Derek Sanderson

Derek Sanderson
Born	June 14, 1946 (1946-06-14) (age 65) Niagara Falls, ON, CAN
Height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Weight	200 lb (91 kg; 14 st 4 lb)
Position	Centre
Shot	Left
Played for	Boston Bruins Philadelphia Blazers New York Rangers St. Louis Blues Vancouver Canucks Pittsburgh Penguins
Playing career	1965–1978

Derek Michael Sanderson, nicknamed "Turk", (born June 16, 1946 in Niagara Falls, Ontario), is a former Canadian professional ice hockey centre who is now a bank executive and restaurateur.

Born in Niagara Falls, Ontario, he played junior hockey in his hometown, helping the Niagara Falls Flyers of the Ontario Hockey Association to a Memorial Cup championship in 1965 and then winning the Eddie Powers Memorial Trophy as the league's leading scorer in 1967. During one notable game with the Flyers, with management from the Boston Bruins watching, Sanderson got into a fight with the Oshawa Generals' Bobby Orr, his future NHL teammate. While the Boston scouts were initially there for Orr, this also gave Sanderson valuable attention.

Sanderson then appeared in two games as a centre with the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League (NHL). The following season he became a Bruin regular and was voted the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL's 1968 Rookie of the Year, an honor that Orr won the previous year, giving the Bruins their second consecutive such award.

For the next five years he was an integral part of the Bruins team that won Stanley Cup championships in 1970 and 1972. Although he had been a leading scorer in junior hockey, his role on the high-scoring Bruins was to centre their defensive line with wingers Ed Westfall and Don Marcotte. They became one of the best defensive lines in the league and Sanderson played a pivotal role as one of the most highly regarded penalty killers and face off men in hockey. During the 1970 Stanley Cup finals Sanderson laid a perfect pass on the stick of Bobby Orr that resulted in the goal that not only won the Bruins their first Stanley Cup in twenty-nine years, but became the most widely published photo in hockey history. The Bruins went on to finish first in the league for the next two seasons, winning the Cup again in 1972.

Nicknamed "Turk," Sanderson was a fan favorite who received much publicity for his flamboyant "mod" lifestyle. He drove a silver Rolls Royce, flashed diamond rings, and wore a mink coat. Named by Cosmopolitan Magazine as one of the sexiest men in America, he was the subject of the gossip columns, a frequent guest on television talk shows, and regularly photographed in the company of numerous beautiful women. He is famously quoted as having told a reporter who asked about his dining habits that his pre-game meal was a steak and a blonde. Sanderson was in the public eye enough that it has been reported New York Yankees' shortstop Derek Sanderson Jeter was named after him. This has, however, been denied by Jeter himself in an interview on MLB.com.^[1] Derek Jeter's father's first name is Sanderson; as a result, this is more likely to be source of his middle name.

After the 1972 season, Sanderson signed a contract with the Philadelphia Blazers of the newly formed World Hockey Association. His $2.6 million salary surpassed that of Brazilian soccer star, Pelé, making him the highest-paid athlete in the world at the time. Unfortunately, his play did not live up to the expectations of his salary—nor, realistically, could it have—and between an early-season injury, intemperate remarks to the press, and Blazer financial troubles, Sanderson was bought out for $1 million before season's end.^[2]

He promptly returned to the Bruins but was traded to the New York Rangers after the following season. It was with the Rangers that his alcoholism started.^[3] Meanwhile, in a distraction from his hockey career, along with New England Patriots receiver Jim Colclough, and the New York Jets star football quarterback Joe Namath, Sanderson opened "Bachelors III", a trendy nightclub on New York City’s Upper East Side. Negative publicity over some of the clubs less than reputable patrons led to problems and eventually Sanderson had to get out of what went from a "goldmine" to a money-losing venture.

His lifestyle arising from money and fame, combined with abuse of alcohol and drugs, resulted in Sanderson's health deteriorating, and his career began to go downhill. While he still played effectively when healthy, he began to be dealt from team to team and even spent some stints in the minor leagues: to the St. Louis Blues early in the 1976 season, to the Vancouver Canucks on waivers midway through the 1977 season. He signed as a free agent by the Pittsburgh Penguins for the stretch run in 1978, after which—hobbled by repeated knee injuries—he retired.

He lost millions of dollars in bad investments and with the substance abuse problems, he wound up penniless, one time sleeping on a New York City park bench.^[2] He was also in poor health, and crippled to the point he had to get around on crutches. Forced to accept the charity of friends who gave him a place to live, several years after his retirement, publicity about his situation brought a second chance from the goodwill of people in the city of Boston, a place of which Bobby Orr said the fans and citizens were the most loyal and decent in the world. Orr spent his own money to check Sanderson and several Bruins personnel into rehab.^[4]

Sanderson beat his addictions and took a job as a professional sports broadcaster. He worked for ten years in broadcasting with NESN.

Sanderson and Orr organized State Street Global Advisors, where he was Director of the Sports Investment Group that provided professional financial advice to athletes to ensure they did not wind up impoverished as he had.^[4]

Sanderson is currently Vice President and Senior Investment Professional with Howland Capital Management in Boston, where he invests for young athletes and high networth individuals. He is involved with a variety of charitable organizations and makes a number of guest appearances at charitable events to help raise awareness and funding for their cause.

References

1. ^ "Jeter's Mailbag". MLB.com. http://www.mlb.com/players/jeter_derek/news/article.jsp?story=07102006_news. 
2. ^ ^{a b} CBC News. http://www.cbc.ca/sports/columns/top10/fallingdown.html. 
3. ^ [1]
4. ^ ^{a b} "The Ever Elusive, Always Inscrutable And Still Incomparable Bobby Orr". CNN. March 2, 2009. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1152491/5/index.htm. Retrieved May 1, 2010. 

External links

• Derek Sanderson's career stats at The Internet Hockey Database
• Derek Sanderson's biography at Legends of Hockey
• Picture of Derek Sanderson's Name on the 1970 Stanley Cup Plaque

Preceded by Bobby Orr

Winner of the Calder Trophy 1968

Succeeded by Danny Grant

Persondata
Name	Sanderson, Derek
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	June 14, 1946
Place of birth	Niagara Falls, ON, CAN
Date of death
Place of death