SHEER GENIUS
Fred Shero
Flyers coach: 1971-78
Won Stanley Cup: 1974 & '75
Flyers' Hall of Fame: 1990
Hockey Hall of Fame: 2013
Born: Oct. 23, 1925, in Winnipeg
Died: Nov. 24, 1990, in Camden
As a player: Was a defenseman who spent three seasons with the Rangers (1947-50). He played in 145 games and scored six goals.
As Flyers coach: Was 308-151-95 in seven regular seasons and 48-35 in the playoffs with the Flyers . . . Won the Jack Adams Award as the league's top coach in 1973-74.
Before coaching Flyers: Led Buffalo Bisons for 3 years, including the AHL championship in 1970 . . . Moved to the Central Hockey League the following season and guided Omaha to the CHL title.
After coaching Flyers: Was 82-74-24 in three regular seasons (1978-81) with the Rangers, 15-12 in the postseason. Took the Blue Shirts to the 1979 Cup finals where they lost to Montreal in five games.
Players on both Flyers Cup teams:
Bill Barber Ross Lonsberry
Tom Bladon Rick MacLeish
Bobby Clarke Bernie Parent
Bill Clement Don Saleski
Terry Crisp Dave Schultz
Gary Dornhoefer Ed Van Impe
Andre Dupont Jimmy Watson
Bob Kelly Joe Watson
Orest Kindrachuk
Odds and ends
* Shero is the eighth member of the Flyers organization elected to the Hockey Hall. Bernie Parent (1984), Bobby Clarke (1987), Ed Snider (1988), Bill Barber (1990), Keith Allen (1992) and Mark Howe (2011). Broadcaster Gene Hart was recognized with the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award in 1997.
* Known for being eccentric, cryptic and an extremely deep thinker. Before the Flyers clinched their first title in 1974, Shero scribbled on a blackboard the message "Win today and we will walk together forever."
* Left the Flyers in 1978 to coach the Rangers and called it the biggest mistake of his life.
* Shero underwent surgery for stomach cancer in 1983 and died of cancer 7 years later.
* "Five years from now he'll be in the Hall of Fame," Joe Watson said when Shero passed away in 1990. "He should be in there already. That happens to a lot of great men, overlooked while they're alive. In Freddie's case, we were the Broad Street Bullies, it was hooliganism, and people held that against him."
- Ed Barkowitz