Gordie Howe

'Mr. Hockey' Gordie Howe, 'the best of all time,' dies at 88

Gordie Howe of the Detroit Red Wings skates between defenseman Allan Stanley and goalie Johnny Bower of the Toronto Maple Leafs during Game 5 of the 1963 Stanley Cup Final at Maple Leaf Gardens. The Maple Leafs won the game and the series.

Gordie Howe was 44 and had recently retired from the NHL when he was invited to a Kiwanis Great Men of Sports dinner in the Canadian town of Brantford, Canada.

One guest of honor was only 11 years old but was already being touted as a future hockey superstar. Howe, always personable and patient with kids, smiled as he posed with the boy, hooking his stick around the chin and left ear of the slightly embarrassed youngster with the blond bangs.

The kid was Wayne Gretzky, who would go on to break Howe’s NHL record of 1,850 points in 1989. But Howe always maintained a prime place in fans’ hearts long after Gretzky passed his scoring mark.

Howe, known as “Mr. Hockey” for his enduring skills and the fierce competitiveness that inspired him to come out of retirement at 45 to play alongside two of his sons, died Friday, according to the Detroit Red Wings. He was 88.

“Mr Hockey left peacefully, beautifully, and w no regrets,” his son Murray Howe said in a text to the Associated Press.

Howe suffered a massive stroke on Oct. 26, 2014, and had rallied only to be felled by several subsequent strokes that robbed him of his speech and confined him to bed.

A member of hockey’s Hall of Fame and a longtime ambassador for the game, Howe had endured many health problems the last few years, including dementia and spinal surgery.

One of the strongest and most fearless players who ever laced up a pair of hockey skates, Howe played right wing with a blend of talent and toughness that made his name a part of the sport’s jargon. Although he retired for the last time in 1980, before many of today’s players were born, a player who gets a goal, an assist and a fighting penalty in a game is still said to have earned “a Gordie Howe hat trick,” a tribute to Howe’s ability to beat opponents at every facet of the game.

“Gordie’s greatness travels far beyond mere statistics; it echoes in the words of veneration spoken by countless players who joined him in the Hockey Hall of Fame and considered him their hero,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement. “Gordie’s toughness as a competitor on the ice was equaled only by his humor and humility away from it. No sport could have hoped for a greater, more-beloved ambassador.”

Howe never scored 50 goals in a season and only once exceeded 100 points, but he led the NHL in scoring six times and was voted its most valuable player six times while playing for the Detroit Red Wings, with whom he won four Stanley Cup championships. In 1973, two years after he retired the first time, he joined the upstart World Hockey Assn. and played on the same line with his sons Marty and Mark with the Houston Aeros.

• Los Angeles Times: Gordie Howe Obituary