Fans of the Philadelphia Flyers may remember a 1974 bumper sticker that was making the rounds, writes Alex Coffey for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
“Only the Lord saves more than Bernie Parent,” it read.
The slogan was all about longtime Flyers goalie Bernie Parent, an NHL Hall of Famer and member of the Broad Street Bullies who died Sunday at age 80. By 1974-75 Parent had a combined .926 save percentage when the Flyers won back-to-back Stanley Cups.
“That was what he was known for,” said Linda Mitchell of Drexel Hill.“You’d see the bumper stickers everywhere. Even in 1980, I would go to the games, and I would still see cars with them on there. Everybody had one.”
Mitchell later discovered at age 75 that it was her late husband, Bob, who came up with the catchphrase.
Bob Mitchell, a huge Flyers fan, was working in the Flyers’ ticket office in the 1970s when the phrase just popped into his head.
With Parent’s permission, Mitchell printed stickers and sold them for 50 cents, plus 10 cents for shipping. He advertised the decal in local newspapers, and his mother shipped them out from a Clifton Heights post office.
The rest is bumper sticker history.
Read about Linda Mitchell’s personal encounter with Parent in Havertown in The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Editor’s Note: This post was initially published on DELCO Today in September 2025.
