Terry O’Reilly vs. Behn Wilson 3/19/81
Was there a more formidable fighter in the early ‘80’s than Behn Wilson? Imagine if you will taking on Behn Wilson circa 80-81, when he was enjoying, in my opinion, his most successful campaign as a fighter. This would be a PRIME Wilson we’re talking about here. In a career of few blemishes and scant few losses if one were to attempt to pinpoint Behn in his prime, look no further than the 80-81 season. This was Behn Wilson at his height. In his first two years in the league he would impress with his obvious skill and great uppercut laden offensive style and it would culminate in a tremendous 80-81 campaign.
“Big” Behn broke into the league in 78-79 and immediately made his mark as one of the best up and coming Heavyweights in the game. His rookie year he went on a tour du force, taking on some of the league’s best fighters like Dave Schultz, John Wensink, Battlin’ Bert Wilson, Big Nick Fotiu, Willi Plett and Tiger Williams. He was not shy and ducked NO ONE, taking on the league’s tops fighters right off the rip and immediately climbing up the Heavyweight ladder. He followed with a strong sophomore effort in 79-80 which included his brutal KO of John Hilworth and his fantastic bout against Boston’s Mighty Mite, Stan Jonathan.
So going into the 80-81 season, Wilson had put his name right up there with the best in the league. He started off the year strong beating up on Montreal tough man Chris Nilan in the preseason and never looked back. He dispatched Clark Gillies early in the year with relative ease-a feat unheard of at the time. Gillies was considered one of the game’s best Heavyweights and looked bad against Big Behn. That dominant display helped propel Wilson to victories over Curt “Lights Out” Fraser and minor league mad man Archie Henderson, not once, but twice. Wilson came back from a slow start to punish Fraser and surgically destroyed Henderson who looked completely overmatched. The cherry on top of this fantastic season for Wilson would be a big two fight game against Boston’s Terry O’Reilly at seasons end.
Terry O’Reilly had become the Boston Bruins heart and soul. Since his rookie season in 72-73, O’Reilly had fought and played his heart out on some outstanding Boston Bruins teams. The Big Bad Bruins had to get bigger and badder as the years went by but O’Reilly was always there in the forefront. Even with the additions of John “Wire” Wensink, Stan Jonathan and Al Secord, O’Reilly always remained right in the middle of the action and was always willing to take on the biggest and baddest the league had to offer.
O’Reilly was one of those guys who played a clean hard game but was not afraid to go over the line when needed. He was almost universally respected by his peers for his hard play and willingness to fight the best of the best. To me, O’Reilly was the foot soldier on the front lines fighting battle after battle night in and night out to earn that kind of respect. From his early days as a Bruin O’Reilly had made his mark as one of the best fighters in the league. Even as the league continued to beef up throughout the rest of the ‘70’s, O’Reilly still maintained his place as one of the league’s best. It was only last season-in a wild and memorable playoff series with the New York Islanders-that O’Reilly went to war with Clark Gillies in multiple fights. He was as willing as ever.
The furious throwing southpaw had amassed an impressive record as a fighter. Victories over Dave Schultz, Dan Maloney and Clark Gillies helped to cement his reputation as a top fighter. Personally, I thought O’Reilly was one of the league’s top fighters in the early to mid ‘70’s. With the league toughening up in the late 70’s, I thought O’Reilly slipped a bit in the rankings but was still very much a top-10 ranked Heavyweight for the time. That’s essentially where we stood as the 80-81 season played itself out.
In his first few years in the league Behn Wilson had fought both John Wensink and Stan Jonathan of the Boston Bruins. Both were excellent fighters and gave Wilson all he could handle. He had yet to test himself against the Bruins longest tenured policeman although Terry O’Reilly was well known and respected. Even his Flyers teammates had to admit to a grudging respect for the rugged Bruins winger. And so it was in an oddly quiet Bruins-Flyers game at the Spectrum on March 19, 1981 that Big Behn Wilson and Terry “Taz” O’Reilly would meet up, not once but twice.
Despite Big Behn’s surging reputation as a fighter, O’Reilly had no problem lining him up for a big hit behind the Flyer net. O’Reilly floored Wilson, dumping him to the ice. Wilson grabbed O’Reilly and the fight was on. This would be a fast and furious fight, O’Reilly with lefts and Wilson with rights. At first it was an even exchange with both able to get off solid punches. Gradually, O’Reilly began to unravel and his punches became wilder in the face of Behn’s onslaught. Wilson began taking control of the fight as the wild O’Reilly threw himself off balance and down to the ice. Wilson was able to sneak in a few quick rights on the Bruins brawler before the linesmen were able to intervene.
Now I’m not sure what was said between the two while the linesmen were attempting to break them up but O’Reilly was smiling as the pair were being separated. You have to hand it to O’Reilly. Here he was going toe to toe with the league’s best fighter and he was smiling right in his face afterwards. Even while the two were in the box, O’Reilly was jawing with the younger Flyer D-man, smiling all the while. I can only imagine what was being said.
Maybe the veteran O’Reilly was testing the younger fighter in their first meeting or maybe he was looking to even the score but early in the second period he went looking for round two. O’Reilly once again went after Wilson throwing another hit on the tough Flyer defenseman. They would drop the gloves behind the play and square off. When they came together, O’Reilly again began with the lefts while Wilson used his uppercut. O’Reilly was still somewhat wild but landed a few early blows and had the early advantage in the fight. Wilson tried to pump in those right handed uppercuts but he was off target and off balance as O’Reilly landed.
One of the things I liked about Wilson was how much poise he had as a fighter. He never appeared to panic and seemed to only get stronger as the fight wore on. So in this fight against O’Reilly he didn’t panic, he didn’t fall apart as O’Reilly scored with some early left hands. Wilson slowly but surely worked in those uppercuts and began to find the range.
O’Reilly’s opening barrage had Wilson in some difficulty but once again his Achilles heel-his balance-reared its ugly head. His punches became wilder and he began missing his mark. He began to lose his balance as Wilson began to come on. As they spun around, Wilson landed a good right and knocked O’Reilly to a knee, still he tried to keep pace with Wilson and fired back wildly. Wilson still kept coming, throwing solid, measured rights. He caught O’Reilly with a good right that caused him to fall apart. O’Reilly was left swinging with both feet in the air like a child being playfully swung around by his dad. O’Reilly crashed to the ice, pulling Wilson down with him. They both attempted to toss a few extra punches in that quick moment before the linesmen were able to jump in and end it. O’Reilly amazingly was smiling again after the fight was over.
When I think back on these fights it was just so typical of O’Reilly to go after Wilson in his own building. It was also typical of O’Reilly to come back for more after suffering a setback in the first go. That was Taz though wasn’t it? He had no fear and was always looking to come back for more. It’s no wonder O’Reilly was nearly universally respected among his peers. His all-out heart and soul style of play and his willingness to fight ANYONE endeared him to friend and foe alike. It’s hard not to love a player like that. O’Reilly would start to fade in the following years as the injuries began to pile up. He would never again crack the Top-10 and he fell out of the Heavyweight picture, retiring after the 84-85 season.
Big Behn would play the next two seasons before being traded to the Chicago Blackhawks. He would eventually go down as one of the game’s greatest fighters. His trademark uppercut and granite chin helped him to champ like status during a great era for fighting. The manner in which Behn accomplished this was also worth noting. He wasn’t one of those guys who rested on his reputation and fought rarely. He took on the best of the best of his time and came out one of the all-time greats.