Hockey great Bobby Orr presents his new book in Vero Beach

Its not often that one gets to meet a living legend who has earned immortality while still above ground. And its rarer still when that heralded achiever is also a grinning extrovert who loves to meet those who so adore him.

But former Boston Bruins phenomenon on ice Bobby Orr is such a man.

Though he played his last National Hockey League game in 1978, his record-setting accomplishments and his engaging persona make him as viable a sports celebrity today as when he clinched a Stanley Cup winning goal in 1970.

Orr - and several hundred of his admirers - got together recently for a book signing at the Vero Beach Book Center. Though Orr devotees were warned thered be no opportunity to speak very long with Orr or pose with him for lengthy picture taking, Orr himself set the tone when he entered the store literally filled to the rafters with his fans who remember him and his No. 4 jersey, which is retired to the rafters at Bostons TD Garden arena.

Before stepping up to the book-signing table, Orr was welcomed by hearty applause and he greeted the first fans in line by congenially shaking their hands while sporting an ear-to-ear grin.

I was there - way, way back along a snaking line that wound its way through the Book Centers two levels. And though it was 2014, seeing Orr again I was transported back to Boston circa 1969.

In those days, I was a student in Bean Town, a magical place steeped in colonial era American history and flavored with some of the worlds finest institutions of learning, medicine and culture.

The Boston of 69 also marked a time of counter-culture revolution by those of us coming of age during that discordant decade.

However, while the Students for a Democratic Society, Black Power/ Black Panthers and others were busy protesting the Vietnam War and civil rights injustices, a team of young professional hockey players were amassing a winning season in Boston Garden on ice laid on top of a wooden parquet floor made iconic by the Celtics basketball team.

The venerable old Garden - opened in 1928 with no air conditioning, scores of obstructed seats and other inconveniences - was easily reachable to metro-Boston fans due to its handy location atop the North Station train station.

Read the original post:
Hockey great Bobby Orr presents his new book in Vero Beach