Where Are They Now?: Joe Watson

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All of the seven Day-One Flyers employees Ed Snider took to dinner in Center City a few weeks ago can certify their originality with stories of four-figure Spectrum attendances, the hole in the roof, the teams displacement in Quebec City and the epic first playoff series with St. Louis. But, not surprisingly, the night out was the brainstorm of probably the most genuine person in franchise history.

The stories never get old because the best teller of them all, Joe Watson, doesnt either. His femur blew intono exaggeration13 pieces while he was finishing up his career with the Colorado Rockies in 1978. Ten operations later, Watson still is begging Flyers who retired 25 years after he did to join him on the alumni team, which has raised 2 million for local charities.

Going to go to Montreal and play the Canadiens in March, said Watson. Working on Hershey to play the Penguins, yup.

Global Spectrum runs the building in Abu Dhabi, where the kids of the Canadians working in oil are playing hockey and they want us to come. Crazy, crazy. Hundred-and-thirty degrees, those people gotta have some place to cool off, yup.

It cant be any hotter in Abu Dhabi than was 23-year-old Joe Watson on the June 1967 day he found out he was no longer a member of the up-and-coming Boston Bruins, but something called a Philadelphia Flyer.

A Tuesday, Im working for the public works department in Smithers, B.C., flagging traffic, said Watson. You know there wasnt a lot of traffic in Smithers. About 10 after 7 a guy comes by and says, I just heard your name on the radio. You just got drafted by Philadelphia.

Whattt!!! I went to my boss, Vern Flockhart, Rons father. Had to take the rest of the day off. I was in shock. Teams could only protect 10, (Bruins Coach) Harry Sinden told me they thought they would lose Bob Woytowich, then protect me, but I got taken. And other than starting a family, it turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to me, yup.

The Flyers started their family when, with the second pick of the non-goalie portion of the 1967 expansion draft, they selected one of the steadiest players in their history and probably their most outgoingly sincere.

Watson played 11 full Flyers seasons, more than any defenseman in the team's history, and has maintained almost continuous services as an assistant coach, scout, salesman and ambassador. At age 68, he still is a five-day-a-week account executive for Wells Fargo Center signage, the Flyers are continuing to get their moneys worth out of Thundermouth as he extracts everything possible out of life.

I walked on my right toe of a leg two inches shorter than the other for 24 years, he said over lunch last week. We were over in Russia playing about 10 years ago, obviously doing what I shouldnt be doing, and was in such pain that I called Dr. (Art) Bartolozzi from Finland, yup.

Three weeks later, the surgeon cut Watsons leg in two areas, attached a 12-inch titanium rod in his thigh, and screwed the cuts into the rod, leaving ainch gap so calcification could lengthen the leg.

Holy bleep, it was brutal, said Watson. But it worked, yup. Very little pain now. So I can play. The Hound (Bob Kelly) gets the equipment, the Flyers are good about giving it to us. Whatever group wants to raise money, supplies, Italian food and Labatts. Those are prerequisites. We have a good time with the camaraderie.

The franchise has had more skilled defensemenwhen Watson went to the net to jam a rebound past Vladislav Tretiak in the fabled 1976 Cold War Spectrum showdown, Fred Shero joked Russian hockey had been set back 15 yearsbut Flyers of any era never have had a better teammate.

Unabashed about the privilege of wearing the black and orange, unfiltered in his praise and criticism. Watsons voice cut through steel locker room doors, carried clearly over the hiss of showers, could even pierce the roar of 17,007 fans. But when teammates asked Joe to keep it down, they mostly meant the score, which he did. Nobody ever whispered anything about him other than that he was extremely reliable and relentlessly enthusiastic.

If you cant enjoy it, you cant do it, he once said.

Today he still skates on a leg he once thought he was going to lose. Both of his childrenRyan lives in New York and works for an investment firm in Stamford, Conn., Heidi is involved in Parkinsons research at Philadelphias VA Hospitalare thriving and Joe has been remarried to Jamie, who works for a concierge travel service, for two years.

Both his parents passed away within the last 19 months in Smithers but all five brothers Watson survive, including Jimmy, who is a partner and instructor at IceWorks, minutes from Joes home in Media, Pa.

Talk to him more on the phone than I see him, said Joe.

Sales these days are as painful as the early Flyers offense. Still Watson plans only to cut back to three days a week at age 70. Who wants it to end, because who can better tell the stories about the Flyers start?

We had a parade down Broad Street before our first game and there were more people in the parade than watching it, Watson said. They were giving us the finger, yelling, youll be in Baltimore in six months. Yup.

Eddie Van Impe had held out, hadnt been in camp for 2 12 weeks. We go to Oakland for the first game, that building was really hot. Keith (Coach Allen) put Eddie and I together and we were on for three goals against and lost 5-1.

The Flyers went home to open the Spectrum in front of 7,812. The guard where the players entered was under the false impression this was a tough ticket.

Coming in behind me was Bill Sutherland, recalls Watson. Guard said, Where are you going?

Billy said Im a player. Guard said youre too old to be a player. Of course who scored the winning goal (in a 1-0 game)? Sutherland, yup.

We sold out two home games over a weekend in February against Toronto and Chicago, won both and then the roof happened. We became vagabonds.

The Flyers moved their next home game, against Oakland, to Madison Square Garden, where fans, given a freebie before the Rangers game that night, rooted for the Seals, who had ex-Rangers. So the next home game, against the Bruins, was in Maple Leaf Gardens.

(Larry) Zeidel and (the Bruins Eddie) Shack had the most vicious fight there I ever saw in hockey, said Watson. They started swinging sticks and had twigs by the end. Both were bleeding from the face.

They had adjacent medical rooms in Toronto. Zeidel realized Shack was in the next one. With the needles sticking out of his head and the doctor chasing him, Larry ran to try to fight Shack again. Crazy, yup.

The Flyers played the rest of their regular-season home games in Quebec City, where they had their farm club. Tough on the married guys, said Watson. I was unmarried, thought Quebec City was great.

The Flyers won the Western Conference, where all six new teams had been placed, fought back from 3-1, and got a standing ovation after the Blues won Game 7 at the reopened Spectrum. It was the Flyers happiest season until the corner turned in Year Six. Watson, Van Impe, Gary Dornhoefer and Parent, the best expansion draft ever in any sport, remained Flyers when they won it all in Year Seven, Watson appropriately counting down the final seconds with the puck behind the goal.

Flyers have been in the finals what, eight times, and we won it twice and thats it, said Watson. Show you how hard it is to win the damn thing.

When it came time to rebuild, GM Allen called in Watson and offered him a seventh-man role in Philadelphia or to place him elsewhere.

I mentioned Colorado, Atlanta and Vancouver, said Watson. He phoned Colorado and that was it.

I was there six weeks and broke my leg in St. Louis. Ended my career in the same building where I had played my first game as a pro with the Bruins Minneapolis team.

Nov. 11, 1978. We had tied the Flyers 2-2 the night before in Denver. Wayne Babych pushed me in my lower back as went to the boards. Sure, it was a dirty play.

I was in shock, I guess, because I tried to get up (Linesman) John DAmico said Better lay there, I didnt know the bone had pierced my sock. Then, oh God, I was in such pain in the ambulance, every bump was just terrible. They had to wait until 1:30 a.m. to operate because the doctor had been out and had to sober up.

The Rockies put up his pregnant ex-wife wife, Marianne and their two-year-old son Ryan at a hotel up the street from the hospital where Watson underwent six operations over six weeks.

Brian Sutter, Bernie Federko, a lot of Blues came up to see me. Steve Durbano brought beers and Marianne yelled get that out of here, Im trying to get my husband better! He came back after she left and we had a couple beers, yup. Another time he was smoking dope in my room, my gawd.

Steve came to visit me about five times, yup. What bothered me more than anything else, Babych never did. He wrote me a letter about six months later, said I understand you think it was dirty. He left a number; I called him back and said yeah, I think it was and if you had come up to visit me it would have made me feel better.

A couple years later when I was scouting I told Behn Wilson before a game if you ever get a chance.. . . He hit Babych so hard he broke his nose and cheekbone. I shook Behns hand after the game.

Memories are long, Sniders included. A toast to Joe Watson, tough, loyal, Canadian, and still quintessentially Flyer in every way over 44 years of barely-interrupted service. He has taken care of the Flyers as they have taken care of him.

Jay Greenberg covered the Flyers for 14 years for the Daily News and Evening Bulletin. His history of the Flyers, Full Spectrum, was published in 1996. He can be reached at jayg616@aol.com.

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