Viva Brighton Issue #76 June 2019
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BITS AND BUSES<br />
...............................<br />
ON THE BUSES #50: BOBBY LEE ROUTE 1<br />
Robert James Lee, known as Bobby Lee, was a huge name in<br />
<strong>Brighton</strong> and a superstar in the world of ice hockey in the 50s. He<br />
was born in 1911 in Montreal and grew up using the frozen lakes<br />
and rivers to practise, skating as well as he could walk from a young<br />
age. After breaking into the Canadian league in his early twenties,<br />
Bobby was invited to England by the head coach of the <strong>Brighton</strong><br />
Tigers, who signed him in 1936. He was an incredibly talented<br />
player, first breaking the record for scoring over two hundred goals,<br />
and then going on to create the four hundred goal record, playing<br />
well into his forties.<br />
He married Billie, a local woman, in 1939, and, with the outbreak<br />
of WW2, they moved to Canada where Bobby joined the air force.<br />
Following the war, they returned to <strong>Brighton</strong>, raising their family<br />
in Mile Oak. Bobby took on the triple role of player, coach and manager of the <strong>Brighton</strong> Tigers<br />
and the team enjoyed great success. Thousands of supporters packed out <strong>Brighton</strong> Sports Stadium,<br />
known locally as ‘SS <strong>Brighton</strong>’ every Thursday to watch them play (see pg 98). When the <strong>Brighton</strong><br />
Tigers played their last game in 1965, due to the council’s decision to demolish the stadium, Bobby<br />
Lee was the last man on the ice. He died on New Year’s Eve in 1974, and is remembered as a true<br />
gentleman of the sport. Alex Hood<br />
Illustration by Joda (@joda_art)
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