‘MY OWN HERO’
Gordie Howe’s children pay tribute
DETROIT How do you bid adieu to a legend, especially when you lived with that legend?
That was the question Murray Howe posed about his father, former Detroit Red Wings superstar Gordie Howe, as he delivered the words of remembrance during his dad’s funeral Wednesday at Detroit’s Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament.
“How do I do justice to a life of a living legend, my own hero?” Murray Howe asked. “I still pinch myself at the realization that he was my father.”
The hockey world said goodbye to the man known as Mr. Hockey on Wednesday, but the Howes bid farewell to a father, a grandfather, and an uncle, who died Friday at the age of 88. The patriarch of their family. We’ve all suffered the loss of a loved one and on that level, all could relate to the Howes.
“It’s just hard,” Mark Howe admitted. “No matter how much you know this day is coming, I guess I am extremely thankful that dad was able to hold on so long.
As Gordie was fading, Mark raced from the East Coast to be at his father’s bedside, and he broke down in tears while recollecting his final goodbye to the man he called father, teammate and idol.
“I really wanted to be with him,” Mark said. “I was rubbing his forehead when he went. It was important to me.
“Our family is strong and I really thank my mother and father for that.”
The Howes are proud of the way their dad played the game — 26 years in the NHL, more than 1,000 goals as a pro and all the accolades that have come his way.
How many hockey players get international border crossings and football stadiums named after them?
Most of all, though, they cherished how he carried himself as a man, the humble example he set for all to see when it would have been so easy to play the big shot.
“Though he was the size of a gorilla, little kids and little old ladies alike flocked to him the moment he disarmed them with his playful grin and his huge open arms, and dad fed off their love and their positive energy and it brought him to life, no matter how tired or sore he was,” Murray said. “He multiplied that energy and emitted it back to them.
“He made everyone feel as if they were the most special person on the planet. How many people have told me that meeting Gordie Howe is the greatest experience of their life?” Too many to mention or remember.
It wasn’t uncommon to find Gordie arriving early at an event where he was to be the guest speaker and busy himself by helping set up the tables in the ballroom.
Sometimes, his thoughtfulness backfired on Howe.
“He opened the door for one woman who said ‘I didn’t ask you to do that,’ ” Murray recalled, “And he said ‘I’m sorry, I thought you were a lady.’ ”
Another time, Howe shovelled foot-deep snow out of a neighbour’s driveway.
When the fellow returned home, he knocked on the door and barked at Howe, telling him he didn’t need the help. Gordie put his winter gear back on, went outside and shovelled all the snow back into the driveway.
The vast majority of people embraced Mr. Hockey’s kind and generous nature.
“My dad set the standard,” Mark Howe said.
“Ultimately and unfortunately I can’t keep up to his standards but I try.
“I look at how much respect he has from anyone who played the game. I don’t know of any other human being who can go knock out people’s teeth, hit them, leave them with bumps and bruises, punch them in the nose, and they revered the man.
“I think dad just had a certain way about him. It’s not anything you could teach. It’s not anything you could learn. He had this special, special impact on everybody that he met.
“For me that’s what sets him apart from any other athlete. My father never once corrected anyone in our family — grandkids, great grandkids. As far as he led his life he had respect for every single person on this earth. He never judged people. He accepted people for who they are, and I think that’s why he was such a beloved man.
“We’re biased as a family but I’ve said it many, many times — as wonderful and as great a hockey player as he was — it could not hold a handle to the person he was as a man.”
The public attention will move on to another story today and the Howes will be left to deal with their loss on a more private level.
This week has reinforced what they already knew to be true, how much Gordie Howe was loved.
Just as it emphasized how much his family loved Gordie Howe.
(He could) knock out people’s teeth, hit them, leave them with bumps and bruises, punch them in the nose, and they revered the man.