Today, the greatest hockey player turns 80 years old. No, it isn’t Wayne Gretzky because, with all due respect, he couldn’t even hold Mr. Hockey’s jock strap. I am talking about none other than Gordie Howe the Detroit Red Wings legend, who has played in more professional hockey games and scored more goals professionally than any other hockey player.
I never had the opportunity to see Gordie play in person, but I did have tickets to see him play for the Detroit Vipers when he signed a one game contract so he could play hockey in 6 decades. However, I was not able to go for various reasons and passed the tickets off to someone else. Sadly it would be the last time he would really ever skate again because of having both knees replaced, which he said is the one thing he misses the most.
If you want to read more you can read two excellent articles that appeared in the Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press.
loved gordie, when i started collecting hockey cards the oldest gordie howe card was just 80 bucks book value. who knows what it is now.
mark howe played for the flyers for years so you would get gordie howe sightings every now and then.
did i mention i am a red wings fan. i’ve taken on to the predators, but as a child in the mid 80′s i wore the red and white winged wheel. long story behind all that stuff.
Knowing that you are a Red Wings fan just makes you a much cooler person.
Gordie was not only a great hockey player, but he really is a great man. And he and his wife raised some fine boys.