Gordie Howe

1928–2016 · 88 years

A Saskatchewan farm boy who played professional hockey in six decades

Portrait of Gordie Howe — Ralston-Purina Company, makers of Chex cereals — 1963 — Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

The Howes had nine children and a labourer's wage in Depression Saskatoon, and the story the family always told was about a woman at the door selling a sack of household goods. Gordie's mother bought it for a dollar or two, the figure changing with the telling, and inside were a pair of skates too big for him, shared with his sister. School was worse. He was mildly dyslexic in an era with no useful name for it, and he quit to work construction with his father. At 15, in 1943, the New York Rangers brought him to a camp in Winnipeg and wanted his signature. He wanted Saskatoon and his friends, and he went home.

The work happened in the United States. Twenty-five seasons with the Detroit Red Wings, then Houston, then Hartford, from October 1946 to April 1980: 26 NHL seasons and six more in the World Hockey Association, six Hart Trophies as most valuable player, six scoring titles. In the 1950 playoffs a collision with Toronto's Ted Kennedy left his skull fractured and surgeons drilling to relieve the pressure on his brain. In 1973 he came out of retirement at 45 to play a forward line in Houston with his sons Mark and Marty.

The Gordie Howe hat trick — a goal, an assist and a fight in one game — is real hockey vocabulary, named for him. He recorded two, on October 10, 1953 and March 21, 1954. After he beat the Rangers' Lou Fontinato at Madison Square Garden in 1959, few men wanted the third part. He waited. Stan Mikita slashed him as a rookie and took a concussion later. Robbie Ftorek broke Marty Howe's cheekbone and got Howe's stick in the face in their next meeting. In 1969, after a 103-point season, he found he was the third-highest-paid Red Wing at 45,000 dollars, having been assured, in the version usually told, that he was the highest. Bruce Norris raised him to 100,000 and blamed Howe's wife Colleen for the asking. It is part of why he later left for the WHA.

He came back once more. On October 11, 1979, at 51, he opened Hartford's NHL season and then played all 80 of its games, 15 goals and 26 assists, the oldest man ever to skate in the league. His last game was April 11, 1980, 11 days past his 52nd birthday, and Mark Howe has said the retirement was not his father's choice but Hartford's. In 1997 the Detroit Vipers signed him for one game and at 69 he took a single shift, the only man to play professional hockey in six decades. Dementia took the last years. He died on June 10, 2016 at his son Murray's house in Sylvania, Ohio, aged 88. No cause was given.

Lifespan

15401700180019002030

Gordie Howe's life against the full span of the corpus.

Notable works

Four Stanley Cups with the Detroit Red Wings other
1950, 1952, 1954 and 1955. He was in hospital for the first of them. 1955
Six Hart Trophies as the NHL most valuable player other
1952, 1953, 1957, 1958, 1960 and 1963 — second only to Wayne Gretzky 1963
Six Art Ross Trophies as league scoring leader other
Four straight from 1950-51, then 1956-57 and 1962-63 1963
Two Avco World Trophies with the Houston Aeros other
1974 and 1975, with Mark and Marty Howe on the roster 1975
The NHL career records for goals, assists and points other
801 goals, 1,049 assists, 1,850 points — all of them held until Wayne Gretzky 1980
A professional career spanning six decades other
USHL, NHL, WHA and IHL, from the 1940s to a single shift in 1997 1997

Life in brief

with age at each point

1943 aged ~15 Turns down the New York Rangers at 15 and goes home to Saskatoon They wanted a C form and a year at Notre Dame in Wilcox. He wanted his friends.
October 16, 1946 aged 18 Debuts for the Detroit Red Wings at 18 and scores in his first game He wore number 17 as a rookie.
1950 aged ~22 A collision with Ted Kennedy fractures his skull and sends him to emergency brain surgery Accounts of what happened on the boards have never agreed. He missed the rest of the playoffs and Detroit won the Cup without him.
April 15, 1953 aged 25 Marries Colleen Joffa, who will manage his career and his sons'
1969 aged ~41 Learns he is the third-highest-paid player on his own team His salary was 45,000 dollars. Bruce Norris raised it to 100,000 and blamed Colleen for the demand.
1973 aged ~45 Comes out of retirement at 45 to play with Mark and Marty in Houston He had retired in 1971 with a bad wrist and entered the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1972.
April 11, 1980 aged 52 Plays his last NHL game, 11 days past his 52nd birthday Hartford lost 4-3 to Montreal at the Civic Center. He had played all 80 games that season.
1997 aged ~69 Takes one shift for the Detroit Vipers at 69 A one-game contract in the IHL made him the only man to play professional hockey in six decades.
June 10, 2016 aged 88 Dies at 88 at his son Murray's house in Sylvania, Ohio No cause was given. His ashes were interred in Saskatoon that September.