Our readers and members know that I write about a wide variety of topics so the fact that I’m choosing sports for the second week in a row is purely coincidental.
I am from the Bronx. When I was a kid the sports we played were baseball, because it was easy to find a stick and a Spaldeen (look that up if you don’t know what it is), basketball because there was a court nearby and football because you could do it in the street.
I didn’t play hockey. I knew there was a sport they played in Canada on ice, where amazing athletes skated as well as they walked or ran, using something they called a puck. I didn’t get a chance to see it often, given the paucity of TV stations showing a game. But when it became available, there was one name that stood above all others.
Gordie Howe.
Mr. Hockey.
He was the epitome of a man. Strong. Tough. Determined. The only man to play professional hockey over five decades for a remarkable thirty-two years. Thirty. Two. Years. Think about that!
Thirty-two years is a seriously long time to do anything. And here was a guy who kept playing, kept fighting, even as the competition became twenty and thirty years younger than him. Younger players who grew up with Mr. Hockey posters on their wall now desperate to show the old man how tough THEY are.
He was a great player – the NHL’s most valuable player six times and an all-star 23 of his 26 seasons in the league. But he was also a class act off the ice. The Great One, Wayne Gretzky, told Dan Patrick the following on his radio program:
“Everyone knows my opinion about the man. He’s a special person. He’s a great ambassador for the game of hockey. He was a wonderful father. Great grandfather. For me, he’s the greatest hockey player who ever played. Sometimes when you meet your idol, it can be a little bit disappointing. You build them up so much in your mind. I built Gordie Howe up so much in my mind. My dad says ‘how was it meeting Mr. Howe’? It was the greatest day of my life. He was nicer than I could have ever imagined. He did so many great things for so many people.”
Howe lived by a creed that fuels much of the work of Areena.
“You’ve got to love what you’re doing. If you love it, you can overcome any handicap or the soreness or all the aches and pains, and continue to play for a long, long time.”
Howe loved playing hockey and that love translated to the greatest career the sport has ever seen.
We all need to find something we love and do it. Do it often. And if what you love makes someone’s life better in the process, think of the legacy you’ll leave behind.
Art Gurwitz
Founder, Areena
Author
