Paramount inventor to be inducted into U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame

When I covered the city of Paramount as a beat reporter, I always thought it oddly fascinating that the Zamboni machine --- the iconic ice smoother that rolls out at nearly every hockey game half-time and pre-skating competition --- would be invented in some snowy place such as Canada or Finland, not in sunny Southern California.

But it was here in unassuming Paramount --- former stomping grounds of Long Beach City Manager Pat West --- where the late Frank Zamboni created the storied ice-resurfacing machine and where the Zamboni family still manufactures the machines in a warehouse. (Sometimes, workers take the Zamboni machines down the main street for a test drive.)      

This week, it was announced that Frank Zamboni will be inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame with former NHL stars Tony Amonte, Tom Barrasso, John LeClair and the 1998 U.S. Olympic Women's Ice Hockey team. Zamboni, who died in 1988, is already a member of the U.S. Figure Skating Association Hall of Fame, the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame and the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Find out more about the inventor here.