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Kevin Allen:Recalling when Gordie Howe was king: debuted 75 years ago Today |
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When I grew up in the Detroit area in the 1960s, we believed Gordie Howe was Superman with a hockey stick. He seemed invincible, powerful, fierce and incredibly ruthless.
Kryptonite could take down Superman and none of us ever saw anything, or anyone, who could knock Gordie off his game.
In the mid-1960s, I saw Howe go into the corner against a Boston Bruins defenseman named Gary Doak. They went in together and Howe came by himself with the puck.
Doak was left sprawled on the ice like a casualty of war.
“He was the meanest, nastiest man on a pair of skates that I have ever seen,” said his son, Mark. “But off the ice, he was the most gentlemanly man I ever met.”
Saturday marks the 75th anniversary of Howe’s first game. The late Howe was just 18 years old, with one year of pro hockey on his resume, when he played for the Red Wings. That was 1946 and he continued playing into the 1980s.
Howe could do it all -- shoot, pass, hit, defend, kill penalties and fight.
In 1959, Howe fought and crushed New York Rangers’ Lou Fontinato who was reported to be the NHL’s toughest fighter of that era.
Art Skov, the linesman who broke up the fight, said in a 2006 interview it was the “most one-sided fight” he ever saw. Famed broadcaster Stan Fischler said Howe “destroyed” Fontinato.
Howe’s ability to play through pain was legendary. Howe was playing for the WHA’s New England Whalers when he scored his 1000th career goal. He was 49 and playing with a fractured hand when he netted that historic goal. His coach at the time, Harry Neale, said his hand looked like a “gob of purplish goo."
Plenty of Americans didn’t know the first thing about hockey for most of his career, but they knew Gordie Howe was the best. He was often featured in newsreels and magazine photo spreads.
Among all of his other attributes, Howe had an Adonis-like body and movie star good looks.
Those of us who grew up worshiping his athletic ability could never get enough. When I was at Eastern Michigan University, I enlisted my buddy Larry O’Connor to drive down to Cincinnati with me to watch Howe play for the Houston Aeros in the World Hockey Association.
As I recall, one of the Cincinnati Stingers roughed his teammate and son Mark Howe, and Gordie answered by charging into the corner like he was a bull moose. It was vintage Gordie. I don’t recall whether Gordie scored that night. But I remember that moment.
Here are 10 facts about the incomparable Howe and his hockey career.
1.Howe’s linemates in his first NHL game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Oct. 16, 1946 were center Sid Abel and Left wing Adam Brown. They assisted on his first NHL goal (against Turk Broda). Howe (Mark and Marty), Abel (Gerry) and Brown (Andy) all had sons who played in the NHL.
2. Howe played his first game at age 18 and he scored seven goals that season. He said his objective was “to stick around for the full season” so he could say he played in the NHL.
3. Mr. Hockey, as he was called, scored his last goal when he was 52. He scored 15 goals when he played for the Hartford Whalers that 1979-80 season.
4. The late Montreal Canadiens general manager Frank Selke said in a 1961 magazine article that Howe once played 46 minutes in a game against the Canadiens at the Montreal Forum. When Howe needed a rest he would drop back and play some defense.
5. Famed Detroit Red Wings general manager Jack Adams once said about Howe: “He is to hockey what Babe Ruth was to baseball, only moreso."
6. Howe’s rival Bobby Hull once described Howe as being “tougher than a night in jail.”
7. When a player registers a goal, an assist and a fighting major, he is said to have recorded a Gordie Howe hat trick. What makes that interesting is Howe, despite his fondness for physical play, only had two Gordie Howe hat tricks. His first GHHT came on Oct. 11, 1953 when he fought Fern Flaman and recorded a goal and two assists in a 4-0 win against the Maple Leafs. His second came on March 21, 1954 when he fought Teeder Kennedy and added a goal and an assist
8. In 26 NHL seasons, he played almost 97% of his team’s games. Even though he played a rough style of hockey, he missed only two games from 1961 through 1970.
9. Played his first NHL games wearing No. 17. He switched to No. 9 the following season.
10. Saskatchewan native Howe finished in the top five in NHL scoring for 20 consecutive seasons. He played in 29 All-Star games in 32 professional seasons.
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