Bruins legend turning 70
Bobby Orr turns 70 tomorrow. Can you believe it?
It’s like hearing Tinker Bell has become a grandmother.
From the get-go, ever since he joined the Bruins in the fall of 1966 at the age of 18, hockey, having never seen anything like Bobby before, has never seen anything like him again.
He was the best ever, no discussion, end of story. Offense, defense, it made no difference; he was hockey’s king of the hill, period.
One night, during a Jim- my Fund event at the Sheraton Boston, a highlight film showed him at his incomparable peak.
“Coming from Ohio, I knew nothing about hockey,” fellow head table guest John Havlicek whispered as Bobby’s moves wowed the audience. “But any athlete watching this could easily pick him out as different from all of the others.”
Brilliance on skates was only a part of what made Bobby truly special in this town. Think about it: Has there ever been a scandal, an embarrassing situation or even a discouraging word associated with his name?
How can anyone live that long in the public eye and emerge unscathed at 70?
It might help to know where he came from.
When he was shockingly traded to the Blackhawks near the end of his career, his mother, Arva, was contacted by a Chicago columnist.
“Tell me, Mrs. Orr,” he asked, “you must be awfully proud of your son.”
“Which one?” she “I have three.”
Or there was the time when the overbearing father of an up-and-coming hotshot named Eric Lindros happened to cross paths with Bobby’s father, Doug.
“Mr. Orr,” he said, introducing himself, “my son might do what your son did. What can I do to help make that happen?” replied.
“Absolutely nothing,” Doug Orr assured him.
It was not uncommon for Bobby, while under contract with a prominent stick company, to tell kids, “Now don’t go making your parents buy expensive sticks for pond hockey. A $5 stick is all you need out there. That’s all I ever had.”
One night a youngster noted how “unlucky” Bobby was because of the bum knees that ended his effectiveness at 28.
“No,” Bobby told him. “I was lucky. I got to play here. The real ‘tragedy’ would have been if my knees gave out before I got to the Bruins because I didn’t have an education to fall back on.
“So I want you all to promise me you’ll work as hard in the classroom as you do at the rink, OK?”
A superstar indeed. And now he’s a septuagenarian, too.
Happy birthday, old-timer.