Gordie Howe's Famous Friends Weigh In On His Legacy
By: Jeff Riger
@riger1984
It was a great turnout at Joe Louis Arena on Tuesday as family, friends and fans had a chance to pay their respects to hockey legend Gordie Howe who passed away on Friday at the age of 88. In addition to the thousands who filled the Joe, some of the biggest names in hockey and sports also gathered to remember and celebrate the life of Mr. Hockey.
Steve Yzerman, Scotty Bowman and even Wayne Gretzky were on hand with memories to share and stories to tell. Gretzky remembered how he wanted nothing more growing up than to be a Red Wing. "My childhood dream was to play for the Red Wings," Gretzky said, adding, "Somehow in my mind, I figured I could wear number 9 but obviously that's not possible, nobody will ever wear his number." Of course "The Great One" wore number 99 to honor his good friend and idol Howe.
Yzerman shared a story about wearing Howe's shin pads and how he carried them around, waiting for Gordie to show back up so he could give them back to him. "I got to wear his shin pads, not too many guys can say that," Yzerman said as media members laughed.
Hall of Fame Tigers right fielder Al Kaline also paid his respects on Tuesday and remembered back to when Gordie wanted to take batting practice at Tiger Stadium. It took a while for Howe to finally hit a ball out of the ball park but when he finally did "the expression on his face looked like he just won the Stanley Cup," Kaline said. "Mr Tiger" also shared a story about when Gordie took him to the old Olympia so Kaline could skate. "Being from Baltimore I never skated before in my life," Kaline said. "I borrowed a pair of skates and I was a one leg pusher, holding on to the boards and Gordie came by fooling around and gave me one of his famous elbows, I can always say Gordie gave me an elbow and knocked me right into the boards."
