Father of NHL legend Wayne, quintessential hockey parent
TORONTO — Walter Gretzky, the father of hockey great Wayne Gretzky, has died. He was 82.
Wayne Gretzky said in a social media post Thursday that his father battled Parkinson’s disease and other issues the past few years.
“For me, he was the reason I fell in love with the game of hockey,” Wayne Gretzky said. “He inspired me to be the best I could be not just in the game of hockey but in life.”
Walter Gretzky became a
name himself. As Wayne’s star ascended — he retired in 1999 as the NHL’s all-time leading scorer — Walter stayed a blue-collar symbol of a devoted hockey parent. Their father-son story was used in commercials from Tim Hortons to Coca-Cola. Following in the footsteps of Alexander Graham Bell, they made Brantford, Ontario, famous.
Walter’s celebrity status increased after making a remarkable recovery from a stroke in 1991. His autobiography and a 2005 made-for-TV movie told the story.
Walter Gretzky was born to Polish and Russian immigrants who started a vegetable farm in 1932 in Canning, Ontario, just outside Brantford, on the Nith River.
Walter played minor hockey in Paris, Ontario, then junior B in Woodstock. He went on to play senior hockey, but said he wasn’t good enough to play pro.
Walter met Phyllis, his wife to be, at a wiener roast at the family farm. She was 15. Three years later, they got married. Phyllis died of lung cancer in 2005.
Wayne was the first born in 1961, followed by Kim, Keith,
Glen and Brent. Keith and Brent also played professional hockey.
The year Wayne was born, Walter fractured his skull in a work accident as a Bell lineman. He spent some time in a coma and was off work for 18 months. Left deaf in his right ear, he eventually became an installer/repairman.
When Wayne was 4, his father turned the backyard of their Brantford home into a rink that young Wayne called The Wally Coliseum.
Walter decided to make his own rink to avoid having to freeze standing outdoors at some outdoor rink elsewhere — or sit in his car with the engine running — while Wayne skated. Gas was too expensive, he said.
Walter fed his eldest child’s obsession, recruiting bigger kids for Wayne to practice against and finding him a spot on a team of 10-year-olds when he was 6.
Walter drove one old blue Chevy station wagon after another — calling each the Blue Goose. He called it a “reliable car for a family of seven.”