Customer Reviews

Searching for Bobby Orr

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Just how good was Bobby Orr? Harry Howell said it best during the National Hockey League awards ceremony, where he was presented with the Norris Trophy as the League's top defenseman: "I've been around for fifteen years, and thank God I finally won the trophy. I've got the feeling that for the next twenty years it will be known as the Bobby Orr Trophy." High praise indeed, but consider this: Orr had just completed his rookie season, earning respect almost unheard of at that stage of a career, and he wasn't even the runner-up for the award.

Bobby Orr was regarded as a savior for the Boston Bruins from the very moment he was first seen on the ice by members of the Bruins management, playing in a junior game with children three and four years older than him, dominating the game and controlling the puck better than anyone. He was just an average kid from an average town --- not well off financially and not the greatest of students, though he tried hard --- but on the ice he became a legend.

Stephen Brunt likens Orr to the Greek hero Achilles. The National Hockey League was Troy, and Orr was the most powerful and dynamic hero of the game. And yet, like Achilles, Orr had a flaw. While he had the heart, the determination and the will, it was his knees that ultimately would cut short an exciting and record-setting career. He was the flash of light, the great fire that burned too bright for too short a time. He would win the Norris Trophy the next eight consecutive seasons and lead the League in scoring twice.

As popular and as masterful as he was on the ice, Orr was savagely private about his personal life. He was quiet and reserved, and Brunt shows us that even though he would join his teammates at a party, he often was the first to quietly slip away unnoticed. In putting together this book, Brunt approached Orr about being involved, but he declined and also made a stipulation: Brunt would not be allowed to approach his family.

In some ways that is a loss. Hearing about the storied career from the man who wrote it with his play would have been enlightening and lent a sense of charm and closeness, a way for those who worshiped him to get closer to their hero. Perhaps, however, it was more of a boon that Orr did not wish to be involved. It freed Brunt to seek his own answers and create his own path. The story he chose to pursue could not be shaped and molded, and things he discovered may never have come to light in speaking with the man himself.

One of the fabulous aspects of this book is that Brunt seems to know that a hero, no matter how grand or powerful, is not self-made. Along the way Orr has people who shape his world-view and his life. Those figures are given definition here, particularly Wren Blair, who saw the young boy play in Canada and tried to secure a contract for Boston. "Bucko" McDonald, his junior coach, recognized that Orr was exceptional: a rushing defenseman who was small. McDonald let Orr be who he was and didn't attempt to turn him into something he wasn't. Alan Eagleson was the lawyer who worked with Orr in drafting up a healthy contract in his first season and paved the way for the creation of player agents and sports management groups. However, Eagleson, who would also be the ruin of many a good man by pilfering their retirement funds, ultimately was brought down by Orr and fellow player Carl Brewer. And then there were Orr's parents, who were both encouraging and very protective.

As quickly and beautifully as he came, Orr would be gone. Brunt does an excellent job at revealing him, yet, when all is said and done, there is still so much unknown. The title, SEARCHING FOR BOBBY ORR, is very accurate. Brunt had to search, and could probably keep searching for years. What the author has done, however, is give us an exceptional biography of the greatest hockey player ever to lace up a pair of skates.

--- Reviewed by Stephen Hubbard

This is a reasonably well-written book by somebody who is supposed to be an expert on sports, though some of his hyperbole makes me wonder about that. (He describes a game where Orr got three goals and two assists as the most amazing, incredible, unbelievable performance by a defenceman in the history of the sport, when half a dozen defencemen had had 4 goal games, others had 6+ point games, and Orr himself would do better in subsequent years.)

There's nothing new here. Neither Orr nor his family nor his close friends provided any information -- apparently Bobby is planning his own book in the next five years or so. However, it provides an eminently readable distillation of all the previous sources of material to paint a good portrait of Orr during his early playing years and most of his NHL career. (There is precious little from 1973 on, and nothing about his post-hockey career.)

The book comes across a little like hero-worship, and doesn't do much to give Orr any perspective -- how he stacks up against the other greats, how he changed the game. I'm not entirely sure that's a weakness, though: the Holy Trinity of Hockey don't really compare well to eachother. Orr was probably the best ever, but cut short by injuries. Gretzky a sliver below who lasted much longer. Howe may never have been the best player in the league at any one time, but was in the top five for, like, a million years.

And as for hero-worship, hell, let's face it: Orr deserves it.

Wait for the paperback, then add it to your collection.

This book looks not only at the brilliant but tragically short career of Bobby Orr, but also at the historical development of Canadian hockey and the NHL, and the significant changes at the time of Orr's career. I consider it mandatory reading for any passionate hockey fan.

Growing up on the South Shore of Boston in the 1970s as I did, I was whirled into the Bobby Orr-driven hockey mania that swept the region. I was born in 1971, between the two Bruins' Stanley Cup championships and before I knew it I was on skates in many of the new rinks that were built simply because of the excitement Orr brought to the area for the sport of hockey.

Brunt's treatment of Orr is thoughtful, if somewhat hyperbolic. But then, this is Bobby Orr of whom we are speaking. His name is up there with Howe, Gretzky, Lemieux. He stood above all in his time. The defenseman's undeniable place in hockey history when matched with the author's borderline grandiose style inevitably leads to overstatement.

The gamble that the author took, though, is what makes the book interesting. It does not have the Orr stamp of approval. Number Four met with the author and discussed the project, ultimately distancing himself from it, and asking the author to avoid direct contact with his family. By following through with the book, Brunt seemingly gambled away his chance at future work with Orr. Was a bridge burned?

For hockey fans, from Parry Sound to Oshawa to Boston, the book brings back memories of players long gone, of the rock 'em, sock 'em style of the 1970s and the exponential growth of the sport from the original six to regular global interaction. If there is a major drawback, it's that the machinations of Orr's longtime agent Alan Eagleson are not thoroughly and definitively spelled out. Hints are dropped and the 1998 trial is covered, but just how deeply he scarred the players of the National Hockey League is understated. After reading the book, I guess I'll be going elsewhere for more details.

In the course of researching this book, author Stephen Brunt was not able to talk to Orr or any of his close knit circle of friends and family. As a result, Brunt's account is superficial and, ultimately, disappointing and unsatisfying. Orr has hinted that he might tell his story himself some day but I won't hold my breath. I suspect he will remain a secretive, introverted man, someone who plied his trade for too short a time, then bowed out with dignity. There's really nothing new in SEARCHING FOR BOBBY ORR and, as much as I like and respect Mr. Brunt, he has done little to disspell the mystery surrounding Number 4...and perhaps that's for the best.

(This is Andrew, not Susan) I liked the book a lot because it filled in the cultural and business contexts an adoring kid fan obviously wouldn't have known or cared about at the time it was all happening. As a one of the legions of Bobby Orr wannabe's in the 1960s and 70s, I saw and understood him as unqualified hero and hockey god. That simplistic view more or less continued as I grew out of childhood and moved on from sports. Now, coming back to it all with a lot more knowledge about the world, including how brutal, sad and cynical the business of professional sports can be, it was interesting to catch up on all the links in the chain of Orr's trajectory as athlete and marketing phenom. All the historical detail about the NHL and its expansion and the comparisons to the business issues with other sports and their stars painted a clearer picture of the world in which my former idol moved and worked.

I agree with some of the other reviews that the episode of Eagelson's downfall could have been more thoroughly covered. It does seem like there's an important chunk missing, and it seems the author assumes his readers followed the court case and read the Eagle Tribune's stories on the affair. Not all of us did.

But, satisfied with the book all in all.

I REALLY WANTED TO LOVE THIS BOOK. I THOUGHT THE AUTHOR DID A GOOD JOB TELLING US ABOUT BOBBY'S CHILDHOOD AND CAREER. BOBBY'S CAREER WAS TOO SHORT. IT MAY HAVE GONE FARTHER IF HE WOULD HAVE REHABBED HIS KNEE. AFTER EVERY OPERATION HE WOULD JUST SKIP THE THERAPY AND EXERCISE AND DID NOT STRENGTHEN HIS KNEES FOR HE WANTED TO PLAY FAR TOO SOON AFTER HIS INJURY. HIS COMPETITIVE FIRE WORKED AGAINST HIM. I SAW HIM PLAY ON TV AND WAS TOTALLY IMPRESSED. HE TRULY WAS ONE OF THE BEST EVER. BOBBY WAS NOT PERFECT AND HURT HIMSELF BY TOTALLY TRUSTING HIS LEECH AND LYING AGENT ALAN EAGLESON. BOBBY RETIRED AT 28, AN AGE HE WAS STILL IN HIS PRIME. THE BOOK THEN PRETTY MUCH ENDS. THE LAST CHAPTER IS ABOUT BOBBY ATTENDING THE TRIAL OF EAGLESON FOR MANY MONEY INVOLVED CRIMES. THE YEARS BEFORE THE TRIAL AND YEARS AFTER ARE KIND OF VAGUE AND NOT MUCH DETAIL IS MENTIONED. THAT TO ME WAS THE BIG WEAKNESS IN THIS GOOD BUT NOT GREAT STORY. RECOMMENDED FOR ALL HOCKEY FANS.

Only Ken Dryden's "The Game" rivals this one, in my mind, for hockey writing excellence. Though, at only 42, I am too young to remember seeing the greatest defenseman ever play the game, I do recall his retirement ceremony at the old Boston Garden, when grown men cried at the sight of Bobby Orr in a suit instead of on skates.

Just as Bill Russell is a Boston legend I never had the opportunity to see perform, Bobby Orr will forever live in my memory as the thoughtful and highly intelligent, youngish looking man who is deloved by New Englanders for all he had done.

Highly recommended for all sports fans!

Being brought up in Detroit I knew of Hockey but that was it. I went to a few games as a child with Grandpa but everyone jumped up and I couldn't see anything. Now retired and with a wife that was a hockey fan I decided a few years ago to try watching the game. Low and behold a instant fan. This book did more for me that anything else in explaining the game and the names I had heard but really did not know. The sad side is like so many sports and jobs the management or agents or lawyers use and abuse their help. I enjoyed the book and it has certainly brought my knowledge of the sport and the game up. Go Red Wings.

If you like Hockey and grew up during the time of the legend Bobby Orr playing against the Canadians, the Maple Leafs, the Blackhawks and others this book is well worth the read. I enjoyed the book and will pass it on to others to enjoy as well.