Orr: My Story

by Bobby Orr

Overview

Hockey legend Bobby Orr tells his story, from his Ontario childhood to his years with the Bruins and Blackhawks to today in this New York Times bestselling sports memoir.

Bobby Orr is often referred to as the greatest defenseman ever to play the game of hockey. But all the brilliant achievements leave unsaid as much as they reveal. They don’t tell what inspired Orr, what drove him, what it was like for a shy small-town kid to suddenly land in the full glare of the media. They don’t tell what it was like when the agent he regarded as a brother betrayed him and left him in financial ruin. They don’t tell what he thinks of the game of hockey today.

Now he breaks his silence in a memoir as unique as the man himself....

INCLUDES PHOTOGRAPHS

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780425277027
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	10/07/2014
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	107,845
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)
Lexile:	1080L (what's this?)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Bobby Orr played for the Boston Bruins from 1966 to 1976, and then two more years for the Chicago Blackhawks. Among other records and honors, he remains the only defenseman to win the Art Ross Trophy league scoring title—twice—and he still holds the record for most points and assists at that position. He also won a record eight consecutive Norris Trophies as the NHL’s best defenseman, and three consecutive Hart Trophies as the league’s MVP, as well as two Conn Smythe Trophies as the Stanley Cup MVP. Orr was the youngest living player to be inducted in the Hockey Hall of Fame, at thirty-one.

Table of Contents

Foreword Royce Tennant xii

Introduction 1

1 Parry Sound 11

2 Lessons from my Parents 41

3 Oshawa 57

4 A Rookie in Boston: 1966-1967 91

5 Toward the Cup: 1967-1970 109

6 Heaven is Black and Gold: 1970-1975 129

7 Grapes 165

8 The Last Years: 1975-1979 177

9 About Alan Eagleson 189

10 Final Act and Beyond 207

11 State of the Game 215

Epilogue 257

Appendices

Some Awards and Recognitions: A Personal Perspective 261

Contracts 267

Career Statistics and Records 272

Afterword 277

Acknowledgments 281

Sources 283

Photo Credits 284

Index 285

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“This is a book more about a man than about a hockey player...Epic and noble.”—The Atlantic

“A must-read for anyone...who fondly remembers the glory years of the Big Bad Bruins.”—The Sun Chronicle

“[Orr] wrote the book…as if he were coaching both his sport and society, delivering lessons in honor and responsibility while he examines hockey at its best and worst.”—The Boston Globe

“A gripping personal record: tracing the arc from stunning rookie phenom to defeated hero. The story is moving. It’s a book that devotees of sport have to have on their bookshelves.”—Winnipeg Free Press

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Orr: My Story

“This is a book more about a man than about a hockey player...Epic and noble.”—The Atlantic

“A must-read for anyone...who fondly remembers the glory years of the Big Bad Bruins.”—The Sun Chronicle

“[Orr] wrote the book…as if he were coaching both his sport and society, delivering lessons in honor and responsibility while he examines hockey at its best and worst.”—The Boston Globe

“A gripping personal record: tracing the arc from stunning rookie phenom to defeated hero. The story is moving. It’s a book that devotees of sport have to have on their bookshelves.”—Winnipeg Free Press

From the Publisher

2013-10-05
One of Boston's most beloved athletes tells his life story. Orr heads the extremely short list of athletes never booed in Boston, a city notorious for turning on even its greatest stars. During a brilliant career with the Bruins, cruelly cut short by injuries, he won every award hockey had to offer and retired as the greatest defenseman ever to play. If anything, he's even more cherished now, more than 30 years later, for his modesty, courtesy and many charitable endeavors. This autobiography, by no means a tell-all, does nothing to disturb his gentlemanly image. The wonder here is that the famously reticent Orr has chosen to tell anything. He has harsh words only for his former agent Alan Eagleson, who bilked him of all the money he made in hockey, for out-of-control youth coaches and for pushy parents who rob children of the simple fun of playing the game. Otherwise, Orr has nothing but good to say about his parents, siblings, neighbors and coaches who taught him respect and responsibility as a youth in Canada; about his teammates, especially players like Johnny Bucyk, Terry O'Reilly, Derek Sanderson, Phil Esposito and general manager Milt Schmidt, to whom he attributes a lot of his pro success; about opponents he admired like Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita, Jean Béliveau, Yvan Cournoyer, Bobby Clarke and, especially, Gordie Howe, Orr's candidate for the best player ever. Orr speaks glowingly of athletes and celebrities he's met and admired, including Muhammad Ali, Arnold Palmer, Michael J. Fox and Ted Williams, and he devotes an entire chapter to his long friendship with former coach and Canadian icon Don Cherry. Orr skips lightly over his own on-ice achievements, dwelling only on the hard work and practice it took to become Bobby Orr, his abiding passion for hockey (including some observations on the state of today's game) and his love for the small town of his boyhood and the big city where he became a legend. Strictly for fans of the hockey great.

Kirkus Reviews