If you were to ask Tampa Bay Lightning co-founder and Hockey Hall of Fame member Phil Esposito how he plans to celebrate his 83rd birthday this week, you’re likely to get somewhat of a non-answer.
Esposito last week joked he is officially “too old” to celebrate his birthday, set for Thursday, Feb. 20.
But if Esposito had to make a birthday wish? That’s an easier answer—for the Lightning to be competitive and have the possibility to win.
Helping to expand the NHL was always an Esposito dream.
"We'd sit there around my dad and have a couple of beers, and my mom would have a big meal with macaroni, meatballs, whatever else, you know what I mean? We'd sit around and my dad would say, ‘What are you going to do when you're not playing anymore?’ I’d say, ‘I don't know, dad, but I’ve got to stay in the game. Oh, I'd love to own my own franchise someday.’ And I kept saying that,” Esposito remembered last week.
“I mean, I said it I think when I was 22 years old in Chicago to Bobby Hull as a roommate of his. I said, ‘Boy, I'd love to own my own team.’ And he says, ‘Why? You can't make any money out of it.’ But I just had this passion for the game.”
That passion is audible during broadcasts of Lightning games, where the radio color commentator often is heard sharing in-depth analysis while adding plenty of character to his input.
“I will support this team and go down with this team until my last breath. Not Boston, not New York, not Chicago—the three teams that I played for. In Boston I had the greatest success as a player, but it can't compare to the success and the feeling I have with the Tampa Bay Lightning,” Esposito said.
Esposito, who played for the Boston Bruins, New York Rangers and Chicago Blackhawks, sits seventh in NHL history with 717 goals. His 1,590 points sit 12th in NHL history, and he won the Stanley Cup in Boston in 1970 and 1972.
Esposito is a two-time Ted Lindsay Award winner, a two-time Hart Memorial Trophy winner and a five-time Art Ross Trophy winner for leading the NHL in scoring. And still, his decision to bring an NHL franchise to Florida reigns supreme.
"Getting the Lightning was more important to me than being a player. Without a doubt.”
Finding Tampa Bay
Esposito originally aimed to place the Lightning in Orlando or Miami because both already had suitable buildings for an NHL team. He checked out Jacksonville next, but that wasn’t going to be a fit either.
Then Esposito met Henry Paul, who pushed him toward Tampa Bay. With the help of Mel Lowell and many others, the Lightning were created.
"Then I met Henry Paul. It was he, and he alone, that convinced me that this would be the place. I keep trying to emphasize that to people because if it weren't for Henry, I would not have picked Tampa Bay. … If it weren’t for him, I would not have been here. I would have forced my way to Orlando, and it would have been the wrong decision. Henry made it right.”
After meeting Paul for the first time, Esposito felt hope. It all came down to a handshake between Esposito and the organization’s first vice president.
"I looked at Henry, I took an immediate liking to him, and I said, 'Do you think hockey could survive in this area?' And here's what he said to me: 'We love our football, we love wrestling, we love boxing and we love car crashes. Seems to me, you’ve got it all in hockey.' … And I went, ‘You know what? I’m going for it. Are you with me?’ And we shook hands.”
At one point there were talks of building the Lightning home where Raymond James Stadium now sits. The team dug a hole there for a rink years ago, but Esposito knew the arena had to be built downtown to ensure success.
Despite the initial stress and the hard work that went into creating an NHL franchise, doing so is the professional accomplishment of Esposito’s career.
"God gave me talent to play hockey, and I exploited that talent, I did. But he gave me that talent and that passion for it,” Esposito said. “He didn't give me the talent to finish high school and go out and raise $55 million and start a hockey franchise.”
‘I would play tomorrow if I could’
The franchise has exceeded Esposito’s expectations, winning three Stanley Cups in the team’s first 32 years in the league. A lot of credit should go to current Lightning owner Jeff Vinik, who the Hall-of-Famer called “the greatest owner in all of professional sports.”
Esposito said this year’s team has some of the best talent in the league, adding he was happy to see their recent four-game winning streak headed into the 4 Nations Face-Off break.
He hopes to see the Lightning continue to build more of a widespread offensive attack as the team pushes for another playoff berth this season and also acknowledged the continued prowess of the team’s top players.
Esposito is in his 25th year working on the Lightning radio broadcast. As another year passes, the Lightning pillar doesn’t take a single day for granted.
“I love hockey. It's my passion, it still is and always will be. …I would play tomorrow if I could, and that's the truth.”
“Doing the radio allows me to be there and watch the game and also comment on it as if I'm sitting with you having a beer, watching it. I take no prisoners with that and I understand that, but if I was sitting beside you watching it at home on television, I'd be saying the same sort of things. Might be cursing a little bit more, but I'd be sitting there saying the same thing. I just love the game. I love the sport.”
