Broad Street Bully Bob ‘The Hound’ Kelly retiring from Flyers 50 years after Stanley Cup-winning goal

Bob Kelly saw little ice time in 1981 with Washington a season after he set a career-high in goals. So Kelly — the former Broad Street Bully who wasn’t afraid of a scrap — went straight to management.

“I said ‘When do I play? I’m just sitting there. You don’t use me. When do I play?’” Kelly said. “He said, ‘Well, we’ll decide when you’re going to play.’”

That was all Kelly, who won two Stanley Cups with the Flyers, needed to hear.

“I said, ‘You can take your organization and shove it up your ass because I’m not going to deal with you guys,’” Kelly said.

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The then-31-year-old Kelly packed up his home in Maryland, returned to Philadelphia, and never played in the NHL again. There was no grand retirement for the player who scored the game-winner in Game 6 of the 1975 Stanley Cup Final. But perhaps it was fitting for a player named “The Hound” to end his career by telling a team to shove it.

“No one wants to go out that way,” Kelly said. “But I didn’t want to be treated like a piece of crap.”

The 74-year-old Kelly will receive a proper farewell on Saturday as he retires again from hockey, this time from his role as Flyers ambassador. The Flyers will honor Kelly, who has worked for the team since 2003, before Saturday’s game against Buffalo. The Hound’s ambassador role took him to schools, clinics, and the concourse of the Wells Fargo Center. If the Flyers had an event, Kelly probably was shaking hands. It was great, Kelly said. And he didn’t have to tell anyone to shove it.

“No need yet,” Kelly said.

Kelly was on the bench for most of the game before Flyers assistant coach Mike Nykoluk told head coach Fred Shero to insert The Hound. The team needed a spark in Game 6 of the 1975 Stanley Cup Final and who better than Kelly, who always hit the ice with the frenetic energy of a pinball.

“The rest is kind of history,” Kelly said.

Kelly found himself behind the net with Buffalo’s Jerry Korab, who was nudged away by Bobby Clarke. The puck squirted out front, and Kelly backhanded it past Sabres goalie Roger Crozier, providing the game’s first goal just 11 seconds into the third period.

“I immediately skated right over to the bench and said, ‘Freddy, you owe me five bucks,’” Kelly said. “We practiced that drill all the time. It wasn’t something that just happened.”

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Twenty minutes later, the Flyers won their second Cup, and Shero paid up. Kelly was injured a season earlier when the Flyers beat Boston, but he scored the winner for Cup No. 2 in Buffalo.

“Both Cups are great,” Kelly said. “No question about that. The players who played in them left a legacy. But the first one was chaos all over the place in the Spectrum, and then we were in the locker room and a lot of stuff was going on. The second one, we got to sit in the locker room, have a beer, and relax. We got a chance to enjoy the Stanley Cup.”

The Flyers drafted Kelly in 1970, two years after Ed Snider knew he needed to toughen his team after it was pushed around by St. Louis in the playoffs. They became the Bullies, setting NHL records for penalty minutes and imposing their will on the league. And the new guy who spent summers working on his uncle’s farm fit right in.

“They were calling me ‘Mad Dog,’” Kelly said. “They were saying, ‘You better get a distemper shot. You’re drooling at the mouth.’”

The Mad Dog quickly became one of the team’s top enforcers, never shying away from a brawl. He racked up 238 penalty minutes — equivalent to nearly 12 periods of ice time — in 1972-73 but still finished 21 minutes behind teammate Dave Schultz. They had a team full of mad dogs. Kelly loved his role, but he needed a new name.

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“I said, ‘Guys, you have to stop calling me Mad Dog,’” Kelly said. “We’re out in the community with kids, and we don’t want to scare anyone by saying ‘There’s a Mad Dog coming to meet you.’ We changed it to ‘Hound,’ and they still call me it. I enjoy it. I don’t care what you call me. Just make it nice.”

The Flyers had The Hound, Big Bird, The Hammer, and Moose. Philadelphia could not get enough as the team introduced hockey to the region while pummeling its opponents. The all-Canadian roster of players ingrained themselves in Philadelphia, choosing to stay during the offseason instead of returning home. They played on a traveling softball team, drank at Rexy’s, and summered in Avalon. Kelly and Co. found Philly to be a perfect match.

“They were thirsting for a championship, and we were able to supply that,” Kelly said. “It was a battle to get there. We had some ugly days, but it was all about our work ethic. We all enjoyed working hard together, respecting each other, and respecting our fans. Those are the ones you don’t want to let down.”

Kelly owned a liquor store, a construction company, and a sporting goods store after he left hockey.

“Then Mr. Snider called me,” Kelly said.

Snider wanted to meet Kelly at the arena at 9 a.m. the next morning.

“He said, ‘Don’t be late,’” Kelly said. “I said ‘If you’re asking, I won’t be late.’”

Snider was joined that morning in 2003 by former Sixer World B. Free and Dave Coskey, who ran the marketing for the Flyers and Sixers.

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“I said, ‘What is this? A massive gang? What’s going on?’” Kelly said.

Snider wanted Kelly to be the World B. Free of the Flyers. Free had established himself as the basketball team’s ambassador, regularly appearing at events throughout the area. The Hound was in.

“You don’t say no to Mr. Snider,” Kelly said. “I was happy that he saw enough in me that he felt comfortable in hiring me. That’s how it all started.”

The guy who they said needed a distemper shot ended up being a smiling face for the Flyers. It worked. He helped teach hockey at youth clinics, represented the Flyers at golf outings, honored military members at games, and spread the gospel of hockey just like the Bullies did. There’s more to The Hound than just body checks and fights.

“It’s been a fun run,” Kelly said. “It’s just nice to be part of the Flyers. When you walk around, you’re part of the fabric of the city.”

And on Saturday, Kelly will leave the Flyers in a better mood than he left Washington. The Capitals called Kelly a few weeks after he told them to shove it. They had some paperwork for him.

“I came in and said, ‘You guys called me, and I’m here to get whatever the hell this paper is,’” Kelly said. “She said, ‘Yeah. We just wanted to let you know that there’s an invitation here for you to go to the White House and meet Ronald and Nancy Reagan.’”

The Hound didn’t get his proper send-off from hockey, but he did visit the White House. Not even telling a team to shove it could stop that from happening.

“I have stories,” Kelly said. “That’s what life is all about.”