Walking Together Forever: Flyers Event Here Marks Their Stanley Cup Golden Anniversary
Jimmy (left) and Joe Watson (right) were among those drinking from the Stanley Cup.
In 1974, the Boys of Summer on the Seven Mile Beach and throughout the Jersey Shore were a bunch of young Canadians who earned their reputations in the constant winter of hockey arenas.
It was on a hot, muggy Sunday afternoon in May half a century ago that the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the heavily favored big, bad Boston Bruins, 1-0, in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals at the Spectrum to set off a wild, summer-long celebration that spread to the Jersey Shore, and it still echoes today. That sweet victory over Bobby Orr and the Bruins sparked a lifelong love affair between the entire Philadelphia area and the team nicknamed the Broad Street Bullies.
And the love affair that celebrates its golden anniversary this summer is especially evident in Avalon, where over the years so many of those legendary players have chosen to spend summers with their families. In fact, in the summer of 1974 – after winning that Cup – the Flyers played a charity softball game in Avalon, set up by Jack Erkert of Jack’s Place. It would become a tradition for the Flyers to barnstorm the shore and the entire region with summer softball.
“We really became part of the community,” says Flyers Hall of Fame defenseman Joe Watson. “Those softball games were a blast, the people just loved us, and we loved them back – still do.”
Indeed, they still do, which is why it will be a special day in Avalon on Saturday, June 15 when the Avalon Free Public Library will hold a 50th anniversary celebration of the first Cup. Five players are expected to attend the celebration at Surfside Park: Don Saleski, Bob Kelly, Dave Schultz, and the Watson brothers, Joe and Jimmy. In other words – Big Bird, Hound, Hammer, and the Watson brothers.
It sure has been a long time since they played that softball game in Avalon, but for so many fans – and the players themselves, it seems like yesterday. There has been a lifetime of change since 1974, the year “Happy Days” and the Fonz first appeared on TV, Watergate was the summer headline, Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s home run record, and the Flyers shocked the hockey world by becoming the first expansion team to win the Cup.
In fact, the Flyers would win the Cup again the next season, and that would be the last team to win a Cup with a roster of all Canadian-born players. But those Canadian boys, the kids who grew up in places that stretched from the prairies of Saskatchewan, to the lakes of Manitoba, and into the province of Quebec, quickly became heart-and-soul Philadelphians.
“Fifty years,” says Saleski, a longtime Avalon homeowner. “Where the [bleep] did the time go? So many memories, but what I remember most is the stuff Freddie did,” referring to coach Fred Shero. “We were in Boston for Game 2, we had never won in Boston. It’s in overtime and Freddie sends Clarkie out with Schultz and [Bill] Flett. Not exactly a first line, we’re on the bench shaking our heads thinking, ‘What’s he doing with those guys out with Clarkie? And sure enough, Clarkie scores.
“Freddie just did counterintuitive stuff the whole time. At the beginning of the series, he told us to just keep sending the puck into Orr’s side of the ice. “Yeah, right, give Bobby Orr the puck. But by the end he was right, we kept hitting Orr and he was dog tired when it was over.
“And that last game, I remember Phil Esposito skating past me in the final period, pointing his head toward Bernie [Parent, the Hall of Fame goalie] and saying, ‘Nobody’s beating that guy today.’”
Joe Watson recently played his final hockey game as an alumni member at the age of 80 and told his story in the book, “Thundermouth.” The former defenseman still has a booming voice and a firm handshake that will have fans gasping in pain.
“Sometimes, it still does feel like it just happened,” says Watson, who came to Philadelphia after a stint in Boston. “I think about what happened to all of us.
“I remember, the mayor gave us a parade when we first started in Philadelphia, a new team in a new sport, and nobody knew us. I remember thinking at that parade, ‘Heck, there are more people in the parade as a team than there were people watching the parade! And a few years later we won the Cup, and my God, the parade was just massive. It was just massive, and people still talk about it.”
Indeed, they do.
“It is nice for everybody to remember everything,” says Bob “Hound” Kelly, who is now a team ambassador. “But I guess what we all really want is for the team to win another Cup – and I think with what has happened in the past year or so has us on the right path back.
“It’s nice to have people remember us, and actually pass the stories down through the families. But it’s also nice to see the crowds come back and see the new names on the backs of jerseys.”
That’s all true, plenty of jerseys on the beach with names such as Konecny and Couturier and everybody from Tocchet to Laughton, but the classic names of the guys who won those Cups will always be in style. They are the vintage names, and they can never be replaced, mostly because they actually have their names on the Stanley Cup.
Kelly, who had to miss that sweet victory in 1974 because of a knee injury in the seven-game semifinals against the New York Rangers, was a huge part of the team’s success. He was an energizer who pumped pure adrenaline into the team whenever he hit the ice. It was difficult being injured for the final portion of the run to the first Cup, but it was just a year later when all that energy turned into the opportunity of a lifetime. That was when the Hound chased down a loose puck behind the Buffalo Sabres’ net and scored what would be the winning goal for a second consecutive Stanley Cup.
“I guess you could say I was well-rested,” says Kelly, who maintains his infectious sense of humor. “Fifty years ago, I remember older players saying, ‘Enjoy all of this, enjoy the Cups, because your career is going to go by as fast as the flip of a coin,’ and that’s what it feels like today.”
It is a group that has lived the reality of those famous words that were scrawled on the chalk board by coach Shero before Game 6 half a century ago: “Win today and we walk together forever.”
Those words turned out to be so true, and they will be full display in Avalon again when Kelly and Joe Watson join Schultz, Saleski, and Jimmy Watson to serve as a reminder of how much a team can become so much a part of the fabric of a city and region well beyond the opening faceoffs and final playing days. For so many, 50 years ago seems like yesterday, but the names and stories will live on through endless tomorrows.