Fred Shero statue fitting for true Philadelphia legend

Tomorrow, a statue to immortalize the great coach Fred Shero will be placed outside of Xfinity Live! at 11^th and Pattison, not far from where the statue of Bobby Clarke and myself stands.

We've had a lot of incredible coaches in Philadelphia sports, but Freddy brought back-to-back championships to this great city. No one has accomplished this feat in the city of Philadelphia. Ever.

To define Fred Shero, do I look at him as the coach? The visionary? The disciplinarian? There are so many great qualities that he has carried with him with his legacy.

Playing under him was an honor. He allowed us to be what made us great individual athletes, yet he was disciplined, repetitious, and systematic. His power was his belief in us fitting into the system, and we had such confidence in him, that we fell in line admirably. He created a symmetry that was unparalleled in the National Hockey League, but most importantly, in the locker room, behind closed doors. He was on to something.

He had a great vision and a great mind for hockey. Fred Shero, the visionary, was ahead of his time (and ahead of other coaches). In practice, at times, he would throw in unorthodox methods and drills to keep us on our toes, like practicing with tennis balls instead of pucks. But his vision really became a reality when we started to notice that it was almost as if he could see the game before it had been played; how our opponents would react to different plays and situations; and he prepared us for that. He studied our opponents hard, and adapted his defensive philosophy to accommodate each playmaker, and offensively fed off of the opponent's defensive weaknesses.

In the three years that he was my coach, I never heard him raise his voice to a player … ever. It just wasn't the way he conducted himself. He was a great communicator. He didn't have to yell to get his message across. And if there was an issue, it would be discussed privately in his office; and we respected that. He made each player feel they were a crucial part of each game, even if they didn't have much playing time. Each player knew that they could make or break a game at any given moment.

(Fun fact: Most people don't know that Freddy was the first coach in the league to bring assistant coaches behind the bench and into the game. I bet you didn't know that.)

Off the ice? There was an unwritten rule that after a game, especially on the road, if you walked into a bar and Freddy was already there, you had to spend your night drinking elsewhere, and he would do the same. I think he needed the separation between his personal and professional life, and we obviously respected his wishes and moved along to another bar down the street. But in all actuality, we would race to get out of the locker room after a game fast enough to reach the closest bar before he could.

We didn't have a curfew. I don't even think Freddy knew the meaning of curfew. He knew the Broad Street Bullies were a wild bunch. It takes one to know one.

Whenever Freddy's name is mentioned, I always remember that he always put everyone else before himself. He helped others. He truly wanted to make others happy. It wasn't "what can the people do for Freddy?" It was, "What can Freddy do for the people." He was a very unselfish individual.

And I'll leave off by telling this final story. The Broad Street Bullies name all started when the Saint Louis Blues kicked our asses the first time we got into the playoffs. That's when Mr. Snider slammed his fist onto the table and said, "We'll never be embarrassed like this again." Keith Allen acquired some fighters, and we became our legacy.

In 1973-1974, after we were labeled the Broad Street Bullies, Freddy came up with this crazy idea that I'll never forget. I was sitting in the locker room in my stall, facing the hallway. Directly across from where I was sitting, I could see Freddy's office door. It opened, and out came Freddy with a man trailing behind him. Freddy walked in first, and a shrink walked in after. I guess Freddy thought it would be a good idea to bring him to the practices so the guys could share their thoughts and concerns. I looked them both in the eye, and they stopped walking. They both looked back at me, I looked at the shrink and I said, "You: Get the f*** out of here." They turned around, Freddy opened the door, and they walked right out. We never saw the shrink again. It just wasn't the place for him, not with this group of guys.

Freddy's statue goes up tomorrow, and I'm proud to have witnessed his induction into the Hall of Fame, and now this? This statue will be standing in the heart of Philadelphia as a reminder to all fans back then, all fans now, and all fans to come, that Fred Shero was truly the best coach one of the best human beings this city has and ever will see. He never wanted to be in the spotlight for his accomplishments, but enough is enough. This statue is just another testament to Freddy's famous line, "We win tonight, we walk together forever."

It's a beautiful thing.