PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Ed Snider achieved as much as any sports owner could in Philadelphia. He co-founded the Flyers and oversaw their Broad Street Bullies heyday. Snider over his life owned shares of the Eagles and 76ers, too, and he had a hand in founding the city’s largest sports talk radio station.
Yet, as Snider reflected on his considerable business achievements near the end of his life, what mattered as much to him as any Stanley Cup was the youth hockey program he created in 2005 for under-resourced youth in Philadelphia.
“I really want it to be my legacy,” he said.
Snider, who was 83 when he died in 2016, has never been forgotten in Philadelphia. His presence still looms large on the city sports landscape — and not just because of the 9-foot bronze statue that stands outside the Flyers’ home arena — but in large part because of the Ed Snider Youth Hockey and Education program that has expanded throughout the region.
Snider would have turned 92 this week and he was celebrated Thursday night at the Flyers' Ed Snider Legacy game against the Dallas Stars. There were the standard video tributes, former Flyers dropped the ceremonial first puck and there were fundraising efforts at the Wells Fargo Center to benefit Snider Hockey.
But it was the lineup of kids that took the ice with the Flyers during a pregame ceremony that meant the most.
Jasmine Masino, who turns 22 on Sunday, has been a member of the program since she was 6 years old. She thrived in Snider Hockey — she was signed up by her mom because her younger brother was too young to play — and saw hockey turn into a passion. She enrolled at Villanova and made the club team, with a full scholarship provided by Snider Hockey.
The foundation promotes life skills and hockey through after-school, recreational, and other educational activities. Snider hockey programs are provided at no cost and focus on underserved Philadelphia boys and girls who otherwise would not have the opportunity to play.
“It was just constant and unwavering support all the time,” Masino said. “Maybe this was just my experience, like when I really started using those resources for college, having to check in my with my advisers, making sure I was on the right track, giving me support with getting where I wanted to be in life, it was more important than the hockey ever was.”
Masino played on Snider’s co-ed travel teams in the Delaware Valley Hockey League from age 8 through her high school graduation and has since worked as a coach in the program.
Snider Hockey has 1,900 students enrolled in the program at seven locations throughout the Philadelphia area with plans for expansion. Student tuition is paid for through fundraising efforts and from an endowment left behind by Snider.
“Expansion was always a goal of Ed's,” said Scott Tharp, President of Snider Hockey. “He used to also understand the depth of our programs is probably more important than the breadth. Obviously, we want to serve more kids. We also want to continue to drill deeper, provide more resources for the kids that we have.”
Flyers Charities donated $300,000 to the program to support significant upgrades to four city ice rinks.
“The greatest compliment I ever received from Ed was, shortly before he died, I visited him out in California and he said, ‘Scott, I just want you to know this program is beyond my wildest expectations,’" Tharp said. “And all of us that knew Ed know that he had some pretty wild expectations.”
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Dan Gelston, The Associated Press
