The hockey world was shaken when Pelle Lindbergh crashed his Porsche and died.
40 years later, Kathy McNeal, who was in the car with Lindbergh, comes forward for the first time.
– I have never blamed you for the accident, she says with tears in her eyes in the new documentary “The Swede of Philadelphia”.
Kathy McNeal in the new documentary.
Foto: The Swede of Philadelphia
Emotions come over Kathy McNeal when she talks about Pelle’s death.
Foto: The Swede of Philadelphia
For the first time, Kathy McNeal makes a bigger one
Foto: The Swede of Philadelphia
Pelle Lindbergh during a photo shoot in 1985 in Sweden. (Note that he has borrowed an older Flyers jersey with the number 23, instead of his usual 31.)
Photo: STIG KENNE / BILDBYRÅN
Lindbergh in action i Philadelphia.
Photo: BILDBYRÅN
The Porsche is towed away after the crash.
Photo: AP TT NEWS AGENCY
The article in brief
Beloved hockey goaltender Pelle Lindbergh died in a car crash in 1985, aged 26.
Kathy McNeal, who was in the car, talks for the first time about the accident in a new documentary.
Lindbergh had twice the blood alcohol level and was driving twice the speed limit.
Filmmaker Charlie Minn raises questions about the evening.
In the fall of 1985, Pelle Lindbergh was 26 years old, a star that only shone brighter and brighter in Philadelphia.
He had just won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s best goaltender, and the Flyers had played in the Stanley Cup Final against Gretzky & Co. in Edmonton.
Pelle Lindbergh had success, the love of fans and a red Porsche with red spoked rims and a black spoiler.
He lived his dream.
Then came that fateful November morning.
The party with the teammates before the crash
The Flyers had won their 10th straight on Saturday night – 5-3 at home against Boston – and were out celebrating.
Pelle had first gone home to visit family from Sweden, but was persuaded by his friends to come out.
40 years later, the memories of those involved shift about how the evening ended; maybe they were going to have breakfast, maybe it was something else. In any event, it was so late it was early – it was around 6:30 on Sunday morning when it broke up from the Coliseum, a bar located at the Flyers practice facility and licensed to serve until 4:45.
In the car were Pelle’s friend Ed Parvin and Kathy McNeal. She was a cocktail waitress and had been with another Flyers player, Peter Zezel.
Waitress Kathy about the last seconds
For the first time, Kathy McNeal is now doing an interview about what happened, in the documentary that premieres in the days: ”The Swede of Philadelphia”.
She remembers that Pelle was not very drunk, and that she felt comfortable jumping into the sports car.
They went through Somerdale outside of Philadelphia. Pelle drove fast. There was a right turn.
– Whatever it is, I see a white wall getting closer and closer. Then I looked at Pelle and said “It’s a white wall, it’s a white wall!” And yes, then…
Kathy McNeal shuts up.
– It was strange. I looked directly at him, and I know he heard what I said. I don’t understand why he didn’t swing, she says in “The Swede of Philadelphia”.
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In an instant, the red Porsche turned into a wreck.
Pelle Lindbergh had a blood alcohol level twice as high as the legal limit in New Jersey. No belt.
And the speed, it was twice the speed limit. Several people testify in the documentary about how fond Lindbergh was of pressing down on the gas pedal, and that they had wanted to make him calm down.
But it was too late.
The tears for Pelle Lindbergh
The next day, with his family around him, Pelle Lindbergh was pronounced dead at the hospital. His heart was kept going until doctors could take care of his organs, which were donated.
Pelle Lindbergh had dreamed of winning the Stanley Cup with Philadelphia just like his hero and later friend, Bernie Parent. Instead of celebrating a triumph, the Flyers had to hold a memorial ceremony a few days after the accident.
The memorial ceremony in Philadelphia before the match that followed Pelle’s passing.
Photo: AP TT NEWS AGENCY
Pelle Lindberg’s tombstone at Skogskyrkogården in Stockholm.
Photo: PATRIK C ÖSTERBERG/IBL
Kathy McNeil is asked what she would say to Lindbergh if given the chance. With tears in her eyes she says:
– Pelle, I don’t blame the accident on you. I’m not loading you, I never have. I wish I could take that day back. I miss you, so many people miss you.
The filmmaker: “Questions worth asking…”
Filmmaker Charlie Minn had made some 40 films before starting the Lindbergh story. In the eighties he saw the Swedish star live on Long Island and Lindbergh’s fate has followed him ever since.
– There were details from that evening that are worth shining a light on. Like he wasn’t wearing a seat belt. And that he wasn’t someone who drank a lot. I think someone gave Pelle more to drink than he should have, either a teammate or bartender. I’m not saying that Pelle is completely without guilt, he was an adult – he was 26 years old and the one who drank and got into the car. But these are questions that are worth asking, says Minn to Expressen.
Kathy McNeal and filmmaker Charlie Minn.
Photo: Private
Ed Parvin and Charlie Minn.
Photo: Private
Ed Parvin, the third person in the car, did an interview with Expressen’s Mats Olsson a month after the accident – via notepad. Parvin had not recovered the ability to speak then. ”8 days coma”he wrote in the pad about what happened after the accident. He did not remember anything about the crash itself.
In the new documentary, Parvin is in, and still doesn’t remember what happened that morning.
This was Pelle Lindbergh
Born: 24 May 1959, Stockholm.
Death: November 11, 1985, Philadelphia.
Career: Pelle Lindbergh played in Hammarby and AIK before moving to the USA in 1980. First he played in the farm league with the Maine Mariners, but then became a resident of the NHL club Philadelphia Flyers.
Named the NHL’s best goaltender in 1985.
He played WC, Olympics, Canada Cup with Tre Kronor.
The accident: Drove his Porsche into a wall outside Philadelphia after a long night out in November 1985 and died.
No one has worn Lindbergh’s number 31 in Philadelphia since his death.
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