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The Flyers announced today that Dave “the Hammer” Schultz will become the 20th person inducted into the Flyers Hall of Fame. The ceremony will take pace before the Flyers-Devils game on Monday, November 16.
Highlights of the Schultz Hall of Fame Night include video montages of his most famous fights and goals. Schultz will be presented with gifts from his former teammates and the Flyers organization. At the conclusion of the ceremony, “The Hammer” will address the crowd concluding the ceremony with the unfurling of the Hall of Fame banner with the addition of his name.
All fans attending the game will receive a Schultz poster as they arrive. Fan Gear will also offer autographed commemorative photographs.
The Flyers Hall of Fame was established in 1988. Candidates nominated and voted upon by a panel of media members and team officials. The following people are previous inductees:
1988 - Bob Clarke and Bernie Parent
1989 - Bill Barber, Ed Snider and Keith Allen
1990 - Rick MacLeish and Fred Shero
1991 - Barry Ashbee and Gary Dornhoefer
1992 - Reggie Leach and Gene Hart
1993 - Joe Scott and Ed Van Impe
1994 - Tim Kerr
1996 - Joe Watson
1999 - Brian Propp
2001 - Mark Howe
2004 - Dave Poulin
2008 - Ron Hextall
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While I’m happy for Schultz, I think there’s a more deserving candidate who has yet to be inducted: Jimmy Watson. The younger Watson brother was more than just a five-time All-Star and a regular (as a young player) on the two Stanley Cup winning teams. He also became the leader of the team’s blueline in the late 1970s and early 1980s until a serious back injury forced him to retire at age 30.
Nevertheless, I’m not going say Schultz is unworthy. As I wrote in Spectrum Memories at Philadelphiaflyers.com:
In many ways, Schultz was the player who most shaped the Broad Street Bullies’ the over-the-top brawling image that made the team the scourge of the NHL during their two successful runs to the Stanley Cup. The Flyers were the league’s top road draw and sold out the Spectrum every game.
Schultz wasn’t necessarily the best fighter in the NHL, but he was the most active. The Hammer would work himself into a frenzy before he even hit the ice, and he had a flair for showmanship. His four years in orange and black were among the most memorable Philadelphia careers of any player in club history.
Schultz loved to be the marauding hero at the Spectrum and the bad guy on the road. He would egg on road fans in a manner reminiscent of a pro wrestling villain, doing things such as exaggeratedly pinching his nose shut as he was escorted off the ice, just to let the crowd know he thought they, their team and their arena stunk. In Philadelphia, however, Schultz could do no wrong. He had the biggest fan club – called Schultz’s Army – of any individual player on the team. Schultz was so popular that he even recorded a novelty song called “The Penalty Box” and it shot to the top of the local charts.
Schultz could also play hockey when he wanted to. While his defining legacy was the fact that he topped 300 penalty minutes in three consecutive seasons (topping out at an astounding 472 in 1974-75), he also had a knack for coming through in the clutch. The Hammer scored 20 goals in the Flyers’ first Stanley Cup season and played an important role in each of the three playoff series the Flyers won to claim the 1973-74 championship.
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Schultz was known to fight dirty. He pulled hair, he headbutted, he wore tape on his fists (which was legal at the time, but subsequently outlawed). In the Flyers’ 1973 playoff series against the Minnesota North Stars, Schultz helped turn the tide of the series.
The Flyers were outplayed in Game Three, yielding 40 shots on goal. Favell held them in for two periods, as a Hextall goal midway through the opening period stood as the game’s lone tally. But Gibbs scored in the opening minute of the third period and the floodgates opened.
Before the Flyers knew what hit them, Nanne and Grant scored goals just 18 seconds apart to turn the game into a 4-0 lead for the North Stars. Grant added another goal at the 15:27 mark for the final 5-0 margin of victory.
In the final minute of play, Schultz, who had racked up 257 penalty minutes during the regular season, went out looking to send a message for the remainder of the series. He instigated a fight with Dennis Hextall (Ron Hextall’s uncle), grabbing him, throwing down the gloves first and even head-butting Minnesota’s leading scorer during the fight. Schultz exchanged words with the irate Stars, but no Minnesota player physically went after “the Hammer.” He was finally escorted off the ice and shoved up the tunnel to the visiting locker room by linesman Ron Finn.
Coincidentally or not, the Stars played meekly the rest of the series. The Flyers went on to win in six games.
Here are clips of two of Schultz’s most infamous fights: his lopsided pummeling of the New York Rangers Dale Rolfe in the seventh game of the 1974 Western Conference Finals and bloodying Bryan Hextall (Ron’s father) earlier in the 1973-74 season.
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