Mr. Hockey: Gordie Howe (1928-2016)
June 16, 2016
Gordie Howe, shown here with the 1959 Detroit Red Wings, died at age 88 on June 10, 2016. Credit: © AP Photo
Gordie Howe, one of the greatest players in hockey history, died on June 10 at the age of 88. Howe—nicknamed “Mr. Hockey”—played most of his professional career as a right wing for the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League (NHL). He retired from Detroit holding several NHL individual records. He also left a legacy as one of the most complete and respected—and physically feared—players in hockey history.
Howe played on four Stanley Cup champion teams in Detroit. He won six Hart Trophies as the NHL’s Most Valuable Player and six Art Ross Trophies as the league’s leading scorer. He retired holding NHL records for career goals (801), assists (1,049), and points (1,850). Those records were later broken by Wayne Gretzy. Howe still holds the record for games played in the NHL (1,767). He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1972.
During his long career, Howe earned a reputation as one of the roughest players in the NHL. His son Mark—himself a Hockey Hall of Fame inductee—said his father was “the toughest, meanest guy I’ve ever seen on a pair of skates.” Howe weighed a muscular 205 pounds (93 kilograms), making him one of the heavier players in the league during his era. His physical play forced opposing players to make room for him on the ice—a factor in Howe’s prolific scoring and lack of serious injury over his long career.
Gordon Howe was born on March 31, 1928, in Floral, Saskatchewan. He joined the Red Wings in 1946 at the age of 18. In 1953, he married Colleen Joffa, a sports agent. She was active in hockey for much of her life, founding the Howe Foundation to aid needy children who wanted to play hockey.
Two years after he retired in 1971, Howe joined the Houston Aeros of the new World Hockey Association (WHA) to play with his sons Mark and Marty. He then moved to the WHA’s New England Whalers for the 1977-1978 and 1978-1979 seasons. He remained with the Whalers for the 1979-1980 season after the team joined the NHL as the Hartford Whalers. Howe appeared in a single game in 1997 for the Detroit Vipers of the International Hockey League when he was almost 70, his record sixth decade on the ice.
