Friends of the former Boston Bruins lottery pick gathered inside Dick Todd’s home on Friday afternoon to share
their favorite stories about Hehir, a Worcester native who was recently diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
“Bobby’s a hockey character that everyone loves,” said Todd, Hehir’s lifelong pal. “Hockey was his life.”
Following a three-year battle with cancer that included chemotherapy, Hehir has decided to skip treatments this
time around in order to spend more time with family and friends.
“I’m just hanging out,” Hehir, 65, explained. “I had a lot of fun growing up, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.”
Bobby Hehir built a hockey rink outside his mother’s house in Worcester’s Main South district when he was a child,
using chicken wire and plywood.
He spent many days skating at Crystal Pond and the Webster Square Arena. Hehir was always close to the action
wherever hockey was played.
“He would chase cars down the street,” Todd added. “He always had a smile on his face.”
“BoBo was a character,” said his sisters, Colleen and Julie, in a joint statement.
Hehir rapidly established himself as one of the state’s best high school hockey players by the time he arrived to St.
Peter’s in 1973. Hehir, nicknamed the “Rocket” in high school, was a three-time Central Mass. first-team All-Star and
a two-time United States High School All-American.
During his senior season, he had a broken right wrist and a chip on his shoulder.
“He was a tough Worcester kid,” said Rich Gedman, who played baseball at St. Peter’s with Hehir before the school
was renamed St. Peter-Marian and subsequently St. Paul. “It was obvious that Bobby had special gifts on the hockey
rink.”
Hehir received a scholarship to play hockey at Boston College and scored 34 points as a freshman. On March 25,
1978, the 5-foot-11, 185-pound forward scored a goal for the Eagles in their NCAA championship game loss to Boston
University.
