A Legend Lost, A Legacy That Will Last Forever
On the morning of Friday, June 10, Gordie Howe passed away. He was 88.
The legend known as Mr. Hockey spent 25 years with the Detroit Red Wings. He retired in 1971, but it was brief. In 1973, he came out of retirement to play with his sons Mark and Marty for the Houston Aeros of the World Hockey Association (WHA). He briefly returned to the NHL for the 1979-80 season when the WHA New England Whalers became the NHL Harford Whalers.
Howe won four Stanley Cups, all with the Red Wings (1950, 1952, 1954, and 1955); six Art Ross Trophies (1951, 1952, 1953,1954, 1957, and 1963); six Hart Memorial Trophies (1952, 1953, 1957, 1958, 1960, and 1963); and a Lester B. Patrick Award (1967). He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1972 and won the NHL Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008. In 1972, the Red Wings retired his number 9.
Mr. Hockey was truly one of the greats. As President Obama poignantly shared per the NHL, “The list of hockey players who suited up in six different decades, including returning to the ice after being inducted into the Hall of Fame, is a short one: it starts and ends with Gordie Howe.”
Career Achievements
He holds the record for most regular season games played at 1,767 and most regular season games played for a single franchise at 1,687. He also held NHL records for most goals (801) and points (1,850) until Wayne Gretzky broke them. Howe with Ted Lindsay and Sid Abel were known as The Production Line due to their penchant for scoring.
He was also an inspirational leader for those who shared the ice with him, as shared by Frank Mahovlich on the Red Wings website.
“He brought things up to a certain level and everybody followed. He gave me confidence. He made you feel part of the team, even when a rookie came in he would support the younger players. You’ll never see a player like him again with the sloped shoulders, the way he skated and his balance. He’s one of the greatest athletes that the world has ever known.”
He was known for more than just what was seen on the ice. Howe was a respected member of the hockey community as a person.
But his particular style of play is what he is most remembered for by hockey fans. He was a talented right-winger, and at 6’ and 205 lbs, he was imposing and not afraid to use his body. In fact, the term “Gordie Howe Hat Trick” (which consists of a goal, an assist, and a fight) was coined in honor of his brand of hockey.
As shared on the Chicago Blackhawks website, Stan Mikita remembers in his autobiography Forever a Blackhawk of how he met Gordie Howe. Mikita recalls being a young rookie and cutting Howe during a game, after sneering he was too old to be playing hockey anyway. Howe got his payback. In another matchup between the Red Wings and Blackhawks, Mikita recollects skating then suddenly being on the ice with no idea how he got there.
“As Hall told me, hockey players wait and pick their spot, and later on that season, Gordie Howe picked his. We were crossing paths at center ice and the next thing I knew, I was down on all fours. My head hurt and I didn’t know what had hit me. Amazingly, nobody seemed to know what had hit me, including the referee.
I hobbled over to the bench, seeing stars the whole time, when I felt a couple of arms under my armpits. I was thrown back onto the ice by a couple of guys who said, ‘Go back with your own team.’ Those couple guys were Gordie’s teammates. I was so dazed, I had tried to sit down on the wrong bench.”
That was Howe. One might say in this day and age that he was the original #BeastMode. Not only could he make opponents pay with his amazing talent for scoring, but his sheer brute strength that seemed so effortless. He could elbow or punch almost with a slight of hand that even the victim, like Mikita, would not even know where or how the hit originated.
The Gift of Howe
That is the legacy of Mr. Hockey that will live on forever. From the Blackhawks website, Wayne Gretzky revealed why he chose to wear the number 99.
“I was five when my dad said, ‘Watch this guy on Detroit.’ No. 9. That was the start. Went for a haircut when I was seven or eight and asked the barber to give me a Gordie Howe haircut. That’s why I wore 99. Two times Gordie.”
The hockey community pays tribute to Gordie Howe. https://t.co/2dzO6fxLVM pic.twitter.com/lVsVkfg4Qz
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) June 11, 2016
His legacy also lives through hockey fans alike. In an article from March in the Detroit Free Press, Helene St. James describes how Gordie was doing now living with his son Murray, the youngest son who had been taking care of him in Toledo, Ohio with his family. Murray described how they would often take trips to the grocery store. He related a recent trip in which a young boy, the age of six, went up to meet Gordie.
“He was named after my father,” Murray said. “That is amazing to us, that he is still that revered that parents still name their son after him. You could see it in the little boy’s eyes. In his eyes, my dad looked like Paul Bunyan. It was obvious that they had told him all about him. The boy couldn’t believe he was actually meeting him.”
A piece of Mr. Hockey will always remain with all hockey fans of any and every age. As President Obama also reminds us, “The list of kids who skated around the pond until dark, picturing themselves passing, scoring, and enforcing like Howe, dreaming of hoisting the Stanley Cup like him — that one comprises too many to count.” That is the true gift of Gordie Howe.
He is now gone, but the legacy he leaves behind will never be forgotten.
Gordie Howe’s visitation, funeral open to public https://t.co/oqMpotl0qT
— NHL on NBC (@NHLonNBCSports) June 11, 2016
