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Archive Record
Images
Metadata
Object ID |
2013.55.107 B |
Object Name |
Video Recording |
Title |
Phil Esposito Interview |
Scope & Content |
Phil Esposito interview, 26 March 2009. Digitized MP4 from Sony DVM60 ME. Two videos with a total viewing time of 01:33:32. 1 of 2; 01:21Childhood, hockey was a pretty important thing: "It was the only thing"; there wasn't much else, summer was baseball, fall was football but hockey was constant, including street hockey, played on open air rink, played shinny, never played organized hockey until 11 or 12; "I believe that kids between 11 and 14 learn the most about hockey and about life. The older you get you learn more and never stop learning. Those are the formative years."; "For me there was nothing I wanted to do rather than play hockey"; played Junior B at 18, Junior A at 19, lucky to get into the NHL at that age, talks about working at the Algoma Steel plant and his dad telling him "if you don't make it in hockey, this is what you are going to be doing for the rest of your life"; worked at the plant until age 30 to earn money in the off-season; talks about Bobby Orr being the first player to get $100,000 a year and he was happy because that meant he could get more money; in 1972 he and his brother Tony had a hockey school, made good money at it, gave it up to go and play for our country, did not get any money for playing in the Summit Series 10:21On making hockey a career: played in St. Catharines on the Black Hawk farm team, no draft at that time, signed on when he was 16, he was not being played much and decided to go home at 19, had an opportunity to play centre in a game and scored 4 goals and never looked back from that point, called to the Sault Thunderbirds, broke his left wrist and played in cast, thought right then he could play at the pro level but not sure of the NHL because there were only 6 teams, called up to Black Hawks and played first game Jan. 16, 1963, wore #7, he could score but he was not a great skater 16:28On transition to the Hawks: dressed for 26 games, didn't play a lot, first goal was against Terry Sawchuk, something you don't forget in life 18:10First meeting with Gordie Howe: talks about players now in the Hockey HOF, great story about how they both ended up in the penalty box, thinks he is one of the greatest players to play the game, the best defenseman Bobby Orr, the best goalie Terry Sawchuk, the best forward Wayne Gretzky, Howe the best all-round player 21:14Where you there when Gretzky broke your record: had followed him for 3 games; talks about how the equipment has changed the game 23:12You were the scoring guy in your era: never thought he could do the things he did, you do not appreciate until after you're finished playing, talks about the crowd cheering when he scored his 100th 24:14Hitting the century mark: did it for 4-5 years in a row, always wanted to be consistent, most important thing to him, always prided himself in hockey about being mentally alert and ready; firm believer everything after training camp is mental, (25:52) "I feel this in my heart. We beat the Russians in '72 because mentally there were enough guys on our team that just weren't going to lose. And that's why we beat them. We just weren't going to lose ... There was no way that I would let anybody lose and I know there were other guys on the team that felt the same was as I did." 27:13Time in Chicago: talks about the HAM line, playing with Bobby Hull a pleasure, had fun; knew he was going to be traded because of the expansion; the owner didn't like his play, wanted him to be more aggressive (fight), learned early not to fight, if you are in the penalty box you are not going to score and you are not helping the team, if he was going to fight it had to be at the right time in the game and it had to be somebody who "peed" him off 31:30Talks about his 3 years in Chicago, talks about negotiating for his contract, talks about how GMs could send players to the minors and bury them, that was why expansion was successful because there were 6 - 12 teams, no players association until that year; talks about his negotiations with Boston 37:26Boston experience: coach Harry Sinden said he was going to make him his scorer, talks about playing with Bobby Orr, Ken Hodge and Wayne Cashman and the trust among them 40:26The relationship is still there, respects Wayne's knowledge of the game; talks about the ownership of Tampa Bay and owners getting too involved in running the team 42:42Importance of teammates: hockey is a team sport, no one guy can do it, at that time not a disciplined bunch of guys and it cost, should have won the Stanley Cup 4-t times with the team; learned from that 46:24Talks about managing Tampa Bay: talks about the politics and being treated poorly; considers this his greatest achievement in hockey, about how he got the money from Japan, the tough time in getting the franchise, starting to sell tickets the day after the announcement that they had won the franchise 51:49Running the franchise was the most terrific thing ever, the greatest achievement in the game because he was out of his element - playing was his element, a feeling of accomplishment and sacrifices made, likens it to giving birth, winning the Stanley Cup in 2004-2005 was graduation time and time for him to let go, still loves the team 53: 45Summit Series '72: after the first game we were in shock but his mind was already on the next game, realized they were not in shape, talks about the change in the lineup for the second game and how it worked, when he was running Tampa Bay he would watch Pete Mahovolich's goal when he was depressed and it still makes him feel good; considers that they beat them on adrenaline and how are we going to sustain this; in Vancouver the booing was ridiculous, remembers the Esaw interview at the zamboni entrance, never knew what he had said until he watched it in 1981 at a team reunion, really emotional, "nothing against the players but it was society against society. That's the way it became. It became, no doubt about it, capitalism vs. communism and I was never going to let them beat us, never!" 2 of 2; 00:02"After we played those 2 games in Sweden, I never thought we could lose. We became a team. It was something that I feel really, really positive about ... And I kept saying "We can't lose guys. We are not going to lose". You got to believe it in order for it to come true, so I believed it."; feels they could have played the Russians for 10 more games and have won. "We became a team and real good team. There were tough times mentally and physically. The mental part can really get you down, the physical part you get over it."; was there a hatred, he never hated an opponent but he really dislike those guys 02:14He stayed focused, tried to get the other guys to focus but each has to do it themselves, coach can motivate a little bit but got to do it yourself, has to come from the heart and mind; remembers the Russian coach saying they would not compete against a North American, specifically Canadian, team again until they got some emotion in their game; (04:06) talks about how emotion is good and how they are entertainers 05:32On being the team leader: Emotional and passionate about the game, became the inspirational leader, was his nature, he was the one that asked the questions about money, why are we playing this, it was set up to make money for someone; it all started with the speech in Vancouver, could not believe the booing, talks about Bill Goldsworthy being devastated by it 08:05Remembers when Paul Henderson scored the winning goal, was on the ice for the last 30 seconds, it was as exciting as anything I ever felt when he scored because of the whole atmosphere in Russia, the people booing, calling them Mafioso and animals, talks about the Russian declaring that if the game was tied they would win because of the number of goals scored and Fergie saying "the game is not over yet" and Henderson scoring seconds later 09:58Dressing room emotion: it was loud, it was wild, forgot they had to go to Prague for a game, very emotional time 11:19On having his brother Tony on the team: it was great, but business is business, if he got an opportunity to score he would put one in but after the game, he was my brother 12:48On the ritual of not talking to members of opposing teams: it changed for him, had a different respect for the players, he didn't know them before so it didn't matter, has a huge respect for Bobby Clarke 14:10Did hockey change for you after that tournament: changed for all of us; we have slowly become the way they played and vice verse, talks about training and drills today, no scrimmages, why do they train these guys for sprints when the game is a marathon? 18:12What are your shots on goal: 550, was shooting on the time, the game plan was on the net, scoring goals is easy if you put the puck on the net because then it is up to the goalie, sooner or later he is going to make a mistake; philosophy is when you get to the face off dots, think, shoot, first priority is to shoot the puck at the net" 22:00On being elected the outstanding athlete of 1972: another year like any other year to him, was a great year, his greatest were when he was 28 to 35, talks about how it takes time and patience to develop a hockey player 25:00Most proud of in his playing days: having his number retired in Boston, very emotional right now 26:35If you could go back and go it again, would you change anything: as far as the game is concerned make things better, life is what you make it, you are given opportunities and you better be ready for them 28:11Is success opportunity: created opportunity in Tampa Bay to get the franchise; never underestimate your opponent and people underestimated me 30:22On the Lou Marsh trophy: it is right up there with the MVP awards and the Stanley Cup, proud of it 31:54Is life still going strong: going to live my life every day as I have for the last 60 years, life is about having fun, will be some miserable times but you take from those bad times and you try to take the positive from those bad times, what was it that I did that was good and that is what you have to apply to your future, end with the positive, you learn as you go 33:58Welcome to the Hall |
Date |
2009/03/26 |
People |
Esposito, Phil Esposito, Tony Orr, Bobby Howe, Gordie Gretzky, Wayne Hull, Bobby |
Search Terms |
Phil Esposito Ice hockey NHL National Hockey League Chicago Black Hawks New York Rangers Boston Bruins Tampa Bay Lightning 1972 Summit Series interview |