BOBBY ORR TURNS 72

During these difficult days of the COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing, and self-isolation, there isn't much joy. The news is mostly doom and gloom.

But what a joy it is to wish hockey icon, Bobby Orr, a happy 72nd birthday!

In the early 1960s, Wren Blair ran both the EPHL Kingston Frontenacs and the EHL Clinton Comets. Also, he served as a scout for the Boston Bruins. Part of his responsibilities was to bring the Oshawa Generals, sponsored by the Bruins, back to life in the Metro Major Junior A League.

But his biggest assignment was to sign Bobby Orr to a Junior A Playing Card prior to the 1962-63 hockey season to skate for the Generals. Also, this meant Orr became property of the NHL Bruins.

Blair first scouted Bobby Orr in 1961, when the native of Parry Sound, Ontario, played Bantam hockey. Orr's team was facing Gananoque in the Eastern Ontario final.

In his book, The Bird: The life and Times of Hockey Legend Wren Blair, he wrote about attending the game and talking with Orr's coach, former NHL defenceman Bucko MacDonald.

I didn't know his name until the game was over. The kid had played the entire game. He never left the ice, except once when he got a two-minute penalty ... "Wren, his name is Robert Gordon Orr." That was the first time I had ever heard this young man's name. "As you know Wren, I am a part time scout for the Detroit Red Wings, and he is going to Detroit, so I wouldn't waste my time."... I've often been asked by many people if I discovered Bobby Orr. I certainly did not discover Bobby Orr, probably  none of us from Boston did. Bucko already knew that Orr was a great talent before we saw him that day.

Wren Blair signed Robert Gordon Orr when he turned 14 in March of 1962.

And as they say, the rest in history.