Clarence Sutherland Campbell, was a Canadian ice hockey executive, referee, and soldier. He refereed in the National Hockey League (NHL) during the 1930s, served in the Canadian Army during World War II, then served as the third president of the NHL from 1946 to 1977. His tenure as president included the Richard Riot and the 1967 NHL expansion. His career was recognized with induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1966, and the naming of the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl for him.

The Richard Riot was a riot on March 17, 1955, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The riot was named after Maurice Richard, the star ice hockey player for the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL). Following a violent altercation on March 13 in which Richard hit a linesman, NHL president Clarence Campbell suspended him for the remainder of the 1954–55 NHL season, including the playoffs. Montreal fans protested that the suspension was too severe; the team's largely Francophone fan base claimed the length of the suspension was motivated by Richard's French Canadian ethnicity. Outside of Montreal, however, the suspension was seen as justified and, if anything, too short.