The Broad Street Bullies certainly drew more than their fair share of name calling (most of which we can’t repeat here). Four of them will add one more moniker to that portfolio: American citizens.
Former Flyers Dave Schultz, Bill Clement (formerly of ESPN fame), Bob Kelly, and Orest Kindrachuk are in the process of becoming American citizens after nearly three decades each—most of which was spent terrorizing opponents—as residents of the country.
The conversion came at the behest of U.S. Rep. Bob Brady (D-Pa.), who helped each start the process. Brady’s encouragement encapsulates the players better than we can:
They’re not terrorists, though they were terrorists on the ice. They’re law-abiding contributing citizens in the Philadelphia area.
Kindrachuk and Kelly have only their oaths in September standing between them and citizenship after passing their oral exams while Schultz is currently studying for the test.
All four were part of the core of the Broad Street Bullies Stanley Cup winners in 1974 and 1975. Schultz earned the nickname “The Hammer” for his role in helping the rugged, frequently felonious Flyers bludgeon their opponents into submission, redefining the role of hockey enforcer in the process. His penalty minute totals from those two seasons are the first and 28th most in league history, respectively.
We know those pursuing citizenship from our other border are the ones that usually rankle the likes of Lou Dobbs and Pat Buchanan. This fearsome foursome that combined for 1282 penalty minutes (820 were by The Hammer himself) in the Flyers’ back-to-back Stanley Cup runs isn’t a threat to national security anymore, as they instead save their energy for charitable events and celebrity appearances in the Philly area.
Besides, they were always more of a threat to the Soviets than to Uncle Sam even at the peak of their snarl. Surely that made likes of Buchanan and company happy back in the day.
Send all forearm shivers to my Twitter account.