MR. HOCKEY: GREATNESS, KINDNESS
Howe was beast on the ice, teddy bear in person
When Gordie Howe was well into his 70s, he still had the aura of a powerful athlete.
He looked like what you would have expected Superman to look like if DC Comics had allowed him to age. With chiseled features, piercing bright eyes and broad shoulders, Howe looked more powerful than a locomotive.
Shaking hands with him was a blow to your self-esteem. No matter how much strength you put in your grip, your hand would be swallowed by his bear-like strength. Howe was 6-0 and 203 pounds when he played, but he had a much larger presence. When you met him, you understood why goalie Glenn Hall once said Howe always seemed like he was 6-8 when you played against him. He seemed bigger than life. It was like he radiated greatness.
Late Detroit Red Wings general manager Jack Adams said athletes like Howe only came along once every 50 or 100 years. Gordie Howe, known for his kindness to fans, signs an autograph at an NHL alumni game in 1997.
father “was the meanest, nastiest man on a pair of skates that I ever met. Off the ice, he was the most gentlemanly man I ever met.”
Gordie Howe knew where the game ended and life began. He played with his elbows up, and if you wronged him, you faced his retribution. But if you respected Howe, he respected you. He lived by his own code of conduct, and
almost everyone in the NHL understood Howe’s rules.
Away from the rink, Howe was hockey’s friendliest man. He was the game’s greatest ambassador.
Thousands of people in North America have poignant memories of meeting Howe. He always made a point to be kind to fans. Most people in the hockey world have a Howe autograph or a Howe story
or know someone who does. Howe’s longevity in hockey allowed him to touch three or four generations of fans.
Jeremy Roenick once told me he always tried to be nice to his fans because he remembered how Howe was playful with him during pregame warm-ups at a Harford Whalers game when Roenick was a youngster.
Bobby Hull told me the story of seeing Howe play at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1949 when Hull was 10. Hull’s dad ripped open a cigarette package so his son could obtain Howe’s autograph.
Hull said Howe was impressively kind to him, and he always tried to remember that moment years later when fans asked him for autographs.
Hull also likes to tell the story of how his father loved Howe so much that he liked to rib his son by saying he couldn’t play in the same league with Howe.
Hull could only laugh because he loved Howe, too. That’s Howe’s true legacy. When he left the game, everybody loved him.
FOLLOW NHL COLUMNIST KEVIN ALLEN