In 1966 Bobby Orr Enterprises Ltd. Purchased a 180-acre tract of land on the east side of Lake Couchiching, near Orillia, upon which sat an old resort called Owaissa Lodge.
The Orr-Walton Sports Camp was established at that site, and Mike Walton, a young prospect on the Toronto Maple Leafs and an Eagleson client, was brought in as Orr’s partner (5% owner).
Bill Watters, a Toronto high school teacher who grew up in Orillia, was hired to run the Camp. Tom Watt also assisted Bill Watters in Camp Director duties. Watters, and later Rick Curran, another camp employee, also developed a close relationship with Bobby Orr. Orr and Walton became best friends.
Rounding out the family was Bobby’s father Doug Sr., who was convinced that he should quit his job at CIL in Parry Sound to take a Director role at the Camp, and Mike Walton’s father, who was appointed head of “clean up”.
At its peak, the Camp saw 700 students over the course of the summer, with every boy paying $125. The kids got hockey instruction from the pros, and could also enjoy the more standard summer camp lineup of swimming and boating and the great outdoors.
A few miles down the road from the Orr-Walton Camp, there were two hotels in the rural hamlet of Atherley. A visit by Orr and his entourage to the Atherley Arms which catered to a rock ‘n roll crowd and was better known as :The First”, or the Lakeview Hotel, which was called “The Second”, was viewed as one of the more important events of the summer, especially to a young girl if she got a chance to dance with Bobby Orr or one of his friends.
The Camp was shut down in 1988 as Alan Eagleson sold the property to a developer who later planned on building a subdivision.
In 1993 the property was still vacant and was for sale.