A one-of-a-kind collection including some never-before-seen
photographs of the wild and unforgettable WHA from legendary sports
photographer Steve Babineau
On October 12, 1972, legendary Boston sports photographer, Steve
Babineau, was in attendance for the debut of the New England Whalers.
They were taking on the Philadelphia Blazers at the old Boston Garden --
and Babs was shooting the action. Fifty years later, he's still
photographing big-league sports events -- but this lovingly curated
collection documents both his earliest published (and unseen) works and
the wild emergence of the colorful, revolutionary, wild, and
unforgettable WHA.
In an era when rolls of film still had to be changed by hand and cameras
were focused manually, when arena lighting was questionable and images
had to be captured through the haze produced by smoking fans, Babineau
captured it all: the timeless legends who were finally getting paid, the
journeymen who finally got a shot at the pros, the 17-year-old who would
go on to rewrite record books, the brawls and goals, the glorious
'staches and flows, the highs and the lows ...
Behind the Lens: The World Hockey Association 50 Years Later has the
Golden Jet and the Howes, the teams that seemed to change names and
cities as often as some players changed wooden sticks, and even the true
origin story of that Wayne Gretzky photo that's become the
million-dollar holy grail for sports card collectors.
