Dear Loyal Readers,
As you can imagine, with the passing of Muhammad Ali and Gordie Howe, just about all sports writers have been working to give both the obituaries they deserve. Here are mine for Mr. Hockey himself, Gordie Howe.
My interview on Michigan Radio’s Stateside program:
http://www.npr.org/2016/06/15/482123503/mr-hockey-gordie-howe-to-be-remembered-at-detroit-funeral
And here is my commentary on National Public Radio, which ran on Wednesday in Frank Deford’s timeslot. After more than three decades at the the helm, Mr. Deford has decided to cut back to the first Wednesday of each month, leaving the rest for NPR to fill as it sees fit.
What follows is my essay as it appears in Thepostgame.com, Yahoosports’s long-form website.
http://www.thepostgame.com/gordie-howe-hockey-legacy-usa-michigan-penguins
Gordie Howe lived so long that most Americans don’t realize his central role in helping the NHL expand, and getting hundreds of thousands of American kids playing hockey, including a dozen members of the Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins.
Howe was one of nine kids born in a farmhouse in Floral, Sasketchewan – a town so tiny, their post office closed in 1923. During the Great Depression, a neighbor brought over a gunnysack full of used things, including a beat-up pair of skates. Howe’s mom gave her a few bucks, and Gordie the skates. “I put those on,” Howe recalled, “and I never took ‘em off.”
Howe was skilled, smart, and tough – the most complete player the sport ever produced. He was even ambidextrous, with the ability to switch from a right-handed shot to a left-handed shot while barreling down on the goalie. Put it all together, and you get what they called “The Gordie Howe Hat Trick,” consisting of a goal, an assist, and a fight, all in the same game.
During Howe’s 26-year career, he set records for most goals, most points, most games, most …almost everything. He finished in the top ten in scoring for 21 straight years, which is impossible.
But his impact was greater than a bunch of records. What Arnold Palmer and Pele did for golf and soccer in America, Gordie Howe did for hockey: he served as his sport’s greatest ambassador, the man they called, “Mr. Hockey.”
Gordie Howe was the first break-out hockey star in the States, followed by Chicago’s Bobby Hull and Boston’s Bobby Orr. That trio gave the NHL the boost it needed to double from the “Original Six” to a dozen teams in 1967, on the way to its current total of 30 teams.
In Michigan, Howe inspired just about every town to build an ice rink. The Pittsburgh Penguins just won the Stanley Cup with seven players who played on those rinks, in little league, high school or college.
In 1958, Red Berenson decided to leave his home province of Saskatchewan to attend the University of Michigan. He went for the school, the program, and the chance to see Gordie Howe play, 38 miles away. After a 17-year NHL career, Berenson returned to coach his alma mater in 1984. Among many others, Berenson’s program produced Carl Hagelin and Hobey Baker winner Kevin Porter, both of whom play for Pittsburgh now. That is the long arm of Gordie Howe.
But what about Howe, the person? Usually it’s a mistake to meet your heroes, but not Howe. He remained humble, and always took the time for his fans. As fellow Hall of Famer Bill Gadsby said, “The only guy in the locker room who didn’t know Mr. Hockey was Mr. Hockey, was Mr. Hockey.”
When Wayne Gretzky was only eleven, Howe attended a banquet to celebrate the budding star. But when Gretzky got to the podium, he couldn’t speak. Howe rescued him by saying, “When someone has done what this kid has done, he doesn’t have to say anything.” Gretzky never forgot Howe’s graciousness, when he needed it most.
If Gretzky was the alpha, I was the omega: a third-line right-winger for the Ann Arbor Huron High School River Rats. When I was a junior, in November of 1980, I was about to hop on a plane to Hartford when I recognized Howe at the counter. I couldn’t resist: “Excuse me, but you’re Gordie Howe, aren’t you?”
“Yes, I am,” he said softly, and thanked me for not making a scene. I quietly praised him, then blurted out — for reasons I still cannot fathom – that my favorite player was his longtime linemate, Alex Delvecchio, an amazing passer who set up hundreds of Howe’s goals. When Howe stared at me for what seemed like a month, I concluded that might have been the stupidest thing I’d ever said. But then Howe gave me a wink and a nod, and said, “Mine, too, sonny. Mine, too.”
This week we learned Howe generated a few thousand stories like that. Here’s another.
The Penguins’ stable of 12 American players includes defenseman Ian Cole. His father, Doug, plays in a beer league with the rest of us here in Ann Arbor. Doug grew up playing hockey in town, idolizing Howe like everybody else, which sparked a love for the game that he passed on to his son.
When Ian was just eight years-old, his dad took him down to a local rink to meet Gordie Howe. When Ian finally got to the front of the line, he bravely asked the legend, “Mr. Howe, what can I do to be a great player like you?”
Howe said, “Sonny, I’m gonna tell you the same thing I told Wayne Gretzky: you have two ears and one mouth. Keep two open and one shut.”
Howe signed Ian’s book, ruffled his hair, and said, “Good luck, Kid.”
Two days after Gordie Howe died, Ian Cole raised the Stanley Cup over his head.
And that was Mr. Hockey.
* * * * *
Please join the conversation, but remember: I run only those letters from those who are not profane or insane, and who include their FULL name.
My latest book, “ENDZONE: The Rise, Fall and Return of Michigan Football,” debuted at #6 on the New York Times’ Bestseller List, and is still going very strong. THANK YOU!
Radio stuff: On Friday mornings, these commentaries run at 8:50 on Michigan Radio (91.7 Ann Arbor/Detroit and Flint, and 104.1 Grand Rapids), and a few minutes later, I join Sam Webb and Ira Weintraub LIVE from 9:05 to 9:25 on WTKA.com, 1050 AM.
After 12 years, I’ve handed over my “Off the Field” slot on WTKA to my good friend Jamie Morris, who launched his new two-hour show, “A View From the Backfield,” last year.
This gives me the time I need to join Michigan Radio’s great Cynthia Canty on her afternoon Stateside show every Monday for a few minutes. Check it out!
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/johnubacon. Just cracked 35,000 followers. THANK YOU!
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My encounter with Mr. Hockey goes back about 20 years ago. I have had season tickets for University of Michigan hockey for about 25 years. One season for a couple games hanging in the concourse there was a poster size copy of a picture taken of Red Berenson and Gordie on the ice in Yost Arena with their autographs. There was a limited number they were selling to raise funds for the hockey scholarship program. You would pay in advance and pick up yours at a later date. So I did.
A couple months later I got an email informing those who ordered a print to go the the bottom of the stairwell going up to the team offices before the next game. When I got there they were assembling us into groups of ten then would take us up to Red’s office where Gordie was waiting sitting behind Red’s desk. We would take our turn to go sit in a chair next to Gordie and have a brief chat and he would sign the picture and you would go on your way. Immediately ahead of me in line was a man with his about 10 year old son.
When their turn came the little boy sat next to Gordie. Gordie asked him if he played.The little boy said “Play what?” Gordie said “Why hockey, of course!” The boy answered “Yes.” Gordie then said “Show me your shot.” The boy said “What do you mean?” Gordie said “Show me how you shoot the puck.” So the boy did. Gordie then had him come back and told him “Okay you shoot right handed.. Take your left hand and draw two dots on the back of it.” and proceeded to draw the dots.”Those are the puck’s eyes. Wherever those eyes are pointing when you shoot are were the puck will go.”
The little boys face lit up like it was Christmas morning. He had just got a hockey tip from “The Great One” Himself! He will cherish that moment for the rest of his life.
When my turn came all I could muster was “That little boy will never forget that moment.” Gordie just smiled. The picture is hanging in my “Man cave” along with the one I have of Red and Ted Lindsay sitting in the U-M locker room autographed by both that was a fund raiser for Ted’s foundation for Autism.
I met Gordie Howe just once at a seminar, long after he retired from hockey. I grew up reading about him
and the Red Wings perennial and annual battles with the Maple Leafs. “Some people come into your lives, leave
footprints on you heart, and you are never the same. s my mother told me, “stature is not measured in feet and inches. Thanks for the column.
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