Orr: My Story Author: Visit Amazon's Bobby Orr Page | Language: English | ISBN:
0399161759 | Format: PDF
Orr: My Story Description
Review
Praise for ORR: MY STORY
“A must-read for anyone who fondly remembers the glory years of the Big Bad Bruins . . . Read ORR. It’s like reminiscing with an old friend.”—The Sun Chronicle
Praise for Bobby Orr
“I’ve seen all the greats since the 1920s, and I’ve never seen a player with the skills of Orr.”—Clarence Campbell, former NHL president
“There’s stars, superstars, and then there’s Bobby Orr.”—Serge Savard, Montreal Canadiens
“I never knew a single player who could lift a team as Orr could.” —Stan Mikita, Chicago Blackhawks
About the Author
Bobby Orr, born in Parry Sound, Ontario, in 1948, played for the Boston Bruins from 1966 through 1976, and helped lead the Bruins to the Stanley Cup championship in 1970 and 1972, and to the finals in 1974. He also played two years for the Chicago Blackhawks. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest hockey players – maybe the greatest hockey player – of all time. His speed and scoring and playmaking abilities revolutionized the position of defenseman. As of this date, he remains the only defenseman to have won the Art Ross Trophy league scoring title – twice – and still holds the record for most points and assists at that position. Orr 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. He is the only player in history to have won the Ross, Norris, Hart, and Conn Smythe Trophies in a single season. He was inducted in the Hockey Hall of Fame at the age of 31 – the youngest living player to receive that honor.
After his retirement in 1978, Orr was active with business and charitable works, and in 1996, Orr entered the player agent business, and today is president of the Orr Hockey Group agency. He has been invested with the Order of Canada and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, and in 2010 was one of eight athletes who bore the Olympic flag out during the opening ceremonies of the Vancouver Olympics. The Bobby Orr Hall of Fame is in Parry Sound, Ontario.
- Hardcover: 304 pages
- Publisher: G. P. Putnam's Sons; 1st edition (October 15, 2013)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0399161759
- ISBN-13: 978-0399161759
- Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Over 30 years after he left hockey, Bobby Orr finally tells his story. If you know anything about the man, it was no surprise that he refrained from writing about himself for so long: he is the polar opposite of today's arrogant, self-promoting athlete eager to tell the world how great he is (or thinks he is); a humble, classy guy if there ever was one. And though he has now relented - after DECADES of self-imposed obscurity and silence - to write this book, don't expect any salacious stories of the Big Bad Bruins off the ice or passages about Orr's great feats on the ice: this is a straight-forward account of Robert Gordon Orr's life, as written by himself, with his usual modesty and discretion.
Not that this makes for a boring, just-the-facts, life story: it is, in fact, an engaging and fluid read, and interesting as hell. Well, to ME this is incredibly interesting stuff; whether or not you are a hockey fan, a Bruins fan, and/or a Bobby Orr fan will obviously impact your level of interest. As a lifelong hockey/Bruins/Orr fan who was 9 when Orr scored the 1970 overtime goal and who lived in a seaside town in Boston Harbor where several Bruins players lived (Doug Roberts lived a few houses away from me and I met many of the Bruins - but NOT Orr), I obviously have a higher level of interest. But the book is, in fact, lively and entertaining throughout, even for the casual reader. To a fan, it is so much more: because Orr never talked or wrote about himself previously (his two books in the 1970s were about hockey, the game, not about him), we had only a vague notion of his history. An entire 309-page book about Bobby Orr's life? Thank you, God.
I'm glad that Bobby Orr decided to write this book, as so many Bruin fans have been waiting for it to happen. In typical Orr fashion, there is no juicy gossip or stories of wild, late night parties. Instead, he gives readers the story of his childhood and entire hockey career. Orr's grandfather emigrated from Ireland to Ontario, and that's where Bobby's life begins. Bobby was the middle child of five children, and money was tight. The floors in their Parry Sound home were uneven, and the house was always freezing in the winter. The Orr family only gathered in the living room once a year on Christmas Day, as they couldn't afford to heat that room the rest of the year. His happiest childhood memories are of playing hockey on the frozen lake with his friends. There would often be 20 kids on the ice, and it taught them how to handle the puck well. With no adult supervision, the boys also had to learn how to get along and make their own rules. When he joined the squirt league, his coach didn't have enough kids for each position. He ended up playing Bobby in different positions, and Orr feels that this really helped him become the hockey player the world came to know. Bobby thinks that hockey for young children should not be focused on winning. The kids should go out and have fun, and each child should get a chance to play so that they can develop their skills. There are also cute stories. Bobby's mother's choice of discipline was a broom. He talks about the time that she caught him smoking under a bridge near their house, and how she dragged him home by the arm. It was not pretty! He never smoked under that bridge again. We also hear about the sacrifices that players and their families make.
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