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  Lester B. Pearson Award (now called the Ted Lindsay Award)

  In winning this, you are being recognized by your peers, and that gives this award extra meaning. To have the respect of your colleagues is something any professional athlete tries to achieve, so winning the Pearson Award was pretty special.

  Lester Patrick Trophy (Service to Hockey in the United States)

  The list of names on that trophy makes it a unique honor. The NHL has done a good job of growing the game in the United States, and quite a bit of that expansion took place during my time in the league. It has been wonderful to see how hockey has taken off in many places across the United States.

  Bobby Orr Elementary School

  This great school in Oshawa, Ontario, is filled with dedicated professional educators and a terrific bunch of kids. I have been able to visit a few times over the years, and of course the kids don’t know me, but that’s okay. It’s wonderful to be associated with such a school by having my name on the outside. I am especially touched that we have a special-needs section of the facility that helps so many deserving children in so many unique ways.

  Bobby Orr Hall of Fame

  The creation of this hall of fame is an honor I would never have dreamed of when I was growing up in Parry Sound, in part because it keeps bringing me home. The Charles W. Stockey Centre, which comprises a performing arts center and our hall of fame, is a very functional facility and something I’m very proud to be a part of. Each year at the hall, we honor a select few deserving recipients. Honorees are men and women who have made outstanding contributions in the community and region, and the list to date is quite impressive. It is a pleasure to participate in recognizing so many people who have done so much for others.

  “The Goal” Statue, Boston

  It’s nice to know that this moment in time has been captured in this way, and that the legacy of that team will live on through the statue. It’s very humbling.

  Number Retirement, Boston Bruins, and Oshawa Generals

  It’s a great feeling to know that those two organizations think highly enough of my contributions that they would retire my number. I’m sure a lot of people didn’t realize that in Oshawa it was number 2, not 4. I went there as a boy in 1962, and I really grew up in that city. I still have many dear friends in the city and region. I am still connected with General Motors of Canada as well, so Oshawa has remained a big part of my life.

  As for the Bruins, the day they hoisted my sweater to the rafters was pretty emotional. It happened to be an exhibition game against the Russians that night, and the ceremony took quite a long time, as the fans would not stop applauding until I put on my old Boston sweater. I’m sure the Russians were asking each other who this Number 4 guy was. But my best memories are of those Boston fans—the best fans in the game.

  Olympic Flag-Bearer

  That was quite a view walking into the Olympic stadium for the 2010 Winter Games carrying one corner of the Olympic flag. Getting to meet and chat with the other participants in that ceremony was something I’ll not soon forget. The late Betty Fox, Donald Sutherland, Anne Murray, Jacques Villeneuve, the late Barbara Ann Scott, Senator Roméo Dallaire, and Julie Payette: my fellow flag-bearers all deserve to be mentioned. As I’ve often noted, I had the opportunity to wear the colors of my country as an athlete only once, in 1976, so carrying the Olympic flag was another chance to represent Canada, but in a different way. It will go down as one of the greatest experiences in my life. Mind you, I have taken some heat from family and friends for the white suit and shoes I was asked to wear that day!

  Records

  Most points in one NHL season by a defenseman (139; 1970–71)

  Most assists in one NHL season by a defenseman (102; 1970–71)

  Highest plus/minus in one NHL season (+124; 1970–71)

  Tied for most assists in one NHL game by a defenseman (6; tied with Babe Pratt, Pat Stapleton, Ron Stackhouse, Paul Coffey, and Gary Suter)

  Awards

  OHA First All-Star Team in 1964, 1965, and 1966

  Awarded the Calder Memorial Trophy (rookie of the year) in 1967, the youngest ever to win the award, and the youngest ever to win a major NHL award up to that time

  Named to the NHL Second All-Star Team in 1966–67 (as a rookie; his only full season when he did not make the First Team)

  Named to the NHL First All-Star Team eight times consecutively (from 1968 to 1975)

  Awarded the James Norris Trophy (for best defenseman) eight times (from 1968 to 1975, his last full season)

  Played in the NHL All-Star Game eight times (from 1968 to 1975)

  Won the Art Ross Trophy (awarded to league’s top scorer) in 1969–70 and 1974–75

  NHL Plus/Minus leader in 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974, and 1975, the most in history

  Awarded the Hart Memorial Trophy (awarded for league’s most valuable player) three times consecutively (from 1970 to 1972)

  Awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy (awarded to playoff MVP) in 1970 and 1972, the first two-time winner of the playoff MVP award

  Stanley Cup winner in 1970 and 1972

  Won Lou Marsh Trophy (Canadian athlete of the year) in 1970

  NHL All-Star Game MVP in 1972

  Received Sports Illustrated magazine’s Sportsman of the Year award in 1970

  Voted the greatest athlete in Boston history in the Boston Globe newspaper’s poll of New Englanders in 1975, beating out baseball and basketball stars such as Ted Williams, Bill Russell, Carl Yastrzemski, and Bob Cousy

  Awarded the Lester B. Pearson Award (league MVP as voted by players) in 1975

  Named the Canada Cup Tournament MVP in 1976

  Awarded the Lester Patrick Trophy (league MVP as voted by players) in 1979

  Inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1979, with the mandatory three-year waiting period waived, making him the youngest inductee at thirty-one years old

  Voted the second greatest hockey player of all time by an expert committee in 1997 by the Hockey News, behind only Wayne Gretzky and ahead of Gordie Howe, as well as being named the top defenseman of all time.

  Ranked 31 in ESPN’s SportsCentury: 50 Greatest Athletes of the 20th Century in 1999

  Named the top defenseman of all time in 2010 by the Hockey News

  CONTRACTS

  This is my first contract, handwritten by Wren Blair on stationery from the Brunswick Hotel. Dated September 3, 1962, this document commits me to playing for the Oshawa Generals for at least four games in the upcoming season, in exchange for $1,000 and $12 per week. In addition, the Bruins were to pay to have our house stuccoed, “in full, at a cost of approximately $850,” and my father was to receive a used car, “up to a 1956 model, of the father’s choice.”

  This is my first contract with Boston. I was to be given a $5,000 bonus in both of my first two years for playing in the majority of the Bruins games. In return, I committed to “give [my] best services and loyalty to the club” and to “conduct [myself] on and off the rink according to the highest standards of honesty, morality, fair play, and sportsmanship.”

  CAREER STATISTICS AND RECORDS

  AFTERWORD

  If you are supposed to meet Bobby Orr at 6:30 A.M., make sure you’re there for 6:15. You have to adjust your clock to “Orr time” if you don’t want to be late. He’s a morning person.

  In spring 2010, I was waiting for Bobby on the practice green of a golf course in Florida. We were to tee off at 7 A.M., which meant that, according to Orr time, I should get there fifteen minutes early, half an hour if I wanted to get a coffee and take a few practice putts before we headed out at 6:45.

  Right on time he rolled up at the end of the practice green, signaling from the golf cart that he was ready to play. We hit off the first tee and away we went, my head snapping back and forth every time the vehicle accelerated. That’s
just the way Bobby Orr drives a golf cart.

  Things were going along swimmingly as we finished up at the seventh green. If memory serves me correctly, I had just birdied the hole to Bob’s par, which meant that I was now three up in our match. (Yes, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.) Anyway, I sat down in the passenger side of the cart and waited for Bobby to stomp on the gas pedal again.

  I braced for the whiplash but nothing happened. “This is kind of weird,” I thought. “We are out of rhythm here.” When I glanced over to my left, Number 4 was leaning on the steering wheel looking at me. He was giving me an odd kind of contemplative stare. Then he smiled and said, “Okay ... let’s do the book.”

  Over the next eleven holes that day, we mapped out in general terms what the objectives for the book would be as well as some of the potential chapter topics. I was using one of the pencils you get from the clubhouse to mark your score card and scribbling notes and reminders to myself on any scrap of paper I could find. If Bobby Orr wants to write a book, you don’t want to miss a word. The first words of this book were recorded on a napkin in the Florida sunshine.

  It was a special day for me because we had talked about this project many years before. Bobby and I have worked together on other projects, and I’ve worked on other books, so it seemed like a natural fit. But when I first broached the topic, his response was terse. “I’m not ever doing a book” was his first reaction, followed by “Who would want to read that book anyway?”

  That’s Bobby Orr right there. This is a guy who redefined the game of hockey. A player who did things on the ice that still give people chills thirty-five years later. A man whose life off the ice has become the stuff of legend. And he actually wonders whether his story is worth reading. It’s not false modesty. He knows very well who he is and what he has done. He just doesn’t assume that anything he has done automatically makes him deserving of anyone else’s praise.

  More than anything, perhaps, that is what is most impressive about Bobby Orr. He’s a small-town guy who not only made it big but also became arguably the best to ever play the game—and it didn’t change him one bit. He really doesn’t think he is better than anyone else. I hope that is the way he comes across in these pages.

  If there is one thing Bobby Orr doesn’t want to talk about, it’s himself. So writing a book was never going to be easy. Finding the right words for something he would have been happy to leave unsaid is a challenge we struggled with for a long time, and there is a whole category of stories that didn’t make it into the book: anything that might seem like bragging. Goals he scored, fights he won, records he set, awards he took home. He is just not interested in seeing any of that in print.

  That is another way he is unique—I know that whole generations of hockey fans are interested. I am glad Bobby asked me to help him get his words on paper because that gave me the opportunity to get him to talk about himself in a way he otherwise wouldn’t. The words and thoughts in this book are all Bobby’s, from start to finish, but I’d like to think that some of them would never have been written if he hadn’t been pushed. Not that it was easy. If I tried to get one of his accomplishments into the book, he shut me down. If I suggested a phrase that didn’t sound like him, he would shake his head and say, “Too much honey.” No one is going to get Bobby Orr to do something he doesn’t want to do, and no one is going to put words in his mouth. Luckily that was never my job. My job was to help put forward the real voice of Bobby Orr, because that is the way he wanted it to read.

  Having been around Bobby over the years, I have a pretty good sense of how he speaks and how he delivers a thought. When he begins a sentence, I can usually tell you how he will finish it. I suppose that means that I have come to know the real Bobby Orr pretty well, and that is the person who needed to speak authentically in these pages.

  Bobby Orr is held to a certain kind of mythical status by the general public, and often people who breathe that rarefied air aren’t who they appear to be. But that’s not the case here. Am I suggesting that he never has a bad day? No, you bet he does. Truth be told, there are some days when it is best that people just keep their distance. Will he occasionally get irritated when the 415th person in an autograph line that has gone on for three hours brings in several items to sign when a limit of one had been set? I’ve seen him cast the odd nasty glare on such occasions. But I can tell you that he has never forgotten where he comes from. Knowing the man, having helped with the research, and having spent some time helping put this book together, I’ve come to appreciate him even more for who he was, who he is, and what he stands for. Nothing is free in this world, and people such as Bobby Orr inevitably pay a price for their fame. In his case, I believe that he has handled his celebrity with a kind of dignity and grace far beyond what most of us should expect.

  His parents did a great job. He’s the real deal.

  Vern Stenlund

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I wish to acknowledge several people for helping me achieve my objectives for this project. Without the integrity and hard work of Nick Garrison and his crew at Penguin Books in Canada, we never could have made it to the finish line. His tremendous support in making this book a reality cannot be underestimated. So thank you, Nick, and all the gang in Toronto. In addition, the people from Penguin in New York, headed by Neil Nyren, also stepped up and provided invaluable assistance as well with the U.S. launch. Many thanks.

  Thank you to all those friends and family who helped in jogging my memory about details from the past while allowing me to confirm my own remembrances of specific events. You are too numerous to mention, but you know who you are and I am so very grateful to you for your help. Thank you.

  Finally, my special thanks go to my friend Vern Stenlund for helping me get all this down on paper. We’ve worked on a few projects over the years, but this one required special patience.

  SOURCES

  Some information contained throughout Chapters 1 and 2 was verified through the self-published book Early Hockey Years in Parry Sound: The Orr/Crisp Years, Part 2, 1942–1973, by Rick Thomas.

  Some information contained in Chapter 3 with respect to the Oshawa years was verified through the book The Bird: The Life and Times of Hockey Legend Wren Blair, by Wren Blair, with Ron Brown and Jill Blair, published by Quarry Heritage Books, Kingston, Ontario, 2003.

  Some information contained in Chapter 9 with respect to Alan Eagleson was verified through the book Game Misconduct: Alan Eagleson and the Corruption of Hockey, revised edition, by Russ Conway, published by Macfarlane Walter & Ross, Toronto, 1997.

  Some information contained in Chapter 11 under the heading “So You Want to Be a Professional Hockey Player . . . ” is a modified version of information previously provided by Dale Dunbar for clients of Orr Hockey Group.

  Some information in the appendix, “Career Statistics and Records,” is reprinted from bobbyorr.com.

  PHOTO CREDITS

  All photos courtesy of Bobby Orr’s personal collection unless listed below.

  1962 fire department midget team: Courtesy of the Bobby Orr Hall of Fame

  With Anthony Gilchrist et al.: Courtesy of the Bobby Orr Hall of Fame

  Practice with Sanderson: Courtesy of The Brearley Collection, Inc.

  Pre-season rookie year: Frank Prazak/Library and Archives Canada

  The 1970 goal: Courtesy of the Bobby Orr Hall of Fame

  With “Frosty” Forrestall: Credit Al Ruelle

  With Milt Schmidt: Credit Al Ruelle

  With Phil Esposito et al.: Frank O’Brien/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

  Orr announces retirement: © Bettmann/CORBIS

  Orr Night: © Bettmann/CORBIS

  “Praying to God”: Jaclyn Currier/Befria Photography

  Endpapers: © Bettman/CORBIS

  INDEX

  The page numbers in this index refer to the printed version of this book. The link provi
ded will take you to the beginning of that print page. You may need to scroll forward from that location to find the corresponding reference on your e-reader.

  Adams, Dr. Ronald, 116

  Adams, Weston, 65, 112, 263

  Ali, Muhammad, 151–52

  Alsemgeest, Marty, 202

  Armstrong, George, 30–31

  Awrey, Don, 125

  Bailey, Garnet (Ace), 9–10, 86, 133, 242–43

  Bailey, Kathy, 9

  Barber, Bill, 180

  Baun, Bob, 193

  Bay Bank, 211

  Béliveau, Jean, 142–44, 215, 251, 263

  Berenson, Red, 124

  Beverley, Nick, 81

  Bird, Larry, 158, 212

  Blair, Wren, 52, 58, 63–64, 65, 66, 67–69, 77, 78, 84, 85

  Bloomfield, Roddy, 18

  Bloomfield, Roy, 31, 37

  Bobby Orr Elementary School, 264–65

  Bobby Orr Hall of Fame, 37, 54, 265

  Bolahood, Joe, 83

  Bossy, Mike, 223

  Boston Bruins, 65, 66, 89

  1968 playoffs, 116–17

  1969 playoffs, 117–18, 119–20

  1970 playoffs, 121–28

  1972 playoffs, 134–36

  changes in, 161, 178

  coaching changes, 131

  courting of Orr, 65–69

  and expansion draft, 109

  fans, 144–46

  improvements in, 117, 121