SONG: "Black Betty"
ARTIST: Ram Jam
YEAR: 1977
IN MEMORIAM:
#34 LYNDON BYERS
2-29-1964 / 7-4-2025
I had a song of the week all set up for this week when a hero of mine when I was young passed away last night. Let me explain. I remember watching the Boston Bruins with my Dad when I was 5 years old. I instantly loved them. I wanted everything Bruins. Jerseys, t-shirts, hats.. you name it. I always seemed to gravitate towards the tougher guys on the team. It was Terry O' Reilly and Stan Jonathan at first. Then as I started getting older, it was all about Jay Miller and this new kid coming up through their system. That kid was Lyndon Byers. I loved this dude right out the gate! I loved the mullet. So much so that I grew my own. He would jump between the big club and the minors up until about 1987 when he was locked into the big league club. There are so many fond memories of L.B. growing up. One that sticks out is a game against the hated Montreal Canadiens, when they called up this huge goon called Steve Fletcher. Everyone in the building thought for sure Jay Miller was gonna take this big boy but it was Byers who lined up against him, and even though he gave up height and reach, L.B. took down the giant, all the while Jay Miller and John Kordic had an epic bout on the other side of the rink too. L.B. was never considered the toughest guy in the NHL but he wasn't taking too many back seats either. He beat some of the baddest dudes in the NHL, scoring wins against Todd Ewen, Craig Berube, Tie Domi, Rob Ray and Clark Gillies to name a few! Not only was Byers a tough kid, he was also a totally funny dude. He gave some classic interviews and was always joking around and had a great personality. That's probably why he was a no brainer to be on the radio in Boston on the classic station WAAF on the Greg Hill show. Boston Bruins fans are blue collar people who love guys who leave it all on the ice and stand up for their teammates and L.B. did that throughout his career as a Bruin. Because of his rugged style of play, injuries really plagued him throughout his career. People forget, when Byers was in juniors, he was a pretty skilled offensive player. In his NHL career, it seemed every time he started getting into a groove, he got hurt which sucked. I'm totally bummed out by L.B.'s passing. As a kid, it was common to see everyone sporting Neely jerseys or Bourque jerseys. Me? I had the home and away jersey of big #34. When the B's wore the white jerseys, I had my white L.B. jersey on. When they wore the black, the black Byers jersey was on my back! As me and my friends got older, like mid to late teens, we used to play in organized street hockey leagues at Hockeytown in Saugus, Ma. You guessed it, I wore #34 for my man Lyndon Byers! In the past few years, L.B. shied away from the public mostly. There was a sense that something was wrong healthwise but he kept it pretty private. When the Bruins had their 100 year celebration year a couple years ago, throughout the season they would have celebrations of the different era's of Bruins hockey. The night they celebrated the 80's Bruins teams it was kinda shocking to see L.B. go out on the ice with crutches. Even though you could tell, he wasn't looking healthy, it looked like he was having the time of his life out there, smile ear to ear while the Garden faithfull gave him a standing ovation. It seems like the afterparty with all those guys was L.B.'s last hurrah too. He loved Boston, he loved the Bruins, he loved the fans and he loved his teammates. I heard a few interviews with L.B. and he was just beaming, hanging out with his teammates and re-living old stories of the battles they had went through and all the good times. He really looked and sounded like he was on cloud 9! I'm happy L.B. survived long enough to have that moment. There hasn't been any info out there about exactly how he died but I don't want to speculate. I just want to celebrate him as a player and person. My favorite player growing up. What better way to do that by making my song of the week "Black Betty" by Ram Jam! In old interviews, Lyndon Byers used to say every time they played "Black Betty" at the old Garden he used to get totally fired up! Maybe it inspired him to drop the mitts against some of the NHL's toughest. Rest in peace #34. I'm gonna miss ya buddy.
