Born in Aurora, Minnesota, he grew up in nearby Eveleth. Growing up, Karakas and Frank Brimsek, who also became a goaltender in the NHL, were battery mates for their high schoolbaseball team, with Karakas catching. Karakas played six full seasons for the Chicago Black Hawks between 1936 and 1945. In his first season with the Black Hawks, Karakas was awarded the Calder Memorial Trophy after posting a 1.85 goals-against-average with nine shutouts in 48 games. Karakas was only invited to play for the Black Hawks because their regular goaltender, Lorne Chabot, was injured. After posting four wins in four games, with three shutouts, the Black Hawks made Karakas their starting goaltender; Chabot was later traded to the Montreal Maroons. Karakas won the Stanley Cup in the 1937–38 season, playing for the first out of two teams which won the Cup with a losing record. For the 1937-38 Chicago Black Hawks season, their owner, Major Frederic McLaughlin, order his general manager to "ice a team of all American players." After losing five of its six first games with an all-American roster, some Canadian players were added; however, the team finished the season with a 14–25–9 record for a.411 winning percentage. In the playoffs, Karakas suffered a broken toe just before the start of the Stanley Cup final against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Black Hawks were forced to substitute Alfie Moore for Karakas in the first game. After the first game, Moore was ruled ineligible, and the Black Hawks lost the next game. Karakas returned with a steel-toed boot and won the next two games, leading the Black Hawks to their second Stanley Cup win. Overall in that playoff run, Karakas had a 6–2 record, with two shutouts and a 1.71 goals-against-average. Karakas also surrendered an overtime goal clinching a Stanley Cup by Toe Blake in the 1944 Stanley Cup Finals. After helping Chicago win the Stanley Cup in 1938, Karakas asked the team's owners for a US$500 raise. The owners refused the raise, and for the next five seasons Karakas played three full seasons in the American Hockey League, and split two between the AHL and the NHL. Karakas had 28 shutouts in the regular season, and another three in the playoffs in his six seasons in the NHL. In each of the six full seasons in which Karakas appeared, he played all 48 games. In 1973, Karakas was named as an original member of the United StatesHockey Hall of Fame, located in his hometown of Eveleth.
