TAMPA, Fla. — I'm not a sports reporter. I cover it occasionally for big events, like the Super Bowl or Stanley Cup, but after sitting down to interview hockey legend, Phil Esposito, I’ve been converted. I laughed more while interviewing Esposito than at any time in my entire career; Esposito (as one of my producers told me) “is a gem.”
Without Esposito, the Tampa Bay Lightning may not exist. On the 30th anniversary of the team’s existence, Esposito took us back in time to the early 90s when his life was in transition, his future uncertain.
Phil Esposito: "When I got fired. I remember sitting in my basement in Bedford, New York, at a house that we just built and thinking to myself, 'what in the heck am I gonna do for the rest of my life? I will not be able to get another job here. You get fired in New York. You just don't get another job.' And I think about that a lot. And that's when I decided to go for it…I said I'm gonna go for an expansion team. I know the plan is six expansion is on its way. I know the fee is going to be $50 million. And I'm going to try to get one. I met Henry Paul, Henry Paul was born and raised here. When I met him, I don’t know, I just liked him at the end of the day at that first meeting at the old Mario’s, looked at him and I said, 'do you think hockey could survive here?' And he says, 'well, he says, we love football. We love boxing. We love wrestling. We love car crashes. Seems to me you got it all in hockey.' And I went, 'I'm going for it. Are you with me?' We shook hands and that was it. And from that moment on, we started."
After a few investors backed out, Esposito was against a wall. By chance, at a Japanese restaurant in New York, he caught a lucky break. Someone overheard his conversation about getting in touch with investors in Japan. But it wasn’t without a lot of personal sacrifices.
Phil Esposito: "I paid all the expenses. Somebody had to do it. Nobody was gonna give us any money. Again, much to my wife's chagrin. And it ended up that we ended up getting divorced, probably because of it. And I'm not proud of that. Because she was totally right. I was the bad guy in this situation, no doubt about it. But there shouldn't be a but, but there is. I had to create a job for myself. I didn't give up. That's for sure. Cost me a lot of sacrifice, a marriage, my wife couldn't handle it; she just couldn’t. I spent every penny. You had to put in $150,000 that was nonrefundable just for the application. Nobody was going to do that. I had to do it."
Michael Paluska: How does it feel to know that without you, the bolts wouldn't exist?
Phil Esposito: "I think they still would have been a team. I think there still would have been a team here."
Esposito is a two-time Stanley Cup winner and a hall of fame.
His achievements in the sport are superhuman. The first player in NHL history to score 1,000 points in a decade (1970s). In 1998, he was ranked number 18 on The Hockey News' list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players. Today, he is the radio color commentator for the Lightning. He tells me what he achieved in Tampa was and is still his proudest moment.
Phil Esposito: "This has been, for me, the greatest time of my life. People say, 'but Phil, I mean, you love playing.' I said, 'I did. I love to play. I love playing hockey. If I could do it tomorrow, I'd go out on that ice tomorrow and play.' Funny thing, the other night. My wife said to me; she woke me up; I said, 'what's wrong? What's wrong?' She said, 'Your feet. Are you skating?' I was dreaming of playing and skating. I remember the dream, I was coming over the blue line. I mean, I still have the passion for it, for the game; I still do."
Michael Paluska: Is there a reason why you're such a fighter? Was there something when you were younger? Where you were the smallest kid or you had to prove yourself because not everyone has this instinct to fight.
Phil Esposito: "Michael, I didn't make junior hockey till I was 19. They said I was too fat. I weighed 225 pounds. I worked in the steel plant. I didn't go to school. I didn't like school. But, my old man said, if you don't make hockey, this is your life forever, pal, you better make it, you better make it. I called my dad and said, 'I'm coming home.' I said, 'he (coach) is not playing me.' And I'm now almost 19, ain't gonna happen. Anyway, the star of the team gets hurt. His name was Ray Cullen. I’ll never forget this. And then he (coach) asked me if I'll play in a game against an intermediate team. Well, I got four goals that game. We won six to five. And I got four. And a year later, I was in the NHL. I used to say to the guys when we first started if we can make it 6040, good stuff. I'll be happy. So if I can be happy 60% of the time and sad 40%, I'll be happy. And anything above 60 is bonus. Anything below 60, dangerous. Yeah, get over it. Get up there. Think about it. Get your mind back into what you got to do and where you got to be and all that."
We were with Esposito in the radio broadcast booth at Amalie as Brayden Point made history and scored his 50th goal of the season. The excitement from the crowd echoed through the arena. It was deafening, but through it all, the steady proud voice of Esposito went across the airwaves with five simple words.
“Welcome to the club, kid.”
