HOWE, Gordon ("Gordie")

(b. 31 March 1928 in Floral, Saskatchewan, Canada), National Hockey League superstar who was named Canada's Athlete of the Year in 1963 and elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1972.

Howe was one of nine children of Albert Howe, a mechanic, laborer, and construction worker, and Katherine Schultz Howe, a homemaker. Howe's first skates were discovered in a "grab bag," which his mother had traded for a few cents to a neighbor who needed milk for her baby. When Howe outgrew them, he played goal, because it was one position on his school team he could manage without blades. Although he was diagnosed as having a calcium deficiency in his backbone and warned that a severe blow might easily break his back, Howe continued to skate. Howe's natural hockey skills earned him All-Star standing in school and in minor hockey leagues, and eventually a berth on the local "Senior" team. A scout for the New York Rangers spotted the talented fifteen-year-old, and he was invited to the Rangers' training camp in Winnipeg in 1943. Howe had never had full equipment available before, and he avoided embarrassment by watching other players put on their gear, piece by piece. Lonely and homesick, he left camp prematurely and returned to Saskatoon; and Rangers' manager Lester Patrick declared Howe was not NHL (National Hockey League) material.

Fortunately, Fred Pinkney, a scout for the Detroit Red Wings, did not give up as quickly on this fine professional prospect. Assured that other players from his home area would accompany him to the Red Wings training camp in Windsor, Ontario, Howe agreed to go. He immediately impressed Coach Jack Adams. "Jolly Jawn," as Adams was affectionately known, was especially taken with the teen-ager's ability to shoot either from the right or left side, a trait that enhanced his wizardry in scoring for years to come. Howe was assigned to Detroit's junior squad in Galt, Ontario, and the following season signed his first professional contract with Omaha Knights of the United States League.

Success did not come immediately for Howe, who would eventually be called "Mr. Hockey." He rode the bench for the first part of the 1946 season with the Omaha farm sextet and scored only seven goals in his first full campaign with the parent club. But as the 1947–1948 season got under way, Howe was teamed with veteran Sid Abel and a belligerent left winger named Ted Lindsay. The famous "Production Line" was born, and Howe's personal career took off. The milestones soon began to add up. Howe scored his 100th goal on 17 February 1951; his 200th almost two years later to the day; his 300th on 7 February 1956; his 400th on 13 December 1958; and his 500th on 14 March 1962. The next rung on his ladder to NHL scoring supremacy was goal number 545 on 19 November 1963, a scoring total which surpassed that of the retired Maurice "Rocket" Richard and launched Howe into first place in league history. Howe ultimately achieved a record-setting 801 goals in regular season play over his professional career and established several other NHL records, including most seasons played (26), most regular-season games (1,767), and most selections to NHL all-star teams (21 selections—12 times to the first team, 9 to the second). Howe's other NHL records include most winning goals (122), most games including playoffs (1,924), and most career points by a right winger (1,850). Howe spent twenty-five NHL seasons with Detroit and one with Hartford.

Howe married Colleen Joffa in 1953. They had four children, two of whom, Mark and Marty, followed their father into the NHL. When the Houston Aeros of the fledgling World Hockey Association (WHA) ignored the age limit for drafting junior players and claimed the Howe brothers in the summer of 1973, the Texas management invited their forty-five-year-old father, who had retired from the Red Wings two years earlier, to join the team as well. When the trio skated out on the ice for the first scheduled game, a precedent was set—the first father-son combination in a professional hockey game. The three appeared on the ice together again in the 1979–1980 season when the Howes were playing for the New England Whalers in Hartford, and Howe became the first grandfather to play professional hockey.

Howe's trophy room abounds with awards and plaques. He won both the Art Ross Trophy (leading scorer) and the Hart Memorial Trophy (Most Valuable Player) six times, the last time at the age of thirty-eight. He was selected as Canada's Athlete of the Year in 1963 and chosen to receive the Lester Patrick Trophy for outstanding service to U.S. hockey in 1967. He received the Order of Canada medal in 1971.

There is no record of Howe ever losing a fight in the major leagues. He often had to defend himself against illegal tactics that opponents used to stop him, but he maintained, "I come to play hockey, not to fight!" Although many skaters insisted he was liberal with the use of his elbows, Hall of Famer Bobby Hull disagreed: "If you want to play hockey, he'll play; but if guys want to fool around, they always come out second best!"

Howe has been showered with countless tributes. In 1959 "Gordie Howe Night" was staged at the Detroit Olympia; in 1966 the city of Saskatoon gave him a "day" and named a sports complex for him; in March 1971 Toronto held a formal reception for him at City Hall; and on Labor Day that same year, the City of Detroit honored him in like fashion. Former Canadian Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson summarized the spirit of all the tributes: "Both on the ice and off, Gordie Howe's conduct has demonstrated a high quality of sportsmanship and competence that is an example to us all. He has earned the title: Mr. Hockey."

Howe survived many injuries (including one that threatened his life), a kidney stone, surgery on his arthritic wrist, a death threat, and three hundred stitches, on his way to playing more major-league (NHL and WHA combined) games (2,186) and scoring more regular-season goals (975) than any other player in history. In 1998 Howe participated in a game with the International Hockey League's Detroit Vipers, becoming the first hockey player to appear in a professional game in each of six decades.

Biographical works include Jim Vipond, Gordie Howe, Number 9 (1971); Gordon Howe and Colleen Howe, After the Applause (1990), written with Charles Wilkins; Gordon Howe and Colleen Howe, And Howe (1995), written with Tom Delisle; and Frank Conron, Gordie Howe: My Hockey Memories (1999). See also The Total Hockey Encyclopedia (2000).

Glen Goodhead