On Jan. 19, 2018, H. Wayne Huizenga’s no. 37 jersey was sent to the rafters of BB&T Center (now Amerant Bank Arena) when the Panthers honored their founder and original owner. The Panthers chose no. 37 for the businessman because he was born in 1937. Huizenga became the second Panther to have his number retired, […]

Bill Torrey became a legend when he turned the struggling New York Islanders into a dynasty in the 1970s and 1980s. After a 21-year career with the Islanders, Torrey answered Panthers owner H. Wayne Huizenga’s call to help build the NHL’s newest expansion franchise. He would be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as […]

Watch out — those kitties bite! A real-life Florida panther joined Bill Torrey, H. Wayne Huizenga and others on the ice to officially welcome fans to the beginning of Panthers hockey. When Huizenga announced the team’s name, he pledged that for every save made by a Panthers goalie on home ice, an unspecified amount would […]

Hockey was just a gleam in South Florida’s eye until Wayne Huizenga was awarded an NHL expansion franchise in 1992. Within four months, Huizenga had hired Bobby Clarke as Vice President and General Manager and Bill Torrey as President; the dream of hockey in South Florida was becoming a reality.

H. Wayne Huizenga dropped the puck at the official uniform unveiling event at Miami Arena in front of 1,500 new fans. “I’m very prejudiced, but I don’t think any uniform in the league looks better than the one we showed today,” said Panthers President Bill Torrey. Note the claws on the gloves. While sleek, they […]

Nearly a quarter-century after the Florida Panthers were born, Bill Torrey (center) stood by as the Panthers raised a retired jersey to the rafters in honor of their founder and original owner, H. Wayne Huizenga. Torrey and Huizenga had built the team in the early 1990s through a combination of determination and skill  

The Panthers would never have come together if not for the efforts of Bill Torrey, longtime NHL legend and the first president of the franchise. Torrey laid the foundation not just for the thrilling Stanley Cup run of 1996, but also (and more importantly) for an enduring hockey tradition in South Florida. On Oct. 23, […]

On October 23, 2010, the first Panthers retired number was raised to the rafters. Whose number was it, you ask? In fact, it belonged to someone who never technically had a number: Bill Torrey, the Cats’ first president and main architect of the original Panthers roster. Though Torrey wasn’t a player, there was no one […]