Via Hockey Time Machine, which should be a daily read for you, this excerpt from a 1987 Chicago Tribune article shines some light on the Bullies-era Flyers.
During the haymaking days of the Broad Street Bullies, [Bobby] Clarke and gang came to Chicago one evening in mid-December. The Flyers did their usual number on the Black Hawks, after which Clarke whistled over a reporter in the visitors’ bathhouse. Clarke and his cohorts had read a story in The Tribune about a South Side mom with no heat in her apartment and no money to buy her children Christmas gifts.
“You know that lady in your paper this morning?” Clarke said, handing over $250 in cash. “This is from the guys. Make sure it gets to her, eh?”
“She’s a perfect stranger,” we remarked.
“It’s Christmas,” said Clarke.
If you’re thinking that $250 is chump change for pro athletes, consider that the average player salary in 1970 was just $18,000 … and that adjusted for inflation, $250 in 1970 is worth about $1,500 today. Even if you adjust that average salary for inflation, NHL players in that era still made four times less than today’s league minimum salary. Coughing up $250 for a complete stranger was a very nice gesture.
A bunch of goons. Just ruining the beauty of the sport, you know?
