Apple podcast title, The Deep Dive, Mr. Hockey's
Unbreakable Legacy, Gordie Howe. Apple podcast
description. Join us on this deep dive as we
unpack the unmatched six -decade career of Gordie
Howe. From his Depression -era roots to playing
pro hockey in his 50s, discover how Mr. Hockey
reshaped the NHL, pioneered player rights, and
became a pop culture icon. Keywords, Gordie Howe,
Mr. Hockey, NHL History, WHA, Hockey Legends,
Detroit Red Wings. I want you to think for a
second about what it feels like to age out of
your physical prime. Yeah, that is not a fun
thing to think about. Right, but you know the
feeling. Like when the knees start to creak a
little louder. Oh, yeah. Or it takes extra day
to recover from just a casual pickup game on
the weekend. Definitely. Now, I want you to imagine
playing one of the most brutal, high impact,
bone crunching sports in the world. And hockey
in that era was especially brutal. Exactly. And
not just playing it, but dominating it. In your
50s. It's just wild to even process. It really
is. So today we are taking a deep dive into a
comprehensive biographical Wikipedia article
about the life, the mythology, and the unparalleled
legacy of Gordon Gordy Howe. A true legend. Our
mission today is to figure out how... A mildly
dyslexic kid from a Depression -era farmhouse
grew up to become the most complete player in
the history of hockey and how he completely reshaped
the business and the culture of the sport along
the way. Okay, let's unpack this. It really is
a remarkable trajectory. I mean, a lot of people
listening likely know Howe by his famous trademarked
nickname, right? Mr. Hockey. Oh, yeah. But what
we really need to understand to grasp his impact
is the sheer scale of his career. It spanned
an absurd... Six decades. Six decades. Right.
He didn't just play through different eras of
hockey. He was the primary force that caused
the evolution of the modern game. Wow. From inadvertently
exposing the need for player rights to acting
as the catalyst for international recruitment
and even massive league expansion. Gordie Howe's
fingerprints are on the structural foundation
of the sport we see today. So to get how he became
that foundation, the story starts in 1928. Right.
In a farmhouse in Floral, Saskatchewan. He was
one of nine siblings. And right off the bat,
he was just built differently. How so? Well,
he grew so fast physically that in his mid -teens,
he was already six feet tall. Wow, for the 1940s,
that's huge. It is. Doctors actually thought
he had a calcium deficiency. Really? Yeah. They
made him do chin -ups to strengthen his spine.
But what I find fascinating is how he weaponized
his natural physical quirks on the ice. Like,
he was ambidextrous. Ah, right. And since everyone
used straight blades back then, he could seamlessly
shoot left -handed or right -handed. Which completely
scrambles a defenseman's brain. I bet. I mean,
think about it. If you're defending a rush, your
entire positional geometry is based on the attacker's
handedness. Right. You try to force them to their
weak side. Exactly. You try to force them to
their backhand. But how Ed didn't have a weak
side. That is terrifying. It is. If you forced
him left, he just switched his grip on that straight
stick. And suddenly he's on his forehand again,
ready to unleash a shot. It was this massive,
unpredictable advantage that defenders simply
didn't know how to calculate at the time. But
even with all that natural talent. You really
have to wonder about his early mindset. Yeah.
Because at age 15, he goes to a training camp
in Winnipeg and plays so well that the New York
Rangers want to sign him. The Rangers? Yeah,
to a C form, which would give them his NHL rights.
They wanted to send him to a prestigious Catholic
high school in Saskatchewan. known for producing
elite hockey players. Sounds like a dream offer.
It does. And this 15 -year -old kid rejects the
offer from the New York Rangers. Just says no.
Simply because he didn't think it was a good
fit, and he just wanted to go back home to play
with his friends. That's incredible. Right. So
was he just a kid getting homesick, or did he
actually see a better path? I think it's a bit
of both, honestly. But it perfectly illustrates
the prairie values that defined his entire life.
The family had moved to Saskatoon when he was
an infant, right as the Great Depression hit.
Rough timing. Very. His father worked as a laborer,
and young Gordy actually dropped out of school
to work construction alongside his dad in the
summers. Oh, wow. Yeah, that grueling physical
labor during a desperate economic time instilled
a very grounded, community -focused work ethic
in him. So he wasn't about the glamour. Not at
all. He wasn't chasing the bright lights or the
prestige of the Rangers organization. His comfort
level was deeply rooted in his community. And
clearly it didn't hurt his prospects. Nope. The
Detroit Red Wings eventually noticed him, signed
him, and by 1946, at the age of 18, he's making
his NHL debut and scoring in his very first game.
Incredible debut. Yeah. And that actually explains
one of my absolute favorite details in the source
material. Oh, the jersey number. Yes. When he
started with Detroit, he actually wore number
17. Which most people don't know. Right. But
he ended up switching to number nine. And the
reason he switched is strictly logistical. It
wasn't about branding. Not at all. Lower numbers
entitled the players to a better lower Pullman
sleeping birth on the train rides for road games.
That is amazing. It wasn't about ego or trying
to look cool. It was just a working class kid
wanting a better night's sleep on a moving train.
What's fascinating here is how a completely mundane
practical choice accidentally birthed an absolute
icon. Literally. That number nine became a symbol
of excellence across the entire league. Yeah.
It became so iconic that a young Wayne Gretzky
actually doubled it to 99 as a direct tribute
to Howe because number nine was already taken.
Wow. The legacy of that Pullman birth choice
rippled through an entire century of hockey history.
Now, since we all know a Gordie Howe hat trick
is a goal and assist at a fight. Classic. It
is wild to look at the actual stats. Here's where
it gets really interesting. Okay. He only recorded
two of those namesake hat tricks in his entire
career. Two. That's it. Once in 1953 and once
in 1954. Two. So with a reputation like that,
you have to ask, was he just not fighting as
much as the myth suggests? Or is there something
else going on? Oh, it's definitely the latter.
And it was highly calculated. Really? Yeah. He
didn't have more of those specific hat tricks
because he established a level of physical dominance
so terrifying early on that eventually no one
in the league wanted to drop the gloves with
him. They were just too scared. Exactly. Yeah.
I mean, early in his career, his coach, Jack
Adams, actually had to pull him aside and say,
I know you can fight. Now can you show me you
can play hockey? He had to prove he wasn't just
a goon. Precisely. But the defining moment for
his intimidating reputation came in 1959 at Madison
Square Garden. What happened there? Howe got
into it with the New York Rangers' notorious
enforcer, Lou Fontenot, and Howe soundly and
systematically defeated him. Oh, man. After that
brutal display, the rest of the league learned
its lesson. Howe possessed what one writer called
prairie justice. Prairie justice. I like that.
If you crossed him, the retaliation was inevitable
and severe. It was tactical intimidation that
bought him the physical space on the ice he needed
to score. That makes total sense. And the sources
detail these surprising clashes with other legends
of the game, too. Oh, yeah. Some big names. Take
Maurice Rocket Richard from the Montreal Canadiens.
In 1946, Richard hits Howe with a hard check
and an elbow to the chin. Ouch. Yeah. A teammate.
Sid Abel tries to intervene. He gets his nose
broken. Chaos. Complete chaos. And then later
on, Howe hits Richard, knocking him down, and
Howe actually starts laughing about it. Laughing.
Laughing, which he immediately regretted because
then eight of Richard's teammates jumped him.
Yeah, you don't laugh at the rocket in Montreal.
Lesson learned, I guess. But that physical dominance
was universally recognized by his peers, even
his fiercest rivals. Like who? Well, Jean Beliveau,
another Canadian's legend, wrote in his autobiography
that trying to strong arm Gordie Howe off the
puck in the corner was akin to wrestling with
a telephone pole. Telephone pole. It was just
immovable. Then you have Stan Mikita of the Chicago
Blackhawks. Mikita slashes Howe during his rookie
year and literally calls him an old man who didn't
belong on the ice. Oh, bad move. You do not say
that to Gordie Howe. No, you do not. Later that
same season, Howe exacts his revenge and hits
Makita so hard he gives him a concussion. Wow.
Yeah, Bobby Hull summed it up by saying Howe
was strong as a bull and tougher than a knight
in jail. That's a great quote. Right. But with
a career spanning that many decades, you really
have to wonder, was his longevity really a product
of superhuman resilience? Or did the slower,
less physically demanding pace of the early NHL
just allow players to hang around longer? Well,
it was definitely superhuman resilience. And
we know this because of the sheer amount of punishment
he absorbed. Right. This brings us to a pivotal,
genuinely terrifying moment in the 1950 playoffs
that answers that exact question. What about?
How attempts to check Ted Kennedy of the Maple
Leafs into the boards misses and goes headfirst
into the barrier. He fractured his skull, broke
his cheekbone and nose, and the injury was so
severe he was rushed to the hospital for emergency
surgery to relieve the pressure on his brain.
A fractured skull in 1950. That is a career -ending,
life -threatening injury in any era. For almost
anyone else, yes. So what's in sight here is
his recovery. He missed the rest of the playoffs
that year. Naturally. But he returned the very
next season, 1950 -51, and he didn't just ease
back into it. He played every single game. are
you kidding me he led the nhl in goals assists
and total points winning the scoring title by
a massive 20 -point margin that is unbelievable
that injury didn't end him it kicked off a four
-year run of dominance where he won four straight
scoring titles which was something the league
had never seen before he was so dominant on the
ice that you'd assume he was the undisputed king
of the franchise off the ice too you would think
so but that brings up a really shocking contradiction
in his career we jump forward to the late 1960s
The league has expanded. Howe is on a line dubbed
the Production Line 3 with Alex DelVecchio and
Frank Mahovlich. Classic lineup. Yeah. Howe turns
40 years old, and he goes out and scores 103
points. At 40. It is the only time in his entire
NHL career he breaks the 100 -point mark, and
he does it at age 40. Incredible. But then he
discovers a gut -wrenching secret. He finds out
he is only the third highest paid player on his
own team. Wait, really? Yes. He's making just
$45 ,000. His historical implication of this
cannot be overstated. It's crazy. For decades,
Howe had been the ultimate company man. He was
known for being well -mannered, trusting, and
he never questioned the salary the owners paid
him. He just wanted to play. Right. The sources
frame this as his loyalty being heavily exploited
by the Detroit Red Wings ownership, which then
became the catalyst for his former line mate
Ted Lindsey's campaign for higher wages. And
we should clarify here. Yes. We are just reporting
the historical context provided in the sources
regarding this labor dispute. We're not taking
a side on the unionization efforts or endorsing
any viewpoints about the owners themselves. Right.
Just looking at the history. But according to
the texts, this specific revelation about Howe's
salary was the nucleus of the movement that eventually
became the National Hockey League Players Association
or the NHLPA. And when Red Wings owner Bruce
Norris finally did bump Howe's salary up to $100
,000, he actually blamed Howe's wife, Colleen,
for making the demand. Wow. Deflecting the blame.
Yeah. And Colleen Howe is a massive part of this
story. Huge. They met at a bowling alley when
she was just 17 years old. And she wasn't just
a supportive spouse. She was an absolute trailblazer
in sports business. Way ahead of her time. She
managed Gordy's finances. She was one of the
founders of the Detroit Junior Red Wings. And
she had the incredible foresight to register
the trademarks for Mr. Hockey and Mrs. Hockey.
If we connect this to the bigger picture, Colleen's
savvy business acumen fundamentally changed the
trajectory of Gordy's life and really the concept
of player agency itself. She protected him. She
did. In an era where players were largely treated
as disposable assets, Colleen stepped in and
empowered Gordy to take control of his own destiny.
She recognized the immense value of his brand
long before sports marketing was a recognized
formal field. Her negotiations set the stage
for the second. arguably most unbelievable act
of his career. Because after 25 years with Detroit,
a chronic wrist problem forces Howe to retire
after the 1970 -71 season. Right. He was 43.
He's 43. He takes a desk job in the Red Wings
front office. Doing what? Not much, apparently.
He's dissatisfied. He's bored. He has no real
influence in the office. Yeah, he's an athlete,
not an executive. Exactly. So he gets surgery
on his wrist. leaves his desk job, and comes
out of retirement at age 46. Age 46. And he doesn't
go back to the NHL. He joins the Houston Arrows
of the newly formed World Hockey Association,
the WHA. And he makes this deeply disruptive
career move for a very personal reason. Exactly.
The Arrows had signed his two sons, Mark and
Marty. Gordy joined just so he could achieve
a family dream and play professional hockey alongside
his kids. That is so cool. And he didn't just
show up for the photo walks. At age 46, he scores
100 points and wins the league MVP award. Unbelievable.
He leads the Arrows to back -to -back championships,
and by the time he's 50, his son Mark has a baby,
making Gordie Howell the first grandfather to
ever play professional hockey. This raises an
important question, though. What happens when
a sports monopoly is legitimately challenged?
Yeah, the NHL wasn't happy. Not at all. Howe's
jump to the WHA was a seismic shock to the hockey
establishment. His presence gave this fledgling
rival league immediate, undeniable legitimacy.
People wanted to see him. Exactly. They could
suddenly fill stadiums because fans wanted to
see Mr. Hockey. The NHL went into an absolute
panic. I bet. The increased competition for talent
forced the insular NHL to completely rethink
its strategy. They had to start recruiting professional
European players just to keep up with the talent
drain. Wow. And they had to rapidly expand into
new geographical markets to capture fans before
the WHA did. So he changed the whole map. Gordie
Howe's move literally changed the global geography
and the demographics of professional hockey,
paving the way for the eventual merger of the
two leagues. And when that merger finally happens,
the Hartford Whalers join the NHL. Detroit still
technically held his NHL rights. But they made
a gentleman's agreement not to reclaim him. Good
on them. So at age 51, he plays all 80 games
of the NHL schedule for Hartford. All 80 games
at 51. He puts up 41 points. They even put him
on a line with Dave Keon and Bobby Hall. What
a line. And at the All -Star game that year.
held in Detroit. The crowd gave him a standing
ovation that lasted so long he had to skate to
the bench just to get them to stop cheering so
they can play the game. That must have been chills.
Oh, definitely. He's 51, skating in his fifth
decade of All -Star Games alongside a 19 -year
-old Wayne Gretzky. It is a passing of the torch
that you rarely get to see so perfectly orchestrated
in sports history. Yeah. The young phenom who
idolized him playing alongside the master on
his final lap. And just to put a cherry on top
of this timeline, in 1997, At the age of 69,
Howe signs a one -game contract with the Detroit
Vipers, the International Hockey League. 69 years
old. He goes out and plays one shift. At 69,
that made him the only player in hockey history
to compete in six different decades at the professional
level. The 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s.
It is a record that is almost mathematically
impossible to replicate given the intense physical
toll and speed of the modern game. Never going
to happen again. Never. When you synthesize his
achievements the numbers are monolithic. He finished
with 801 NHL goals and 800 -850 points. Wow.
Records that stood as the absolute pinnacle until
Gretzky came along. If you combine his NHL and
WHA regular season goals, he hit 975 major league
goals, which is actually ahead of Gretzky's combined
total. That's a great trivia stat. He became
an officer of the Order of Canada. There is a
massive international bridge connecting Detroit
and Windsor currently being built and named in
his honor. A bridge. A literal bridge. And he
has a bridge and a sports complex. named after
him in his hometown of Saskatoon. He just transcended
the sport to become a fixture of North American
pop culture. He really did. I mean, ask yourself
if you've ever seen the movie Ferris Bueller's
Day Off. Classic movie. Right. The character
Cameron Frye, Ferris' best friend, spends almost
the entire movie wearing a Detroit Red Wings
jersey, even though the movie is set in Chicago.
Always wondered about that. Well, that jersey
was actually provided to the filmmakers. personally
by gordie howe that's amazing or if you watch
the simpsons there is a classic episode where
bart tries to catfish his teacher mrs krabappel
oh i remember this he invents a fake adult man
named woodrow and the picture he sends her to
prove he's real is just a photograph of gordie
howe that is hilarious they even flash house
actual career stats at the very end of the episode
And within the spot itself, he shifted the very
archetype of what a hockey player could be. How
so? Well, before Howe, you generally had your
finesse goal scorers, your slow defensive specialists,
and your enforcers. Very specialized roles. Exactly.
Howe proved you could be all of them simultaneously.
He birthed the concept of... The power forward.
But didn't other big physical guys exist before
him? Sure, but they were often slow or they lacked
puck handling skills. Howe was big, he was surprisingly
fast, and he had incredibly soft hands for scoring.
This disrupted the tactical geometry of the game.
Coaches must have hated playing against him.
Opposing coaches had to completely rewrite their
defensive playbooks. You couldn't put a small
finesse defender on him because Howe would just
run them over. Right. But your big, slow defender
couldn't catch him or anticipate his ambidextrous
shooting. He had the endurance to play a full
200 -foot game, meaning he was just as terrifying
in his own defensive zone as he was on the attack.
A complete nightmare for the other team. Complete
nightmare. After Howe, NHL scouts were given
specific directives to go out and find the next
Gordie Howe. He became the blueprint. So what
does this all mean? Yeah. When you look at the
whole picture, Gordie Howe wasn't just a hockey
player. He was an institution. Absolutely. He
laid the literal and metaphorical groundwork
for modern hockey. He showed that age is just
a number, that loyalty should go both ways, and
that you can be a terror on the ice and an absolute
gentleman off it. Exactly. And as we wrap up,
I want to leave you with one final thought to
mull over. Okay. We talked earlier about his
childhood during the Great Depression. The sources
mention a children's book published in 2023 called
Gordy's Skate, written by a Saskatchewan historian.
Oh, interesting. It details how, during those
desperately poor years, the Howe family could
only afford to acquire a single pair of skates.
Oh, man. Young Gordy actually had to share that
one pair of skates with his sister. Just to get
on the ice. ice. Just to get on the ice. It really
makes you wonder how much of Gordie Howe's legendary
unstoppable resilience, his seemingly superhuman
ability to fight through fractured skulls, aging
joints, and decades of physical punishment wasn't
actually born in a professional sports arena.
How much of that unbreakable will was simply
forged out of the sheer desperate necessity of
survival during the hardest of times, sharing
a single pair of skates just to get out there.
That is something to think about the next time
you lace up. We hope you enjoyed unpacking the
unbelievable life of Mr. Hockey with us today.
Keep asking questions, keep digging into the
past, and keep seeking out the incredible stories
behind the legends you thought you knew. Catch
you next time.