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Gordie Howe
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Gordon "Gordie" Howe, OC (born March 31, 1928) is a retired professional ice hockey player from Canada who played for the Detroit Red Wings and Hartford Whalers of the National Hockey League (NHL), and the Houston Aeros and New England Whalers in the World Hockey Association (WHA). Howe is often referred to as Mr. Hockey, and is generally regarded as one of the greatest hockey players of all time.
Being most famous for his scoring prowess, physical strength, and the longevity of his career, Howe is the only player to have competed in the NHL in five different decades.
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Gordon "Gordie" Howe, OC (born March 31, 1928) is a retired professional ice hockey player from Canada who played for the Detroit Red Wings and Hartford Whalers of the National Hockey League (NHL), and the Houston Aeros and New England Whalers in the World Hockey Association (WHA). Howe is often referred to as Mr. Hockey, and is generally regarded as one of the greatest hockey players of all time.
Being most famous for his scoring prowess, physical strength, and the longevity of his career, Howe is the only player to have competed in the NHL in five different decades. A four-time Stanley Cup champion with the Red Wings, he won six Hart Trophies as the league's most valuable player and six Art Ross Trophies as the leading scorer. He was the recipient of the first NHL Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008.
Early life
Howe was born to parents Ab and Kate Howe in a farmhouse in Floral, Saskatchewan – one of nine children. When Gordie was nine days old, the Howes moved to Saskatoon, where his father worked as a labourer during the Depression. In the summers, Howe would work construction with his father. Howe was mildly dyslexic growing up, but was physically beyond his years at an early age. Already six feet tall in his mid-teens, doctors feared of a calcium defeciency and encouraged him to strengthen his spine with chin-ups. He began playing organized hockey at 8 years old, then left Saskatoon at 16 to pursue his hockey career.
Playing career
Howe received his first taste of pro experience at fifteen years old when he was invited to a tryout for the New York Rangers in Winnipeg, but he did not make the team. A year later, he was noticed by Detroit Red Wings scout Fred Pinckney. He was signed by the Red Wings and assigned to their junior team in Galt, Ontario. However, due to a maximum amount of Western players allowed by the league and a preference to develop older players by the Red Wings, Howe's playing time with the team was initially limited. In 1945, however, he was promoted to the Omaha Knights of the minor professional United States Hockey League (USHL), where he scored 48 points in 51 games as a seventeen-year-old. While playing in Omaha, Frank Selke of the Toronto Maple Leafs organization noticed that Howe was not properly listed as Red Wings property. Having a good relationship with Detroit coach Jack Adams, he notified Adams of the clerical error and Howe was quickly put on the team's protected list.
Howe made his NHL debut in 1946 at the age of 18, playing right wing for the Detroit Red Wings for which he wore #17 as a rookie. When Roy Conacher moved on to the Chicago Blackhawks after the 1946-47 season, however, Howe was offered Conacher's #9 which he would wear for the rest of his career. (Although he had not requested the change, Howe accepted it when he was informed that "9" would entitle him to a lower Pullman berth on road trips.) Howe quickly established himself as a great goal scorer and a gifted playmaker with a willingness to fight. In fact, he fought so often in his rookie season to the point that he was told by coach Jack Adams, "I know you can fight. Now can you show me you can play hockey." Using his great physical strength, he was able to dominate the opposition in a career that spanned five decades. In a feat unsurpassed by any athlete, in any sport, Gordie Howe finished in the top five in scoring for twenty straight seasons. It is said that a Gordie Howe hat trick was a goal, an assist, and a fight. Surprisingly, this feat was accomplished only twice in his career on October 10, 1953 and March 21, 1954.
Howe led Detroit to four Stanley Cups and to first place in regular-season play for seven consecutive years (1948–49 to 1955–56), a feat never equaled in NHL history. During this time Howe and his linemates, Sid Abel and Ted Lindsay, were known collectively as "The Production Line", both for their scoring and as an allusion to Detroit auto factories. The trio dominated the league in such a fashion that in 1949–50, they finished one-two-three in league scoring. Howe had been in his prime during a defensive era, the 1940s and 1950s, when scoring was difficult and checking was tight.
As his career just started going, however, Howe sustained the worst injury of his career, fracturing his skull in a collision with Toronto Maple Leafs captain Ted Kennedy into the boards during the 1950 playoffs. The severity of the fracture was such that he was taken to the hospital for emergency surgery in order to relieve building pressure on his brain. The next season, he returned to record 86 points, winning the scoring title by 20 points.
As Howe emerged as one of the game's superstars, he was frequently compared to the Montreal Canadiens' Maurice "Rocket" Richard. Both were right wingers who wore the same sweater number (9), were frequently contenders for the league scoring title, and could also play rough if needed. During their first encounter in the Montreal Forum, when Howe was a rookie, he knocked Richard down with a punch after being shoved. The Red Wings and Canadiens faced off in four Stanley Cup finals during the 1950s. When Richard retired in 1960, he paid tribute to Howe, saying "Gordie could do everything."
The Red Wings were consistently contenders throughout the 1950s and early 1960s but began to slump in the late 60s. When Howe turned 40, in 1967–68, the league expanded from six to twelve teams and the number of scoring opportunities grew as the game schedule increased. Howe played the 1968–69 season on a line with Alex Delvecchio and Frank Mahovlich. Mahovlich was big, fast, and skilled, and Delvecchio was a gifted playmaker. The three were dubbed "The Production Line 3" and at forty-years-old, Howe reached new scoring heights, topping 100 points for the only time of his NHL career with 44 goals and a career-high 59 assists.
Following his personal best 103-point season, however, conflict with the Red Wings organization arose after Howe discovered he was just the third-highest paid player on the team with a $45,000 salary. Furthermore, while owner Bruce Norris increased Howe's salary to $100,000, he blamed Howe's wife, Colleen, for the demand. Howe remained with the Red Wings for two more seasons, but after twenty-five years, a chronic wrist problem forced him to retire after the 1970–71 season and he took a job in the Red Wings front office. At the beginning of 1972, he was offered the job as first head coach of the New York Islanders, but turned it down.
A year later, he was offered a contract to play with the Houston Aeros of the newly formed World Hockey Association, who had also signed his sons Mark and Marty to contracts. Dissatisfied with not having any meaningful influence in the Red Wings' office, he underwent an operation to improve his wrist and make a return to hockey possible, and he led his new team to consecutive championships. In 1974, at the age of 46, Howe won the Gary L. Davidson Trophy, awarded to the WHA's most valuable player (the trophy was renamed the Gordie Howe Trophy the following year).
In the final season of the WHA, Gordie had the opportunity to play with Wayne Gretzky in the 1979 WHA All-Star Game. The format of the game was a three-game series between the WHA All-Stars against HC Moscow Dynamo. The WHA All-Stars were coached by Jacques Demers and Demers asked Howe if it was okay to put him on a line with Wayne Gretzky and his son Mark Howe. In Game One, the line scored seven points, as the WHA All-Stars won by a score of 4–2. In game two, Gretzky and Mark Howe each scored a goal and Gordie Howe picked up an assist as the WHA won 4–2. The line did not score in the final game but the WHA won by a score of 4–3.
When the WHA folded in 1979, the Hartford Whalers joined the NHL and the 51-year-old Howe signed on for one final season playing in all 80 games of the schedule, helping his team to make the playoffs with fifteen goals. One particular honor was when Howe, Phil Esposito, and Jean Ratelle were selected to the mid-season all-star game by coach Scotty Bowman, as a nod to their storied careers before they retired. Howe had played in six decades of all-star games and he would skate alongside the second-youngest to ever play in the game, 19-year-old Wayne Gretzky. The Joe Louis Arena crowd gave him a standing ovation twice, lasting so long, he had to skate to the bench to stop people from cheering. He had one assist in his side's 6–3 win.
Another milestone in a remarkable career was reached in 1997 when Howe played professional hockey in a sixth decade. He was signed to a one-game contract by the Detroit Vipers of the IHL and, almost 70 years old, made a return to the ice for one shift.
His most productive seasons came during an era when scoring was difficult and checking was tight, yet Howe ranks third in NHL history with 1,850 total points, including 801 goals and 1,049 assists. Careerwise, when his goals and assists from both the NHL and the WHA regular seasons are combined, he ranks first in goals with 975. Howe would also become good friends with Wayne Gretzky, who had idolized Howe as a young player, and who would later break many of Howe's scoring records and milestones. Gretzky has said on various occasions that the reason he wore #99 was because he felt he was not worthy to wear Howe's #9.
At the time of his retirement, Howe's professional totals, including playoffs, for the NHL and WHA combined, were first. He finished with 2,421 games played, 1,071 goals, 1,518 assists, and 2,589 points. Wayne Gretzky has since passed him in goals (1,072), assists (2,297), and points (3,369), but not games played (1,767). It is unlikely that anyone will surpass Howe's total professional games played. Mark Messier retired only 11 NHL games behind Howe at 1,756 (and counting minor league action and playoffs, 2,048 total professional games), but this is over five seasons away from 2,478 total professional games (including minor league action). Howe is one of a handful of NHL players who had an ambidextrous shot, and was capable of shooting both right and left.
On April 10, 2007 Gordie Howe was honored with the unveiling of a new bronze statue in Joe Louis Arena. The statue is 12 feet tall and weighs about 4,500 pounds. The man who was commissioned to create the art was Omri Amrany. The statue contains all of Mr. Hockey's stats and history.
Personal life
Howe met his wife, Colleen Joffa, at 21 years old, while she was 17, at a bowling alley. After four years, they married on April 15, 1953. Two of their sons, Marty and Mark, were his teammates on the Houston Aeros and the Hartford Whalers. Mark would go on to have a long NHL career, playing 16 seasons for the Philadelphia Flyers and the Red Wings. Colleen was one of the founders of the Detroit Junior Red Wings and represented both Gordie and Mark financially during their careers. Their third son, Murray, is a doctor. He has one daughter Cathleen.
His wife Colleen Howe was diagnosed with Pick's disease, an incurable neurological disease that causes dementia, in 2002. She passed away on March 6, 2009 at their home in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.
Awards and achievements
- Stanley Cup champions - 1950, 1952, 1954, 1955
- Art Ross Memorial Trophy – 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1957, 1963.
- Hart Memorial Trophy – 1952, 1953, 1957, 1958, 1960, 1963.
- Lester B. Patrick Award – 1967.
- Lionel Conacher Award – 1963.
- Made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1971.
- Inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1972.
- Inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 1975.
- Avco World Trophy - 1974, 1975
- Inducted into in 2000.
- Awarded the first annual NHL Lifetime Achievement Award – 2008
- Played in the NHL All-Star Game 23 times.
- Named to the NHL First All-Star Team 12 times.
- Named to the NHL Second All-Star Team 9 times.
- Gary L. Davidson Trophy – 1974.
- Played in the WHA All-Star Game 2 times.
- Finished in the top five in NHL scoring for 20 consecutive seasons.
- The last active person that played during the 1940s and the 1950s. He's tied with Bobby Hull for the latter, as they both played in the final game for Hartford in the 1980 playoffs.
- In 1998, he was ranked #3 on The Hockey News list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players, the highest-ranking right wing on the list.
- His number, 9, was retired by both the Detroit Red Wings and the Hartford Whalers. Although the Houston Aeros Howe played for no longer exist, the AHL team of the same name has also retired his number.
Records
- Most NHL regular season games played: 1,767
- Most NHL & WHA regular season games played: 2,186
- Most NHL & WHA regular season and playoff games played: 2,421
- Most NHL seasons played: 26
- Most NHL & WHA seasons played: 32
- Most NHL regular season goals by a right winger: 801
- Most NHL regular season assists by a right winger: 1,049
- Most NHL regular season points by a right winger: 1,850
- Most NHL regular season points by a father/son combo (with son Mark): 2,592
- First player to score over 1000 goals. Both WHA and NHL
Career statistics
Trivia
- Other nicknames for Gordie Howe include: Power, Mr. Everything, Mr. All-Star, The Most, The Great Gordie, The King of Hockey, The Legend, The Man, No. 9
- Bart Simpson used a picture of Howe as part of a practical joke he pulls on Mrs. Krabappel in The Simpsons episode "Bart the Lover". At the end of the episode, Howe's career statistics are displayed on the screen.
- At the height of Howe's career, a ballad was penned by a songwriter named Bob Davies called, "Gordie Howe is the Greatest of Them All".
- Howe is a member of 11 different Halls of Fame.
- His name and nickname, "Mr. Hockey", as well as his wife's nickname as "Mrs. Hockey", are registered trademarks.
- His tough physical play also earned him the nickname "Mr. Elbows".
- His Detroit Red Wings jersey is worn by the character Cameron Frye in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Writer/Director John Hughes used this as a reference to his childhood growing up in Michigan.
- His Red Wings jersey was also worn by the character Kenan Rockmore in the Kenan & Kel season one episode "The Cold War."
- The protagonist of Steven Popkes' short story "The Ice" is a promising collegiate hockey player who discovers that he is a clone of Gordie Howe.
- Michael Vartan gives a speech about Gordie Howe in the movie Never Been Kissed.
- The only person in hockey history to compete in six different decades at the professional level (i.e. NHL, WHA, IHL; 1940s-1990s). Howe played a single shift for the Detroit Vipers of the International Hockey League in 1997–98.
- There is a statue of Gordie Howe in downtown Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on the corner of 20th Street and 1st Ave. He is depicted wearing a Detroit Red Wings sweater. The statue has been relocated to Credit Union Centre.
- Howe only had two recorded "Gordie Howe hat tricks", even though the hat-trick, which requires a player to score a goal, earn an assist, and participate in a fight in the same game, is named after him.
- Colleen and Gordie Howe have a middle school named after them, located in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada (Colleen & Gordie Howe Middle School).
- Ska band The Planet Smashers wrote a song about Howe called "Uncle Gordie".
- Howe took a signing bonus in his first season, it was a Red Wings letterman jacket.
- Howe was an ambidextrous player, one who used a rare uncurved stick so he could shoot with either hand.
- Early in his career, he was almost killed in the course of a game by slamming his head into the boards after missing a check on Ted "Teeder" Kennedy who played for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
- Bobby Orr regards Howe as the greatest player ever to play the game
- The Canadian band Barenaked Ladies makes a reference to "Gordie Howe's Clothes" in the song "789" on their album "Snacktime".
- Howe appears in an episode of Yes, Dear in an episode when Mike O'Malley's character, Jimmy Hughes comes up with a list of goals he wishes to accomplish in his lifetime. One such wish is to "mix it up" with Gordie Howe. He is scheduled to play in a charity game with the hockey legend, but Gordie beats him up before the first puck is ever dropped.
See also
External links
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