Portrait of Bill Torrey

Birthday profile

Bill Torrey

Bill Torrey, Canadian businessman (died 2018)

Born
June 23, 1934
Died
May 2, 2018
Zodiac sign
Cancer
Birth year
1934

About Bill Torrey

William Arthur Torrey (June 23, 1934 – May 2, 2018) was a Canadian hockey executive. He served as a general manager in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Oakland Seals, New York Islanders, and Florida Panthers. He developed the Islanders into a dynasty that won the Stanley Cup four consecutive times. He was often called "The Architect", or "Bow Tie Bill" for the bow tie he wore. == Early life == Torrey was born on June 23, 1934, in Montreal, and raised near the Montreal Forum. His father worked as a stockbroker. He tried out for the Montreal Canadiens, and attended St. Lawrence University on a scholarship to play hockey. He lost his depth perception after he was hit in the left eye with a hockey stick, breaking his orbital bone. Torrey earned a degree in psychology, while also taking business classes.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Career and life highlights

Bill Torrey timeline

  1. He became general manager of the Oakland Seals, a recently created expansion team in the NHL, in 1969.
  2. Torrey drafted Denis Potvin first overall in the 1973 entry draft.

The world when Bill Torrey was born

Bill Torrey was born in 1934. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1934

  • #1 song"Stars Fell on Alabama"
  • Top movieIt Happened One Night
  • Best-selling bookTender Is the Night – F. Scott Fitzgerald

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentFirst Masters Tournament held at Augusta National
  • Top headlineFBI kills John Dillinger outside a Chicago theater
  • Technology milestoneFirst streamlined passenger train (Burlington Zephyr)
  • Defining fadShirley Temple mania
  • Notable inventionLaundromat
  • World population2.20 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderFranklin D. Roosevelt
  • Sports championSt. Louis Cardinals (World Series)
  • U.S. population126.4M

1934 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Bill Torrey's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19342026
Gas$0.19$3.45/gal
Average home$4,900$435,000
Average income$2,500$67,500
Minimum wage$0.25$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.20$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population126.4M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Prabook, NNDB, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.