By TOM HINE

WINNIPEG, Manitoba — The big, burly Texan leaned back in his chair and let out a big, brassy Texan roar.
He kicked the heels of his cowboy boots on the floor and slapped his dungaree-clad knees.

“Can you believe it?” he laughed. “The Houston Aeros have drafted Bobby Orr. We've drafted THE Bobby Orr.”

George Bolin was one of the last to learn that the Aeros had won WHA rights to the Boston Bruins' super-star defenseman. Bolin wasn't present at Wednesday's draft that dispersed the players still held on the Minnesota Fighting Saints' protected list. The bachelor millionaire who owns a house and plane in Houston, a marina of sportfishing boats at a weekend hideaway on the Gulf of Mexico, and a ski condominium in Colorado didn't learn of the Aeros' draft pick until late Wednesday night.

And, Thursday morning, the Aeros' Chairman of the Board who owns, with Walter Fondren, the majority interest in Houston's pro hockey team, just leaned back and laughed.

Owning a hockey team is a game for George Bolin. He doesn't need the money if the Aeros succeed and he can afford the loss if they don't He just has fun owning a hockey team. ‘I don't know anything about hockey,” said Bolin. “I let Bill Dineen handle it”

If he doesn't like the size of the steaks on the Aeros' charter planes, Bolin will order 40 of his own choice. If he doesn't like the brand of beer they serve, he'll order seven cases of a better one. He'll even bring in his own pilot to fly the plane.

You just can't underestimate the whims and wishes of George Bolin. He does what he wants, when he wants, and he loves every minute of it. Money never interferes.

So Thursday, George Bolin, like everyone else, laughed at first about the new addition to the Aeros' protected list. Aeros' defenseman Larry Hale asked him, “Why'd you draft Orr when you've got me?”

“You know something,” he drawled. “Last year, the Boston Bruins made a concerted effort to get three of our players, Ron Grahame, Mark Howe, and Don Larway. Larway was their number one draft choice.

“It cost us a lot of money to keep them when they started talking with those guys.

“So, I said 'OK,' if that's the game they're going to play, let's play it, too, and go out and try to get Orr. Let's cost them some money. Then, Minnesota made their pitch for Orr and we never did anything more about it”.

He didn't seem concerned about the prospects of his Aeros being eliminated by the Winnipeg Jets in the WHA playoff final later Thursday night He talked about a fifth game in Houston tonight a game perhaps never to be played. The Aeros hadn't even sold tickets for it. They didn't either until the day of the seventh game with the New England Whalers. They sold 11,060 of them that day, and they will do it again today if the Aeros stayed alive last night.

But, they're not the only ones who are confident and cocky. The Jets, on the verge of bringing the first major league championship to Winnipeg since the Blue Bombers won the CFL title in 1962, have already scheduled a victory parade today at noon.

They've even made arrangements for a victory luncheon for 500 people today at the Winnipeg inn.
He was thinking about a fifth and sixth and even seventh game. And, he was thinking about Orr.

“When does his contract expire, June 1?” he asked, answering in the same sentence his own question.

You just know that Orr will get a phone call June 2.

Don't ever underestimate George Bolin. Don't ever underestimate his wallet.