Orr camp gave kids 'a summer to remember'

Legendary hockey reporter Stan Fischler writes a weekly scrapbook for NHL.com. Fischler, known as "The Hockey Maven," shares his humor and insight with readers each Wednesday.
This week Stan features his "Picture is Worth 100 Words" segment. It's a rare photo of Bobby Orr in a relaxed setting in the early 1970s. For nine summers beginning in 1969, the future Hockey Hall of Fame defenseman teamed with NHL forward Mike Walton to run a summer sports camp on Lake Couchiching at Orillia, Ontario. Stan spent two days with Orr during the summer of 1969 doing interviews as well as motorboating on Georgian Bay.

As evidenced by this photo, taken with one of his campers in 1971,
Bobby Orr
enjoyed spending the offseason at his sports camp. It began operating in 1969 and lasted for nine summers.
"I liked working with the boys," the Boston Bruins defenseman said at the time. "I'm on the ice, teaching them things like shooting and passing."
Orr's co-counselors included future Hockey Hall of Famers
Darryl Sittler
and
Marcel Dionne
, as well as
Mike Walton
, a co-owner of the camp and a teammate of Orr's for three seasons in the 1970s. Some of the camp graduates eventually made it to the NHL including brothers
Dave Maloney
and
Don Maloney
as well as goalie
Clint Malarchuk
.
Bill Watters, Orr's camp aide (later a player agent, sportscaster and assistant general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs), observed that No. 4, "never neglected his responsibilities. He was at the camp every day."
There were plenty of other activities, including baseball, swimming, boating and Saturday night movies. But the chance to learn from arguably the greatest defenseman in NHL history was the biggest reason campers showed up for what the advertisements assured them would be "a summer to remember."
Photo courtesy of Bob Goodman