Flyers celebrate Kelly's 22 years in community service

PHILADELPHIA -- Bob Kelly remembers the tiny apartments in the complex where he and his teammates lived when he joined the Philadelphia Flyers in 1970.

"We went to Barrington Manor, which had plastic drapes, had plastic dishes," he said.

More than a half-century later, Kelly has turned those plastic drapes and plastic dishes in a less-than-idyllic Philadelphia suburb into an iconic career on and off the ice that was celebrated before the Flyers hosted the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday.

Kelly announced March 18 he would retire after 22 years working in the Flyers community relations department as its "Ambassador of Hockey," which followed a 10-season run as a rambunctious forward nicknamed "Hound," who won the Stanley Cup twice as part of the Broad Street Bullies.

As part of the celebration, Flyers staff will wear special Hound pins and players shirts with Kelly's name and No. 9.

"I'm very, very humbled," Kelly said. "I'm not into myself. I'm into what the team stands for. The crest that's on the front is very, very important to me, and that's what we stand for."

Kelly, a third-round pick (No. 32) in the 1970 NHL Draft, typified what the Broad Street Bullies-era Flyers stood for. Hockey Hall of Famers Bobby Clarke, Bill Barber and Bernie Parent were the stars, but it was players like Kelly, Dave Schultz, Andre "Moose" Dupont and others whose unrelenting toughness allowed those Hall of Famers to find space to produce, and along the way became long-lasting fan favorites.

Kelly contributed to more than just the Flyers' robust penalty minute totals. He scored at least 10 goals eight times for them, topped by 22 in 1976-77.

His biggest goal came against the Sabres in Game 6 of the 1975 Stanley Cup Final at The Aud in Buffalo.

It was tied 0-0 after the second period. To start the third, coach Fred Shero shifted Kelly into Barber's spot on the top line with Clarke and Reggie Leach.

"[Assistant] Mike Nykoluk was actually the brains of it," Kelly said. "I'm one of those guys, I don't get a whole lot of shifts, so I take advantage when I can."

On the opening shift, Kelly and defenseman Jerry Korab were battling for the puck behind the Sabres net, with Clarke trailing them. Korab momentarily emerged with the puck, but Clarke knocked it off him. Kelly jumped on it, stepped out from behind the net to the right of goalie Roger Crozier and backhanded it along the ice into the far side of the net 11 seconds in.

Philadelphia won 2-0 to celebrate its second straight Stanley Cup championship.

"I went out there and went down to whammy-bammy behind the net and put the puck in," Kelly said. "That's a play that we'd been practicing for a long time. It wasn't anything spectacular, 'Clarkie' bumped Korab off the puck, it freed up and I grabbed it and just came around the corner. The goalie wasn't going to do anything to me, so whipped around and it just went in the net."

It was a play the Flyers had worked on during practice, with Shero promising $5 to any player who scored that way during a game.

When Kelly got back to the bench, he had a reminder for Shero.

"I told Freddy he owed me $5," Kelly said.

Those anecdotes are ones Kelly has loved to share throughout his decades with the Flyers.

Like the one about Barrington Manor.

"Clarkie said, 'How much you paying for rent?" Kelly said. "I said, $250 or something, $255. He goes, 'Why am I paying $265, $270?' And I said 'I don't know, maybe you got a deal somewhere. I said, 'I'll come check out your apartment and see what's different.' The only thing that was different was there was a little throw mat when you open the door.

"I said, 'They're charging you 30-some dollars for a throw mat?'"

Or the stories about Shero's unique motivational skills.

"I remember we were out there doing a doing a drill, dumping pucks in and stuff like that," Kelly said. "Finally, Clarkie skates up and he says, 'Fred, what the hell are you doing? This drill doesn't make any kind of sense.' He says, 'Yes, I know, I've been waiting for somebody to come up and tell me that and you just told me, so now we'll move on.'"

Kelly was traded to the Washington Capitals on Aug. 21, 1980, for a third-round pick in the 1982 NHL Draft. He played two seasons before he and the Capitals mutually agreed to terminate his contract Dec. 7, 1981, and returned to the Philadelphia area upon retiring. He joined the Flyers community relations department in 2003.

It was in that role that Kelly cemented his spot as one of the most popular people in team history.

"After his first season, there was a work stoppage in the NHL," Flyers senior director of community relations and hockey development Rob Baer said. "That lockout season, he became the face of the franchise, sort of out of necessity. We couldn't use any of our players, we couldn't show videos of our players, and Hound became the guy."

Kelly has spread the gospel of Flyers hockey around the region, headlining events at schools, rinks, summer camps and recreation centers.

"Hound is still the guy showing up to the schools and to the hockey rinks and doing it with a smile on his face," Baer said. "He loves every minute of it. Even to this day, the reaction that he gets from kids and from parents when he shows up somewhere, it's as if they watched him play, and we know they never did.

"We had a STEM Day here two weeks ago, and we had middle-school kids. I was down on the ice with Hound, we were teaching them the mechanics of shooting and all the kids got to take a shot on goal. And these two girls, they were probably 11, came up and they said, 'You're the Hound, you're my favorite player.' You were born 40 years after he played. They know the legend of the Hound and it continues to live on. And that just goes to show you what an impact he's made for generations of fans."

Now 74 years old, Kelly is healthy and plans to remain a part of the organization, just in a lesser capacity.

"I'm here until after June 30," he said. "They can reach out to me from there. ... I'll be around, but I've got to make some changes."

That will be a bittersweet time for those who know Kelly best. They're disappointed that he's stepping away, but excited to see him being honored.

"This is a franchise icon," Baer said. "Not just as a player winning the Cups and being one of the leading members of the Broad Street Bullies for 10 years, but the 22 years that he's given back and served our community. He deserves this recognition."