RIP Mr. Hockey - Gordie Howe Dies age 88

[Hardhat]

Thanks for all the memories, Gordie. He was a great hockey player and a great human being.
http://www.clickondetroit.com/sports...dies-at-age-88

[MikeyinBrooklyn]

This saddens me as few celeb deaths do. RIP, Mr. Hockey. Prayers for your family and North American circle of friends & fans. Your skills, sportsmanship & ambassadorship for the game are appreciated and will be missed. God Bless Gordie Howe.

[Lowell]

The ultimate pro and gentleman. I'm so happy he lived long enough to learn a bridge connecting Detroit and Canada would have his name because he was the living symbol of that connection. A true Detroit legend now belongs to the ages. Thank you Gordie!

[smogboy]

He was the epitome of class- unless you went into the corner with him and wore a different sweater than his.

He transcended the game with his style, play and presence. He was as big off the ice as he was on it. All the praise, acclaim and adulation that he's going to get won't even begin to skim what a man he was.

Gordie Howe set a bar that will always be legendary. We've been blessed to have had him wear the Winged Wheel and live amongst us.

[Bobl]

Sad news. Perhaps the best all around player to ever wear a hockey jersey, and a great family man. He was kind enough to shake my hand, when a group of us high school students rented ice at his hockey arena in St. Clair Shores late one night. The firmest handshake, ever, as he smiled and said: "Of course all of your parents know where you are, and your home work is done?".

[emu steve]

I grew up a Red Wings fans [[I'm now a lapsed hockey fan) and Howe, Lindsay, Sawchuck, etc. were my favorites.

I remember my childhood where I got to see ONE live hockey game per year at the Olympia.* It was the Thanksgiving night game vs. the much despised Montreal Canadians.

* Plus watch Hockey Night in Canada [[which was one night, Saturday, not seven, on the Windsor station and in B&W. [[my father and I) Had to fight with my mother and sister who wanted to watch Lawrence Welk. We also fought over butter pecan vs. black cherry ice cream.

RIP, Gordie. You brought much joy and happiness to the fans of Detroit and hockey.

Sometimes we remember those who discovered say the polio vaccine or penicillin or something which saves lives, extend lives, etc. but people like Gordie Howe bring great joy to life and make it a much more happy experience.

[SyGolden48236]

Gordie Howe is with Hashem now. Baruch dayan emet!

[douglasm]

That just leaves "Terrible Ted" Linsay as the last living member of the original "Production Line", doesn't it?

[1953]

EMU Steve: if only you'd had dvr and could have recorded Welk...

[Danny]

I am crying right now!

[EastsideAl]

Not unexpected, but very sad nonetheless. Perhaps the greatest of Detroit sports star of all. The toughest, orneriest competitor on the ice [[watch those elbows), and a nice giving man off of it. Rose up from being a big kid in too-small used skates in Saskatoon to being the greatest hockey player of his era, one of the greatest of all-time, and a beloved legend in a city thousands of miles away. I was lucky enough to meet him a couple of times while working in charity, and saw his modesty, despite his stardom, firsthand.

I'm at that age now where all of my childhood heroes are dying, and I must say that it's hard. This is the first local legend I've cried about since Ernie, but, alas, I can see more coming.

[MikeyinBrooklyn]

Beautiful post, EastsideAl. I am reminded of a quote from Indiana Jones: "I think we've reached the point where life stops giving us things and starts taking them away." There is the personal loss for the man who has died; there is also a larger loss as people of a certain generation are leaving us, rather rapidly at this point. I sometimes feel every man in his 80s or older is the grandfather I didn't get to know, and I want to pick their brains about the war, the depression, and all the bygone things.

[emu steve]

EMU Steve: if only you'd had dvr and could have recorded Welk...

Yeah, my sister was a 'night owl.' She could have watch him at 11:00 p.m.

And bought a half gallon of butter pecan and a half gallon of black cherry ice cream [[or a quart of each) and made home a more peaceful place on Saturday nights during those cold nights in Detroit...

Like these days, I order one-half of a pizza one way and the other half another...

Did we understand conflict resolution 50 years ago? Like never heard the term 'win-win' back then...

[Dennis2021]

A class act, who could be ferocious on the ice , who played at a time where pay back was part of the game.
He is, Mr Hockey. True class.

[jiminnm]

He is, Mr Hockey.

Yes he is and will continue to be, because Colleen Howe trademarked the phrase "Mr. Hockey," as well as "Gordie Howe."

[beachboy]

Thanks for all the memories, Gordie...

A long and illustrious life, well lived! I remember watching him on our B&W TV in the early '60s ... seems like yesterday ...

[Bigb23]

At a father/ son dinner around 1968, I received a game used autographed puck from Gordie Howe.

I gave it to a southern Mexican exchange student who had never seen a puck in his life.

I hope Its still some where.

[mikefmich]

I'm at that age now where all of my childhood heroes are dying, and I must say that it's hard. This is the first local legend I've cried about since Ernie, but, alas, I can see more coming.

You hit my nail right on the head too, Al.

My dad was a baseball boy, so I got a steady diet of Kaline, Kuehn, Yost, Lary & Bunning as a young kid, but once I discovered hockey at 11 or 12, I was off to the races at Olympia.

[Ray1936]

Nice tribute to Gordie between the 1st and 2nd periods of tonight's Stanley Cup Playoff game between Pittsburg and San Jose. Then -- and I missed it until friend wife pointed it out -- NBC carried his Number 9 and birth/death dates alongside the score/clock header. Nice touch of class.