WHEREAS, Ed Snider, known as one of the most enthusiastic sports owners in Philadelphia History, formed the Philadelphia Flyers (the “Flyers”) with several partners when Philadelphia was awarded an expansion team in 1966; and
WHEREAS, Despite the fact that Philadelphia was a City with no hockey tradition, base of hockey fans or an arena, the Spectrum was built on Broad Street and Ed Snider and the Flyers turned Philadelphia into a town that loved bare-knuckle fights on the ice and one proud to bear the name, the “Broad Street Bullies”; and
WHEREAS, In 1974 and 1975, the Flyers won consecutive Stanley Cup Championships making the Flyer’s the National Hockey League’s first expansion team to win hockey’s holy grail; and
WHEREAS, Even though the Flyers have not won any Stanley Cups since, the team has become one of the best in the National Hockey League, making the playoffs 38 times and playing in six more Stanley Cup Finals, the last in 2010; and
WHEREAS, Ed Snider became one of the most influential National Hockey League owners, attending nearly all of the Flyers’ home games and creating an organization that felt like a family; and
WHEREAS, In 1999, a Philadelphia Daily News poll named Ed Snider the City’s greatest sports mover and shaker, surpassing basketball broadcaster Sonny Hill and the legendary Athletics manager, Connie Mack; and
WHEREAS, In 1980, Ed Snider received the Lester Patrick Trophy for contributions to hockey in the United States and was inducted into four Hall of Fame’s: the Hockey Hall of Fame (1988), the Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame (1997), the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame (2005) and the United States Hockey Hall of Fame (2011); and
WHEREAS, Ed Snider’s most important legacy however, is the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation, created by Ed in 2005, which promotes life skills and hockey through after-school, recreational and supplemental educational activities for children and families in Philadelphia and Camden, New Jersey and is provided at no cost and focused on underserved boys and girls who would not otherwise have the opportunity to play; and
WHEREAS, Among other things, Ed Snider’s Foundation partnered with the City and State on a $14.5 million project to refurbish four Philadelphia rinks for year-round use and today serves approximately 3,000 children in Philadelphia and Camden with a plan to double the size of the program over the next several years; and
WHEREAS, There are very few owners in the history of sports that have the decades-long legacy of Ed Snider, from the founding of the franchise through over 40 years of stewardship, his dedication to the Flyers and the City of Philadelphia can’t be celebrated enough as we mourn his loss; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the Council of the City of Philadelphia hereby honors and remembers the late Ed Snider, co-founder and owner of the Philadelphia Flyers for nearly 50 years who passed away Monday, April 11, 2016 at the age of 83 after a long battle with bladder cancer.
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