Robert Gordon Orr OC (born March 20, 1948) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player, widely acknowledged as one of the greatest of all time.

His grandfather, Robert Orr, was a top-tier soccer pro player who emigrated from Ballymena, Northern Ireland[7] to Parry Sound early in the 20th century.

[2] Although three other NHL teams (Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings, and Montreal Canadiens) were interested in Orr, he signed in 1962 with the Bruins.

The Generals finished fourth in the league, but won the OHA championship, the J. Ross Robertson Cup, by defeating the St. Catharines Black Hawks, the Montreal Junior Canadiens and the Kitchener Rangers.

[24] To promote the event, held in Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens, the Generals had advertised it would be the last chance to see Orr in junior and were anxious for him to play.

Oshawa coach Bep Guidolin was fired for letting Orr play, while Blair left the organization of his own accord to join the expansion Minnesota North Stars.

[34] In that first season, Orr was challenged by the veterans, and he earned respect by defeating Montreal tough guy Ted Harris in his first NHL fight.

On December 4, 1966, Toronto Maple Leafs' defenceman Marcel Pronovost checked him into the boards, injuring Orr's knees for the first time in the NHL.

[36] Orr won the Calder Memorial Trophy as the league's outstanding rookie and was named to the NHL's Second All-Star team.

[41] In the pre-season, the Bruins added Phil Esposito, Fred Stanfield and Ken Hodge from the Chicago Black Hawks in one of the most famous deals ever.

[44] In other games, Orr was outstanding, scoring his first career NHL hat trick on December 14 against Chicago, adding two assists for a five-point night.

Orr is still the only defenceman in history to win the Art Ross Trophy as the league's leading scorer, which he also achieved a second time, in 1974–75.

[50] The goal came off a give-and-go pass with teammate Derek Sanderson at the 40-second mark of the first overtime period in the fourth game, helping to complete a sweep of the St. Louis Blues.

I looked back, and I saw it go in, so I jumped.The subsequent photograph by Ray Lussier[51] of a horizontal Orr flying through the air, his arms raised in victory – he had been tripped by Blues' defenceman Noel Picard after scoring the goal – has become one of the most famous and recognized hockey images of all time—and today is highlighted in the opening sequence of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Hockey Night in Canada telecasts.

In game one, late in the third period tied at 2–2, Orr blocked the open Boston net with his leg to keep out a Flyers' shot on goal, then took the puck up the ice and scored on a slapshot past goaltender Bernie Parent with a little over a minute remaining in regulation time to propel the Bruins to a 3–2 win.

[67] The Bruins placed second in the Adams Division, and lost to the Chicago Black Hawks in the first round of the 1975 playoffs, losing the best-of-three series, two games to one.

In fact, there are only nine other seasons in history of defencemen scoring 100 points or more (Paul Coffey with five, Denis Potvin, Al MacInnis, Brian Leetch, and Erik Karlsson with one each).

The Bruins were sold by Storer Broadcasting in August 1975 and the new Jacobs ownership group had to promise to keep Orr as a condition of the purchase.

"[71] According to the Bruins public relations director Nate Greenberg "one of my toughest jobs in the day was trying to get Orr to come out of the trainer's room to talk to the press.

[74] The Bruins' general manager, Harry Sinden complained of tampering by the Black Hawks, and demanded that Chicago owner Bill Wirtz submit to a lie detector test.

Cherry recalled Orr had refused to speak with the Bruins team president directly, allowing Eagleson to mislead or withhold enough details from Boston's offer.

[80] Years later, it emerged that Eagleson had very good relations with Black Hawks owner Bill Wirtz and NHL president John Ziegler that colluded to hold back salaries of certain players.

As of 2018[update], the only retired players in league history to have averaged more points per game than Orr are Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Mike Bossy, all of them forwards.

At the ceremony, the crowd at Boston Garden would not stop applauding and as a result, most of the evening's program had to be scrapped at the last second due to the constant cheering.

[97] According to longtime Bruins coach and general manager Harry Sinden, "Bobby became a star in the NHL about the time they played the National Anthem for his first game with us".

The Black Hawks balked at paying him the balance of his contract, and Orr took them to court, settling in 1983 for US$450,000 (US$1,376,612 in 2023 dollars[27]), one-third of the money they owed him.

[121] Eagleson was involved there too, arranging for the players to give up a seat on the trusteeship of the pension fund in 1969 to gain the acceptance of the NHLPA with the NHL owners.

[124] To prevent conflicts of interest, Orr sold an investment in the Lowell Lock Monsters minor pro hockey team[125] and cut his ties with a credit card firm that had a contract with the NHLPA.

[133][134][135] While on vacation, Orr met Margaret Louise "Peggy" Wood, a Trenton, Michigan native and speech therapist who worked in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

[148] A Canadian citizen, Orr provoked extensive criticism starting in October 2020 when he took out a full-page ad in the New Hampshire Union-Leader exalting Donald Trump's character and urging American voters to re-elect him.