SportsCentury Greatest Athletes #31: Bobby Orr

[Music] in Canada he's a God in Boston he's a living saint but what history records is the simple truth he swept into the league at a very high speed and by means of his athletic genius revolutionized the game by crossing the blue line he became the link between Gordie Howe and Wayne Gretzky ladies and gentlemen number four Bobby Orr even during the frigid winter when you're outside playing pond hockey no socks as well-versed my life's a disappointment because I I didn't turn out to be the next Bobby or I felt like Bobby Orr was Wayne Gretzky and everyone else all holding [Music] ted was always down his eyes were always down very self-conscious and unsure of himself off the ice and the minute you put him on the ice he just took over the game I remember that when I had breakfast in the coffee shop that first morning that I was there the waitress and everybody seemed to understand that the stranger from the United States was there because of Bobby Orr [Music] probably nothing had ever happened in Parry Sound I'm so Bobby you were started playing hockey our icon was Bobby Orr he was the one that was taking the mantle of Perry south putting Perry sound on the back when Bobby Orr was born on the banks of Parry Sound in 1948 they say he already knew how to skate you just little fella and we just give him a stick and a puck and let him go I can remember we're kids we go out and skate and what they call a big sound everyone sort of went with the flowing I was a puck you went with him and he'd pass the puck to score a lot of kids playing hockey where they had one rank so we're the winter turns to get inside to play so 10 or 12 or 59 HDM drop the puck know where you're going that's really how we've evolved our skills improving himself a hockey prodigy or join the parry sound shamrocks at age 11 and under the tutelage of local hockey guru buckle MacDonald he flourished he was playing with players that were three and four years older than him and he was standing held above them just from the first few times you saw white this guy was good everybody else watched even offensively tournament in rural Ontario when they first discovered it he was five four three five foot four so that he was not preeminent physically it's just the edges obvious extraordinary talent amazing gift from God I said Scirocco who is that kid in between he said ran his name is Robert Gordon or I spent two years romancing I guess probably the right word Bobby and his family the romancing was less than extravagant the free stucco job on the for residents in twenty eight hundred dollars in cash bought Bobbi's signature on a brewing contract now The Prodigy was a pro that's when everybody first started saying who is this doctor what makes him so good that did take in at 14 years old and plunk him against 18 19 20 goals and all-star at each of four seasons with the Oshawa Generals or was prevented by any children joining the Bruins until she was 18 meanwhile Boston fans wept and waited as the Bruins finished in the cellar three of those four years he was the Phenom he was the future of the Boston boys and we all heard about I had heard about him from the Boston writers covering the Celtics for years Bobby Orr's to say these various john the baptist's he were worth coming to Boston there's this savior coming up when Bobby finally landed in Boston in 1966 the long wait he was without a doubt the best player on guys in the very first day immediately they all tested or or came in when there were only six teams and it was tough to make the league and everybody tried you on for size particularly work easy somebody asked for it you gave it to him and you didn't have to take any back seat as far as strong as Dukes right fast and talented on the ice the quiet boy from Perry sound shove the night world of Fame and celebrity or was someone embarrassed introverted to the point where I mean hang out in the trainer's room we go to a restaurant to eat and he was so shy that if he noticed somebody looking at it was pay the bill let's go have room I didn't want to kind of hide in my room I said bye I'd be late now enjoy life the best hockey player in the world enjoy it no no it's wrong after that Bobby Orr was on a mission and his mission was to take the Boston Bruins out of the doldrums out of the basement and trying whenever Stanley Cup we won NHL rookie of the year or didn't lift Boston out of last place much less give them a shot at the Stanley Cup make no mistake the Messiah had arrived you feel insecure for centuries 50 greatest athletes is presented by the wide track run free by Padilla wider is better also brought to you by 10 10 3 2 1 dial oven-safe 50% on calls over 10 minutes by master carver there are some things money can't buy or everything else there's MasterCard and by night caviar I'm told that you are the highest-paid 22 year old Canadian in the history of this country is this true well I'm very happy with what I make [Music] [Music] he could get from point A to point B faster than anybody else never could I always said he had 18 speed to forward or no reverse I had the puck a lot that's a pretty good defense when you have the because they've got to get it from [Music] you always waited for the moment when he got the puck behind his own net and you could see him looking and scanning and there were those five players in front of the goaltender and they you knew no that was gonna stop them from his wheelhouse behind the net Bobby Orr defied the gods of hockey daring to cross the blue line and attack the net defenseman never rushed the puck past center defenseman never went into the opposition end they always stayed in their point and they play defense when they're told get the puck up to a forward as soon as you can and just follow up behind but don't take any chances at all why would well-conditioned good athletes playing defense basically stop playing once they hit the cinema why wouldn't they press support and Bobby Orr was that transitional player he was good enough strong enough quick enough talented enough that he could be part of the offensive rush and still get back to defend he was like a tiger on defense he could hit but nobody did it with his much force and as much Flair and as often as Bobby Orr did after four seasons Bobby Orr led the Bruins to the Stanley Cup Finals one back the hearts of Bostonians who had to see the championship since 1941 he's just dropped in the hospital we drive him by one he dropped it's all right we got an hour on the bus you some cake these kids would look up the teddy bears and stuffed animals when they looked up all father your they'd all get something everybody wanted their kid to be barbecue you never saw so many hot you Rachel has grown up there was one hot you right on the city they started building links in every neighborhood it was like two ranks in every neighbor everybody was playing hockey basketball didn't exist when I was going in the Celtics at that time won 11 championships out of 13 years they were so struggle to fill receipts and they were second in the sports page once Bob you arrived in IBC or attracted thousands millions of non-hodgkin's women could watch him Hey look at that handsome kid right look look at him gold but didn't have to understand the game didn't have to know what a blue line was in game four Boston was on the verge of sweeping st. Louis when or ever Rock the garden in 1970 nobody that was New England that day sudden-death overtime between two fine hockey teams the Boston Bruins and the st. Louis looks a typical Bobby Orr determined play to do it to win this down the top was widened Kenan where'd of a hot off I knew he was gonna come from that was coming in on an angle that he always came in on that if he didn't get it it's gone and in the pocket did not buy me we might have had a problem I probably live in a two or [Music] it wasn't the greatest goal that was ever scored it was the fourth game of a four-game sweep one side of the playoffs here was the greatest picture ever [Music] and we reenacted that can you trip me I'm Bobby where I go up up with my hands like that in that 1970 championship season or earned the distinction of being the only player to win all four major awards MVP best defenseman playoff MVP and the scoring title two years later or led the Bruins back to the Stanley Cup Finals to face the New York Rangers you had the natural Red Sox Yankee so he had this real Boston New York hey everybody was even except for that one one for one player Bobby Orr where did he go you know and it's a move that nobody had ever seen originated we over here in case you know what family is all about that's what it's always winning his second playoff MVP Bobby Orr was hailed the best defenseman of all time his part to top the hockey world he couldn't see the injuries and financial treachery [Music] if you don't want to hit or be hit and should be playing this game or underwent a third operation on his left knee following the 1972 Stanley Cup yet he continued applying with that same reckless abandon he put himself in spots and took hits that most other players would have bailed out on you can't go up to see Bobby and say Bobby take it easy don't carry the partner that's insane crashed he went through he went through holes he portal and ergo the knees they was in pain constantly but did you imagine if he had two good knees hope he would have been we all were robbed with a lot of good hockey by Bobby Orr simply because his knees just gave out and couldn't take it anymore when he missed 15 games of the 1973 season his teammates began to wonder at the end was near he had no cartilage left to protect him it was just born rebel against boom they come up over here they use the same sky up over here a couple of times you could never discuss it with him about pain or the leg he didn't want it here he just wanted to play toughness isn't always fighting or her body checking it out like that it's a guy who hates his leg up and was on plays when he shouldn't done and he's the best player play cooler was or played on it's a Boston to the 1974 Stanley Cup Finals a year later he won his second scoring title and his eighth straight Norris Trophy the damage was mounting and in 1876 poor played only 10 games ruined management saw the writing on the wall the Bruins had expressed an opinion that he didn't have many games left to play and I think that hurt Bobby to hear that unable to reach an agreement with the Bruins or was a free agent after a decade in Boston he signed a five-year three million dollar contract with the Chicago Blackhawks now the fans a bus and a picket on the Bruins to get rid of Bobby was their favorite son you meet people and say I haven't gone to a game since or left the end was slow and painful playing in only 26 games and three seasons Bobby war finally called her today in November 1978 when Mario rkv Chicago considered that he would carry him at least 50% of what he had done in Boston but it didn't even carry him 10% I was so frustrated he's a guy but probably one of the most talented players if not the most that ever played and he couldn't do it I am officially retiring as a player and that is leaving the world I'm disappointed but I am relieved I would not want to do that my life thinking well maybe there was that chance and I know I'm no longer able to play a three-time MVP eight times an all-star the bone of my commercial superstar should have been in great financial shape but or have been blindsided by his agent and friend Alan Eagleson Bob you are youth understand wanted absolutely nothing to do with anything that wasn't hottie oriented and so Alan Eagleson do that for Nielson promised million invited Simon who's twenty game all his business and financial affairs endorsements were strictly a legal son's department not only had or been misled in his financial affairs he was shocked to learn that a golden opportunity back in Boston had been kept from him Bobby Orr had a chance Oh part of the Boston Bruins to own a major league franchise telling you oh yes it's you know then why did you turn that deal back tried yoga when I saw letter roped declining behalf and father your ownership of 18 and a half percent of the Bruins I was I was dumbfounded I wasn't paying attention you know some some things maybe I should have an informed informed about I was not sitting cost his top client millions but had ever more to answer for after masterminding a scheme to defraud his own union of pension and health benefits Bobby you're literally maybe because then I became the agent for many other players what you had yet was a lawyer who was an agent that represented as many as 150 players at one time who ended up being the head of the Union the union boss the international hockey's I take this hat off put that hat on it was a hat trick we thought he was a god we we thought he was the greatest thing the world to happen to us that's how stupid we were he kept telling us that you guys got the best pension plan in the world our pension plans a joke if you look at what he did to the players that he was supposedly representing the only inference you can draw is that this is the biggest fraud in the history of the sports industry the prominent person who became weak a know-it-all the father York and he treated Bobby Orr you know it's a disposable napkin with or present in a Boston courtroom Eagleson pled guilty to fraud in 1998 he would serve six months in a Canadian jail and was pressured to resign from the Hockey Hall of Fame as for or he returned was adoptive home of Boston and rebuild his career as a businessman and spokesman the wife of a retired hockey player is a tough one there's never a moment's peace for all of his post hockey success Bobby Orr will forever be scarred by what Alan Eagleson did to it on the subject of a legal standing his jaw would clinch and he would tense up in you could just feel the betrayal he was embarrassed he recommended him to a lot of people but he gets nothing so you see [Music] [Music] go decal and Wayne Gretsky major of Bobby Orr Sports centuries 50 greatest athletes is presented by the wide track Grand Prix by Pontiac wider is better also brought to you by Bud Light for the great taste that won't fill you up and never let you down make it about life by Lincoln Financial Group clear solutions in a complex world and by Burger King where you can have the delicious king of fries Burger King when you have it your way it just tastes better wide allowing bird during the national handlers look up at the Boston Garden ceiling no one knew until a night in 1988 when at a dinner Larry Bird explained to an audience which included Bobby Orr that what he was doing was looking at Bobby was retired number four and when he said that I'll never forget Bobby was sitting next to me he reached over and just no Constance every time I looked up I always seen that the vision of him fly across the eyes every sort of gold so everybody has Bobby always motivated me it is that sort of respect that is put Bobby Orr in Boston's pantheon of sports legends our local TV station at Williams third and Lord together side-by-side for a pound Ted was driven by his son Larry came in a limo and bobby drove himself you know and that's you know he was he is and was a man of people or created venue for all the Boston Bruin players to be hugely profitable he was the Boston Bruins at the closing of the hallowed Boston Garden in 1995 hockey fans got the chance to thank Bobby Orr one more time everybody's compared to Bobby Orr now boys another war he's another war there never will be another war that's the biggest note I remember in hockey coach after coach depakote telling us you know pass the puck you're not Bobby Orr nobody's probably worried there's one Bobby Orr so then you have Denis Potvin coming into the league Paul Coffey coming into the league you have Ray Bourque coming into the league now these guys are getting twenty thirty goals seventy eighty nine points none of that happened without Bobby Orr between being put on a defense may made him master of the chessboard and we all learn from that while he was a man that paper over gave us some freedom and gave us a chance to express ourselves as players when you see that when your kid kind of gives you the not the green light but that hey there's something more than just defense if there is a player that comes along that's just as great or greater than Bobby Orr I hope the good Lord sees fit to keep me on this earth to see because see what was something special by pioneering a new kind of machi Blair Bobby Orr is mentioned in the same reverence as to other immortals Bobby Orr no question seems the game talking maybe more than any player ever did I would say I've never seen that guy who dominated both offensively defensively and I like to call them the hockey Trinity prepped he being the son now being the father and Bobby Orr like the Holy Ghost busy injury followed by treachery ended Bobby Orr's career all too soon although we can't rewrite his story he put the step towards ensuring that no other hockey prodigy from Laurel Canada gets please Bobby Orr became a player's agent in 1996 we will see that cleat when the 50 greatest athletes of the 20th century continues its countdown with number 30 this has been a presentation of the ESPN the worldwide leader in sports for more log on to espn.com are part of the go Network go.com

Channel: Max Carey

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Id: Z-gD4saUaY4

Length: 23min 46sec (1426 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 05 2018