Photos
Howe in mid-game conference with Terry Sawchuk, who wears fibreglass mask fashioned for him by trainer Lefty Wilson. Harold Barkley / Michael Leonetti Sports Products Inc.
Left inset: Following a threat on his life, Ted Lindsay does some shooting of his own at Maple Leaf Gardens after scoring overtime goal against Toronto in 1956 semifinals. James R. Kilpatrick / Detroit News
Upper right: Howe scores another one on New York goalie Gump Worsley, March 1958. Detroit News
Upper left: Not always the perfect gentleman after all, Lady Byng trophy winner and future Member of Parliament Red Kelly decks Boston’s Leo Labine in 1959. Detroit News
Inset: Kelly grabs some precious time with his busy fiancée, figure skater Andra McLaughlin, between periods in 1955. Martin / Detroit News
Right: Howe is comforted by mother Katherine Howe after breaking down in tears on Gordie Howe Night, March 1959. Holcomb / Detroit News
Right: It took a lot to bring Howe down. Maple Leaf defense pair Allan Stanley (left) and Tim Horton crisscross their sticks to box in Number Nine, December 1960. James R. Kilpatrick / Detroit News
Lower left inset: Colleen Howe seated between her parents-in-law, Ab and Katherine Howe, at a Red Wings game on Christmas Day, 1962. Detroit Free Press
Lower right inset: Howe in dressing room playing Marlon Brando, March 1961. Styrlander / Detroit News
Howe suffered a concussion and a twelve-stitch gash on the forehead after being felled by Eddie Shack’s high stick in Toronto in January 1961. Here trainer Lefty Wilson ministers to Howe. He was back in action after three games. Detroit News
Upper inset: Taken over the goal judge’s shoulder, this photo captures Howe scoring against his old fishing buddy Johnny Bower on a penalty shot, New Year’s Eve, 1961. James R. Kilpatrick / Detroit News
Lower: Record breaker! The Detroit fans go wild as Howe scores number 545, shattering Rocket Richard’s career goals record, on November 10, 1963. Howe celebrates with stick upraised, while Montreal goaltender Charlie Hodge turns to look at the puck. The other downcast Canadiens are Jacques Laperriere, Jean Beliveau and Dave Balon. Detroit’s Billy McNeill (19) assisted. Toronto Star
Upper: The Happy Warrior: Forty-one-year-old Howe in September 1969, with fellow veteran and longtime linemate Alex Delvecchio. James R. Kilpatrick / Detroit News
Lower: Tears flow during the ceremony to retire Howe’s number nine jersey at the Olympia, March 12, 1972. From left: Mark Howe, then sixteen, Ab Howe (with handkerchief), U.S. Vice-President Spiro Agnew, Colleen Howe, Ted Lindsay, Gordie Howe. Steve Thompson / Detroit Free Press
In his final season with Detroit, 1970−71, the old man can still dish it out: in this case, a gentle crosscheck on the Chicago Black Hawks’ Keith Magnuson, nineteen years Howe’s junior. Goaltender Gerry Desjardins has just taken the shot on his neck. James R. Kilpatrick / Detroit News
Coming out of retirement in 1973 at age forty-five to join his sons Mark (centre) and Marty on the Houston Aeros of the World Hockey Association, Howe poses in the unfamiliar blue and white of the Aeros. Dick Darrell / Toronto Star
Upper inset: Howe hams it up with the eleven-year-old who would eventually break his major NHL scoring records, Wayne Gretzky, at a minor-hockey banquet in Brantford, Ontario, 1972. Jack Bowman / Brantford Expositor
Lower inset: Howe often lent his support to the Michigan March of Dimes campaign. Here he shares a laugh with 1972 poster child Carmen Donessa in Detroit. John Collier / Detroit Free Press
Howe congratulates Wayne Gretzky on breaking his record of 1,850 career points in Edmonton on October 15, 1989, while Wayne’s father Walter Gretzky and wife Janet Jones look on. UPI / Bettman
Inset: By 1979−80, the last of Howe’s 32 seasons in big-league professional hockey, the Hartford Whalers had entered the NHL. Here fifty-one-year-old Howe zeroes in on the Leafs’ Ian Turnbull as Borje Salming looks alarmed. Toronto Star
Howe and his long-time rival Rocket Richard let bygones be bygones at an old-timers’ charity game in Saskatoon, 1987. Jeff Vinnick / Saskatoon StarPhoenix