Bob Clarke (Left) and Bobby Clarke (Right): 2 Sides of Success With the Flyers, Who Are at Home in Stanley Cup Final--Just Like the Good Old Days : It’s Bully for Broad Street Bob

When Bobby Clarke, the Philadelphia Flyers’ captain, retired last May after 15 years in the National Hockey League to become the general manager of the Flyers, he said that since he had moved into the front office, he’d have to wear a suit and tie and bronze his blue jeans.

Sure, enough there is a pair of bronzed blue jeans on a table behind Clarke’s desk in his office at the Spectrum.

“The secretaries gave them to me as a joke,” Clarke said.

Some people here regarded the Flyers as a joke in recent years until Clarke took over the team.

Although he refuses to take any credit for the Flyers’ success this season, some believe that Clarke is the reason the Flyers posted the best record in the NHL during the regular season and have again reached the Stanley Cup final.

“We all knew Bobby would stay in the organization,” former teammate Rick MacLeish told the Philadelphia Daily News. “He is the Flyers.”

The Flyers, with an average age of 24.5, are the youngest team in pro sports, and Clarke, a boyish-looking 35, is one of the youngest executives in pro sports.

Clarke’s appointment as general manager came as a surprise to him.

He had no experience in the front office, and cynics predicted that he would become the first playing general manager in the league when the Flyers hit the skids.

Clarke said he had no plans to retire until the Flyers asked him to become general manager. “I wanted to stay in hockey,” he said the other day between phone calls in the madhouse that the Flyer office has become. “I never had planned to become the general manager, but I couldn’t say no when they asked me. I played 15 years and I think I could have played one more season, but you don’t get opportunities like this very often.”

As a player, Clarke was always Bobby in the Flyers’ media guide. This season, he is listed as Bob. Some thought it was done because Clarke wanted to present a more professional image.

“I’ve always called myself Bob,” he said.

He also said that he was spending more time on hockey as a general manager than he ever did as a player. “This is way more time-consuming than playing,” he said. “Playing the game is the greatest thing ever. It’s a lot easier than this because all you do is practice and play.”

A hard-working center with a gap-toothed grin, Clarke was the heart and soul of the Broad Street Bullies, leading the Flyers to the Stanley Cup in 1974 and 1975.

With the Flyers back in the Stanley Cup playoffs, Clarke is the toast of Philly again. Everyone seems to recognize him. Strangers come up to him on the street and congratulate him.

As Clarke was stepping into his car at a downtown hotel the other day, for instance, the doorman approached to thank him for the job he has done.

Clarke has indeed come a long way from his hometown of Flin Flon, Canada, about 300 miles from Winnipeg on the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border, where he worked alongside his father in the zinc and copper mines for several summers as a teen-ager.

Although the Flyers have long been one of the NHL’s elite teams, they had their problems in the playoffs in recent years, losing nine straight games.

The Flyers snapped that string when they swept the New York Rangers in three games in the first round of the playoffs last month.

They kept right on going, too, eliminating the four-time Stanley Cup champion New York Islanders in the Patrick Division final, four games to one, then beating Quebec in the Wales Conference final.

When the Flyers defeated the Oilers in the first game of the Cup series Tuesday, there was talk among fans about a parade down Broad Street to honor the team when it brought the Cup back home.

Asked to compare the Philadelphia atmosphere now with what it was in the days of the Broad Street Bullies a decade ago, Clarke said: “It caught everyone by surprise then. But I think the enthusiasm is the same.”

Many people are surprised that the Flyers have reached the final, because they were picked to finish no higher than fourth in their division at the start of the season.

Clarke’s first move was to hire Mike Keenan, the University of Toronto coach, to coach the Flyers.

Keenan had no playing or coaching experience in the NHL, but he had guided Toronto to the Canadian collegiate championship last season and he had also coached in the minors. In 1983, he directed the Rochester Americans to the Calder Cup.

“If there’s one thing Mike Keenan and Clarkie have done, it’s restore order,” former Flyer goalie Bobby Taylor told the Philadelphia Daily News. “Clarkie has taken to his job like a duck to water. I wondered how he’d handle the paper work, but he’s adjusted well.

“Clarkie is a smart guy. There are a lot of people who can spot a problem, but there aren’t many who can spot a problem and correct it. Clarkie can do that. The day the team put him in the front office, the fans had faith in the organization.”

Although Clarke and Keenan talk frequently, Clarke lets Keenan run the team.

“The best thing we did was to hire Mike Keenan,” Clarke said. “The real key has been the coaching. He runs his end of the show.”

Clarke’s other big move was to trade Flyer star Darryl Sittler to the Detroit Red Wings a few days before the start of the season.

Sittler, who had been Clarke’s roommate, was a close personal friend and had been expected to take over for Clarke as captain of the team.

“The toughest thing I had to do was trade Darryl Sittler,” Clarke said.

Fred Shero, former Flyer coach, told the Daily News: “Clarke won’t take any credit. But he’s the reason this team is doing so well. I knew he’d be a great executive for the same reason he was a great player. He has courage.

“Look at the first trade he made. He gave away his best player (Sittler). That took guts, but that’s Bobby Clarke. He’ll tell off anyone, including management. As a player, he told me off.

“I’ve said this before, but there is only one Bobby Clarke.”

When Clarke retired, he was the Flyers’ all-time leading scorer with 358 goals and 852 assists, and he had led the Flyers in scoring eight times in 15 seasons. He played in nine All-Star games and three times won the Hart Trophy as the league’s Most Valuable Player.

“Winning those Stanley Cups was the highlight of my career,” Clarke said. “Nothing else came close.”

The Flyers retired Clarke’s jersey last winter. Clarke received an expensive watch, and his parents, who flew in from Flin Flon, were given a trip around the world.

Clarke still misses playing and competes in an old-timers’ league with several other former Flyers every week.

And he said it’s harder now to watch the Flyers than it was to play in the Stanley Cup.

“I’d rather be playing than watching,” he said. “But once I quit, I quit.”

Stanley Cup Notes The series is tied at 1-1 after the Oilers’ 3-1 win at the Spectrum Thursday night. The third game will be played tonight in Edmonton’s Northlands Coliseum at 5 p.m. (PDT). It will be televised live by USA cable network.