Craig Dolch
| Special to The Post
WATCH: Florida Panthers celebrate Stanley Cup victory with parade
The Florida Panthers gathered alongside hometown fans to celebrate the Stanley Cup with a victory parade at Fort Lauderdale Beach.
Bill Torrey, known for building the New York Islanders dynasty, was instrumental in establishing the Florida Panthers.Torrey’s leadership brought success to the Panthers, including a Stanley Cup Finals appearance in their third season.
Bill Torrey was known for wearing bow ties and building NHL expansion teams. But mostly he’s known for constructing the New York Islanders dynasty that won four consecutive Stanley Cups in the 1980s.
That’s why he was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame, the AHL Hockey of Fame, the Nassau County Hall of Fame and the St. Lawrence (University) Hall of Fame.
But he wasn’t done. After leaving the Islanders in the early 1990s because of an ownership change, Torrey moved to West Palm Beach, started working on his golf game as a member at Bear Lakes Country Club and figured his days as an NHL executive were over.
Then, a week later, H. Wayne Huizenga, who was then the owner of the Miami Dolphins, called Torrey and asked him to come join him in a suite at the next game. Torrey didn’t know that Huizenga was considering buying an NHL expansion team, and a mutual friend, former Mets owner Nelson Doubleday, suggested Huizenga talk to Torrey.
“We sat in the box, and he told me he was thinking of bringing hockey down here,” Torrey once said. “My first reaction was, ‘Are you kidding?’ He said, get a little golf in and then we’re getting to work.”
And they did get to work. Torrey became the Panthers’ first president in 1992, and with general manager Bobby Clarke and head coach Roger Neilson, the Panthers broke an expansion team points record, finishing just one point out of the playoffs.
“Wayne wanted to surround himself with good people, and he went to the top of the chain in hockey by bringing in Bill Torrey,” star goalie John Vanbiesbrouck, the first pick of the 1993 expansion draft, told the Miami Herald. “Hockey and Florida didn’t match up. He did an unbelievable job building a hockey environment for hockey people where there wasn’t a lot of hockey roots. Bill and the rest of the people there accomplished a lot in a short period of time.”
The best was yet to come. In just their third season, after Clarke had returned to Philadelphia and was replaced by Bryan Murray, the Panthers made it to the Stanley Cup Final.
When Torrey decided to retire in 2010, the Panthers held a ceremony at which a commemorative banner was raised to the rafters bearing No. 93 to signify the inaugural season.
Torrey died on May 2, 2018, at 83 in his Bear Lakes home and was found by a Panthers employee who was to drive him to Fort Lauderdale for organizational meetings.
But with Torrey’s resume enhanced with a pair of Stanley Cup banners joining his over the past two seasons, it’s time to return to the Hall of Fame issue.
Why is Torrey not in the Palm Beach County Sports Hall of Fame?
“I’m surprised he’s not already in,” Will Torrey, one of Bill’s four sons, said this week. “There’s no question he deserves to be.”
Torrey’s success with the Islanders didn’t help his HOF chances because he didn’t grow up in Palm Beach County, and that success didn’t occur when he lived here.
But that’s not the case with the Panthers. An argument can be made that the Panthers may not have come to South Florida – or stayed here – or had the success here – without Torrey’s presence.
“There’s no larger figure in hockey in South Florida than Bill Torrey,” said Greg Bouris, who served as Torrey’s publicity director for the Islanders and Panthers. “Bill Torrey should be in any hall of fame in South Florida.”
As fate would have it, the Palm Beach County Sports Hall of Fame is accepting nominations for its 2026 class through Aug. 31. Voters: Don’t get caught up in the notion that the honor should go to folks who sell out the most hotel rooms or bring the most people to the ceremony.
If it’s a true sports hall of fame, local legends belong in it. Torrey lived in Palm Beach County for a quarter century while he was adding to the South Florida sports landscape. The only Hall of Famer to be inducted with Panther connections is John DeMott, who served as the Panthers’ public address announcer.
Imagine how much Torrey has enjoyed his heavenly view these past two seasons. Says Bouris: “I can just see Bill, his big smile and those red cheeks, telling me, ‘We fooled them again, kiddo.’”
Imagine how much it would mean to longtime Panthers fans – yes, there are some – and Torrey’s family to see Bill recognized locally. Regardless of when that happens, Will Torrey believes working for the Panthers added years to his father’s life.
“I think it energized him even though he wasn’t the GM,” he said. “He was in a hockey seat, an important hockey season with a great businessman like Huizenga.
“He would be very proud of what the Panthers have accomplished the last few years. Bill Zito (the current GM) realized what my dad knew: There’s a big difference between playing well in the regular season than the Stanley Cup.”
Torrey belongs in the Palm Beach County Sports Hall of Fame. Put a bow tie on it.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Craig Dolch covered the inaugural Panthers season for The Post and is in the Palm Beach County Sports Hall of Fame as a sportswriter.