey player and was a member of Canada's 1950 world championship team while his nephew Allan Stanley is also a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame. Following his arrival in Edmonton, Stanley became involved in the dairy industry. He first joined the Edmonton City Dairy in 1913, and remained with the firm for 11 years while he remained an active hockey player. He purchased a share in a dairy farm in 1924, and joined the Northern Alberta Dairy Pool as an assistant manager in 1929 following the conclusion of his playing career. In 1944 he became the general manager of the pool. He held the position until his retirement in 1961. Remaining active in hockey, Stanley coached the Edmonton Poolers junior team between 1929 and 1931. He was a member of the hockey committee of the Edmonton Exhibition Association when the Flyers won the Allan Cup national senior championship in 1948. Stanley also designed one of the sport's first hockey helmets, presented to the NHL's board of governors without interest after Chicago's Dick Irvin suffered a fractured skull during a game. A proponent of youth involvement in sport, Stanley served two years as president of Edmonton's junior baseball league, and was also president of the Edmonton and District Hockey Association into the 1940s.
