Bobby Clarke

Lore & Background

Clarke was born in the small northern Manitoban mining town of Flin Flon. He learned he had type 1 diabetes around age 12 or 13. Despite being a highly touted prospect playing for the Flin Flon Bombers, NHL teams feared he could not play due to diabetes. After a doctor's note from the Mayo Clinic, he was drafted 17th overall by the Philadelphia Flyers in the second round of the 1969 NHL Amateur Draft.

In Their Own Story

The Broad Street Arena was a cauldron. The air smelled of rubber, sweat, and the particular electricity of a 1975 Finals Game Seven. Clarke skated through the neutral zone with his stick low, eyes locked on the puck like a man tracking a quarry. A Bruins forward came in hard, shoulder first, and Clarke didn't flinch. He absorbed the hit, kept his balance, and fired a wrist shot that buried the top corner. The roar that followed was not just noise—it was a city recognising its own. Back in Ottawa, a dozen years earlier, a kid on a backstreet rink had dreamed of exactly this moment. The dream had a long, brutal road to get here. But when the horn sounded and the confetti fell, Bobby Clarke simply skated to the bench, pulled off his helmet, and said to the guy beside him: 'We did it.' No celebration. No speech. Just the quiet certainty of a man who had never once, in his life, accepted less than everything.

Reader's Guide

Clarke played centre for the Flyers from 1969 to 1984. He was captain from 1973 to 1979 and again from 1982 to 1984, winning the Stanley Cup in 1974 and 1975. He had three 100-point seasons, twice led the league in assists, played in nine NHL All-Star Games, and won the Frank J. Selke Trophy in 1983. He won the Hart Trophy three times and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1987. After retiring, he became general manager of the Flyers, also serving as GM of the Minnesota North Stars and Florida Panthers.

Did You Know?

• Clarke set the NHL record for most assists by a centreman with 89 in the 1974–75 season.
• He was the first player from an expansion team to score more than 100 points in a season.
• Clarke was named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in 2017.