Joe Watson

The following article appeared in the Interior News courtesy of PhiladelphiaFlyers.com

Flyers Hall of Famer Joe Watson recently sat down with philadelphiaflyers.com to discuss his playing days, life in Smithers, British Columbia, his life after hockey and Bobby Orr. (Actually, we saw Joe in one of the hallways of the Wachovia Center and after asking “how you doin?” we had enough material for a two-part series with the former Flyer two hours later. Joe was still talking when we left.)

Watson played 11 seasons for the Flyers, from 1967-68 through 1977-78 and still holds the team record for most career games by a defenceman, 746 (fourth on the team’s All-Time List). He was a two-time All-Star and the winner of the first Barry Ashbee Trophy as the most outstanding Flyers defenseman (1974-75).

Q: When did you know that you wanted to play in the National Hockey League?

Watson: “When you are a young boy growing up in Northern Canada in Smithers, British Columbia (near Alaska), you have aspirations of playing in the NHL. Just like when you are a kid growing up in the United States dreaming about one day playing in the NFL, NBA or Major League Baseball, all Canadians dream about playing in the NHL.

I remember that in the ninth grade our classroom teacher asked the class to write down three things we would like to do in our lives. I only had one answer — to play in the NHL. When the teacher read my only answer aloud, he had a smirk on his face and all the other students laughed at my answer. But I guess that I had the last laugh because I played in the NHL for 15 years.

Q: When you broke into the NHL, you actually were a teammate and a roommate of Bobby Orr. What was he like?

Watson: “I had the pleasure of playing with Bobby in Boston in 1966. I actually met him the year before in London, Ont.
I remember everybody talking about this great Bobby Orr kid and I meet him and he is this scrawny 135-pounder.

That off-season he went back to Parry Sound, Ont., bought a rowing machine and worked out all summer. When I saw him at the next training camp, he is this chiseled 185-pounder. He was nothing but muscle.

The great thing about Orr was that nine times out of 10 you knew what he was going to do on the ice, but unfortunately, nine times out of 10 you could not stop him.

I couldn’t stop him and a lot of others were in the same boat as me. He won the NHL scoring title two times (1970 and 1975) and was the League MVP three years in a row (1969-70 through 1971-72). I think he was the best player who ever laced up a pair of skates. He was a good friend of mine. As a matter of fact, he was the best man at my wedding in 1969.”

Q: It must have been a disappointment to you then when you and Orr were separated when the new team in Philadelphia selected you in the expansion draft.

Watson: “In those days, you had the expansion draft and the NHL had six new teams entering the league. Philadelphia was one of those.

So here I am, 24 years old, working at the Public Works Department in Smithers, and a guy comes by at 7:10 a.m. and tells me I was just drafted by Philadelphia. I said, ‘What the heck are you talking about?’ Talk about depression. I thought, ‘Who in the (heck) are the Philadelphia Flyers?’

I didn’t know anything about Philadelphia other than I heard they had a baseball team. I was very upset. I marched right over to my boss and told him that I had to take the rest of the day off to get my head together.

I got a phone call the next day from Bud Poile, the Flyers’ general manager, congratulating me. I told him that I did not even know where the city was on a map. I was very upset and disappointed, but what was I going to do? Nothing. Boston’s coach and general manager, Harry Sinden, told me that he did not think that I would be the first player taken, but I was, and there was nothing that he could do about it. Sinden told me that they tried to trade for me, but Philadelphia declined.
Initially, it was a very bad event in my life, but it turned out to be the best thing career-wise that ever happened to me.”

Q: Your career was cut short when you broke your leg in St. Louis. What exactly happened on that play?

Watson: “I was approached by Flyers General Manager Keith Allen in the summer of 1978 and he told me that the Flyers wanted to keep me, but that I would be the seventh defenceman and that my playing time would be minimum.

I was only 35 or 36 at the time and I knew that I could continue playing at a high level in the NHL. I did not want to sit. He asked me if they were to trade me, what NHL city would I prefer. I told him Vancouver, Los Angeles, Atlanta and the last team was Colorado.

Keith worked out a deal with Colorado and off I went. About a month into playing with Colorado, we had a game in St. Louis. It is pretty ironic that I played my very first professional game in the old Checkerdome Arena in St. Louis in 1963 and I played my final professional game there on November 11, 1978, when I broke my leg. On that play, the puck was shot in our zone and I went to get it. The Blues’ Wayne Babych hit me from behind on my lower back and I crashed into the boards so hard that my right leg exploded in 13 places and my career was over.”

Q: After surgery and rehab, your right leg was two inches shorter than your left leg. Did you ever get that fixed?

Watson: “Yes. About three years ago we were playing Alumni games in Europe and my leg got so worn out that I phoned (former team doctor) Dr. Art Bartolozzi from Helsinki, Finland and told him that I needed help, the leg was so bad. When we returned to the United States, the leg was operated on and they lengthened my leg by two inches and now they’re both the same length.”

Q: You seem to be a very free-spirited person. Are you a chip off your old dad’s block?

Watson: “Let me tell you a story about my dad. It is about two hours before faceoff during the Stanley Cup Finals at the Spectrum and I am getting ready for the game. I get a phone call in the locker room and it is my father. He says, ‘Hey, Joe, I’m at the airport.’ I ask him which airport. He tells me that he is at the Philadelphia airport. He has no money and no ticket for the game.

All he had was the clothes on his back and a box with a rope around it, which he used as his suitcase. It is about 95 degrees outside (remember, this is May) and he is wearing long wool underwear, bib overalls and rubber boots that are covered in cow dung.

I told my father to tell the cabbie who he was and that when he got to the Spectrum that I would pay the taxi fare.
My dad arrives at the arena, we pay the fare and now we have to get him a ticket into the game. I am in a real bind, so I ask Mr. Snider if my dad can sit with him in his suite. Mr. Snider agreed.

There, sitting in the suite, was Mr. Snider, our national anthem singer, Kate Smith, former city mayor, Frank Rizzo, and Jed Clampett (my dad) with cow dung all over his boots. What a sight that was!

A couple of days later, it was agreed that NBC broadcasters Tim Ryan and Ted Lindsay were to interview my dad during our next game at the Spectrum. That same day the Philadelphia Phillies were hosting the Montreal Expos in a doubleheader across the street at Veterans Stadium. My dad is a big baseball fan and wanted to see the game so I get him a ticket.

As time goes by, my dad is nowhere to be found for the interview. Here we are, playing in the Stanley Cup Finals and my dad doesn’t want to leave the second game of the doubleheader and misses our game. What a character.”

Q: What was it like playing with your brother, Jim, with the Flyers?

Watson: “That was very special. Making the NHL, playing in an All-Star game, winning the Stanley Cup and playing with my brother were all gravy to me.

We were the fourth brother combination in the history of the NHL to play in the NHL and win the Stanley Cup together. That is a good trivia question. The brothers before us were the Patricks (Lynn and Muzz), the Cooks (Bun and Bill) and the Richards (Henri and Maurice).

Q: You go back to your birthplace, Smithers, every year. What do you do when you go back?

Watson: “I am an outdoorsman. I used to do a lot of hunting when I was younger, but now I do a lot of fishing.

Back in the day, just before training camp, I would do a lot of mountain climbing, hunting moose, caribou, grizzly bear, wolves, mountain sheep and goats.

I would be 12,000 feet above sea level chasing these animals and it actually got me in pretty good shape. I would come back down to sea level and go to training camp. I could go forever with all that extra oxygen. I would carry this 30- to 40-pound backpack up in the mountains so that kept me in pretty good shape, too. When I go back now, my favourite outdoor activity is salmon fishing for four or five days.

I also participate in an annual golf tournament in Smithers. My name had been associated with the tourney for 12 years, but now another Smithers native, Dan Hamhuis from the Nashville Predators, is associated with the tourney. We raise a lot of money for various charities.”

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