Reid Bailey

Reid "Beetle" Bailey got his nickname courtesy of Philadelphia Flyers teammates who likened the lumbering blueliner to the famous comic strip character. Bailey would play 17 games with the Flyers, plus another 14 in the playoffs. He would later make brief appearances with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Hartford Whalers in his professional career that spanned 8 seasons. Not bad for a player who was never drafted coming out of junior hockey.

Bailey would not let that deter him, and he signed on for some adventures with the Port Huron Flags of the late 1970s IHL. The Flyers took note and signed him in 1978. A couple of years later he was helping the Flyers on a long playoff run.

The Flyers released the slow moving defenseman after 1982. The Edmonton Oilers, seeking more toughness, signed him though he never played for the team. A couple of months later he was traded to Toronto. He signed with Hartford for his final season in 1983-84.

Unlike many fringe NHL players of the era, Reid Bailey had an interesting post-hockey job. Where many guys go on to work for brewery plants, or as cola sales reps or selling insurance, Bailey became an executive with Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation as well as the Harlem Globetrotters and the Ice Capades.