Gordon Howe, “Mr. Hockey”, died earlier this morning at the age of 88.
Mr. Howe played professional hockey longer than any other human being who has ever existed on this planet.
He began in the NHL in 1946, starting with the Detroit Red Wings, with whom he stayed for 25 years before retiring in 1971. In 1973, seeing an opportunity to play hockey with his sons Mark and Marty, Gordie came out of retirement to play for the Houston Aeros of the WHA, he moved on to the New England Whalers and transferred with them into the NHL as the Hartford Whalers for the 1979-80 season. He was 51 during that 1980 season, and still playing in the NHL. Didn’t even need a helmet.
In 1997-98, now 69 years old, in an effort to be able to claim he played pro hockey in six (!) different decades, Gordie played one shift with the IHL’s Detroit Vipers.
Perspective… Howe played his first pro game a few months after World War II ended, he played his final pro game a few months after this website was started.
*boom*
In that time Gordie played 2,187 pro games scoring nearly a thousand goals and tallying 2,358 points. Incredible.
As we’re logo focussed here we broke down Gordie’s impressive career stats by each logo he wore during his career.
Click the image for full-sized view:
I only got to see Gordie once in my lifetime, he was signing autographs at a sports memorabilia show in Toronto in 2009. The lines were long so I didn’t get a chance to meet him, but I at least got to snap this photograph:
Farewell Mr. Hockey.
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