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Dennis Boyle walked the concourse of the sold-out Spectrum, unable to see much of anything thanks to the oversized mascot head he wore. It was his second day as Slapshot, the orange mascot introduced by the Flyers<\/a> in November of 1978. <\/p>\n Day No. 1 was a hit: Slapshot skated between periods, showed some fancy moves, slapped a puck in the net, and listened to the crowd roar. Navigating the arena a day later presented a different challenge.<\/p>\n \u201cDoesn\u2019t a guy come up to me, a typical Philly fan, and [sucker punches] me right in the gut,\u201d Boyle said. \u201cMan, I don\u2019t know if you\u2019ve ever been suckered in the gut. But you think you\u2019re going to die.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: Flyers vs. Hurricanes: Playoff schedule, ticket info, how to watch, and what to know about Philly\u2019s second-round series<\/a><\/p>\n Slapshot\u2019s security guard apologized, telling Boyle that he should\u2019ve seen the 20-something-year-old coming. It\u2019s OK, Boyle said as he tried to catch his breath.<\/p>\n \u201cThen I thought, \u2018Hey, that\u2019s a badge of honor. I\u2019m not worried about it,\u2019\u201d Boyle said.<\/p>\n The Flyers were two years removed from winning back-to-back Stanley Cups and were in the midst of a sell-out streak that spanned eight seasons as they filled the Spectrum every night with 17,077 crazies.<\/p>\n They didn\u2019t need a mascot and owner Ed Snider sure didn\u2019t want a mascot. But the Phillie Phanatic<\/a> arrived earlier that year from the Gal\u00e1pagos Islands and took Philadelphia by storm as mascots became prevalent across pro sports in the late 1970s. <\/p>\n Lou Scheinfeld, Snider\u2019s business partner, suggested that maybe the Flyers could create their own Phanatic.<\/p>\n So long before Gritty<\/a>, the Flyers introduced Slapshot. It was big and orange with a pair of goggles and wore a hat with flaps.<\/p>\n \u201cTo this day, I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s a dog or what,\u201d said Scheinfeld, who named the Spectrum and worked closely with Snider for years. \u201cI just laugh when I see it because I don\u2019t know what the heck it is.\u201d<\/p>\n Boyle was a 26-year-old mail carrier in Delaware County<\/a> who played beer-league hockey and had season tickets in the Spectrum\u2019s third deck for $7.50 a game before becoming the mascot.<\/p>\n He sprinted through his mail route, drove to the Spectrum, and wore the two-piece Slapshot costume \u2014 \u201cIt stunk to the high heavens,\u201d Boyle said \u2014 for $25 a night. After just one season, it was over. Gritty went viral after debuting in 2018 but Slapshot became an answer to a trivia question.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople were saying \u2018You\u2019re the father of Gritty,\u2019\u201d said Boyle, who is now 73 and lives in Cherry Hill<\/a>. \u201cI go \u2018More like the grandfather.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Becoming Slapshot<\/p>\n Boyle\u2019s girlfriend worked at the Spectrum and recommended him for the job when she heard the Flyers were in the market for a mascot. He knew how to skate, loved the Flyers, and had a background in theater. He went to a tryout.<\/p>\n \u201cI showed up and not another soul could even stand up on skates,\u201d Boyle said.<\/p>\n Boyle grew up in Glenolden and graduated in 1970 from Monsignor Bonner. Hockey, Boyle said, was a \u201cforeign sport\u201d then as the Flyers were just starting. Everything changed when they won the Cup. Boyle, like the rest of the region, was hooked. <\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: Two lessons the Flyers can carry into their second-round series with the Hurricanes<\/a><\/p>\n He bought season tickets and his father Jim was a bartender at the Blue Line, the Spectrum club where the players went after games before they headed to Rexy\u2019s in South Jersey<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cRemember [sportscaster] Al Meltzer?,\u201d Boyle said. \u201cHe was in there one night and he was wearing these loud plaid pants. He predicted the Bruins and my brother-in-law was giving him the business. My father is saying to me on the side, \u2018Get him out of here.\u2019 We had such a good time.\u201d<\/p>\n The Flyers had Boyle train with an Ice Capade who fine-tuned the beer leaguer. Slapshot debuted in an afternoon game with a power-skating routine set to the theme from Rocky.<\/p>\n \u201cUnlike most games, when people go out to get their food and whatnot, everyone stayed,\u201d Boyle said. \u201cIt was mostly kids because it was Black Friday. Everybody went bananas.\u201d<\/p>\n Slapshot went to a Firebirds game and \u201cfought\u201d their mascot, was interviewed by local TV news, and had his own 8×10 to sign. It was fun. Slapshot\u2019s biggest challenge \u2014 besides getting sucker punched \u2014 was not blocking the view.<\/p>\n \u201cSomebody would be yelling at me, \u2018Get out of my way,\u2019\u201d Boyle said. \u201cThe Phanatic can be out in left field somewhere and people don\u2019t care. But hockey is different. \u2018Get the F out of my way.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The Flyers told Boyle late in the season that they were retiring Slapshot. Jay Greenberg, the Hall of Fame writer who covered the Flyers for the Daily News, wrote in 1978, that the reaction was \u201cnot overwhelmingly favorable but this is a town that once booed Santa.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe kids, at least, weren\u2019t complaining,\u201d Greenberg wrote.<\/p>\n Snider didn\u2019t want a mascot and Slapshot wasn\u2019t catching on. The Flyers already had \u201cThe Hammer,\u201d \u201cThe Hound,\u201d and \u201cBig Bird.\u201d The Broad Street Bullies were the draw. The Flyers didn\u2019t need Slapshot.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a poor costume,\u201d Scheinfeld said. \u201cAnd I know Dennis tried his best and he did a good job, but the fans weren\u2019t crazy about it. Back then, all Flyers fans wanted was hockey. The Flyers played a great brand of hockey and the fans really didn\u2019t want mascots. Maybe we should\u2019ve named it Hapless. That probably would\u2019ve been a hit.\u201d<\/p>\n Gritty before Gritty<\/p>\n The Flyers went without a mascot for 40 years before Gritty arrived. Initial reactions to the googly-eyed creature were almost as rough as a sucker punch to the stomach.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll be honest with you, when I first saw Gritty, I said, \u2018This is horrible. This is awful,\u2019\u201d Scheinfeld said. \u201cI couldn\u2019t have been more wrong. I love Gritty. The way they handle him with the Secret Service guys. It\u2019s a winner. Much better than our Slapshot.\u201d<\/p>\n Gritty overcame his debut, quickly became a sensation, and still regularly goes viral eight years later. The mascot talks smack on social media, tosses cake in the face of rival fans, and twice threw stuffed penguins off the second deck of the arena during the Flyers\u2019 recent first-round series against Pittsburgh. <\/p>\n The Flyers were mascotless for so long yet now it\u2019s hard to imagine them not having one.<\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: Garrett Wilson hasn\u2019t played a playoff game for the Flyers, but \u2018the GOAT\u2019 has made an impact on rookies and veterans alike<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThat guy has [guts],\u201d Boyle said. \u201cDid you see him repel from the ceiling?\u201d<\/p>\n Maybe the Flyers, Scheinfeld said, were ahead of their time with Slapshot. Perhaps Slapshot could have been Gritty before Gritty. <\/p>\n A few Flyers Archives photos of their original, short-lived, mascot Slapshot. I don’t know who was inside the costume or what became of it. Mr. Snider had many things from team history preserved, but not that awful costume. The Barber family photo is the only color one I’ve seen. pic.twitter.com\/sgI8Axzm4T<\/a><\/p>\n