Quick Hits: August 13, 2023

1) Flyers franchise icon and Hockey Hall of Fame center Bob Clarke celebrates his 74th birthday today. In past years, I wrote a series of blogs on Aug. 13 to commemorate different aspects of Clarke's hockey career. Although Mark Howe later became my all-time favorite Flyers player, Clarke was my first childhood sports idol. From ages 3 to about 14, while I loved the entire Flyers team, Clarke particularly seemed like a superhero in my eyes as he won the Hart Trophy for the second and third times and he was the No. 1 leader on a team that won the Stanley Cup twice, played in the Cup Final four times and reached at least the Cup semis seven times in the eight-season span of 1972-73 to 1979-89. Those were my formative years as a hockey fan.

When Clarke turned 67 back in 2016, I wrote a lengthy blog about how my perceptions of the hockey legend evolved from my childhood to adulthood and how, in becoming a parent, I've tried to liken the evolution of my son Benjamin's views of pro teams sports and favorite athletes to my own. Benji, now 14, and I still very much bond over sports.

To read the original blog, click here.

2) Current Flyers goalie Carter Hart shares a birthday with Clarke. Hart turns 25 today. Flyers Alum defenseman Marcus Ragnarsson turns 52 today.

3) Lastly, yesterday marked two years since the passing of Hockey Hall of Fame writer Jay Greenberg. Jay is greatly missed by all of us who knew and worked with him. I still keep in touch periodically with Jay's wife, Mona. I'm happy to report that Mona, Jay's daughters and his young grandchildren are all doing well. I'd still like to see the Flyers name the pressbox in Voorhees in Jay's memory, as would folks such as Wayne Fish and Sam Carchidi, who knew Jay for many years. I think naming the presbox at the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees after Jay would be fitting. Beat writers spend more days and hours within a year at teams' training facilities than we do at the arena (which is solely used on game nights).

To read my tribute to Jay, click here.

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