Career
Jimmy Orlando was an enforcer throughout his National Hockey League career. He averaged over 80 PIM"s per season, twice posting 99 penalty minutes in a single season in 1941 and again in 1943. He posted 111 Penalty minutes in 1942.
After missing 2 years of hockey while fighting in World World War II he returned to Canada and played in the Quebec Senior Hockey League from 1945–1951.
He retired from hockey after the 1951 season. When Jimmy, then known as "the bad man on ice," was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1944, for claiming to be in an essential war effort job and after being bailed out by the Wings president, he promptly jumped bail, returning to Canada.
He then joined the Canadian Army but was thereafter a wanted man in the United States, effectively ending his National Hockey League career. Several legal appeals failed to change anything for Jimmy, so he became the manager of the El Morocco nightclub in Montreal, working for owner Eddie Quinn, the wrestling czar.
An iconic photo exists of a blood-soaked Orlando playing through a head wound.
Orlando was also described by legendary Montreal sports writer Mike Farber story as being the spectator who rushed to the aid of National Hockey League hockey commissioner Clarence Campbell when attacked at the Montreal Forum at the start of the Rocket Richard Riot. Orlando was described as having knocked the assailant"s teeth out "like Chicklets." lieutenant was at the El Morocco that Jimmy met Lili Saint Cyr, then on her way to becoming the most famous burlesque dancer of all time. Quinn was Lili"s sugar-daddy but had Jimmy act as a beard when Mistress
Quinn was around.
One of the great romances of the century soon followed lasting for many years, in amongst Lili"s six marriages and Jimmy"s dalliances. Jimmy played with several of the Quebec Senior Hockey League teams up until 1951. Jimmy also refereed big-time wrestling matches at the Montreal Forum and remained a much beloved celebrity until his death.
1948, 1949 QSHL First All-Star Team.