by Bill Brennan
The Detroit News
Gordie Howe has taken such adjectives as “durable” and “indestructible” and make them his own. In the test of time, no athlete has a better record.
He played in the National Hockey League back when every game was a tong war and emerged on top. For 25 years he dominated the NHL and set record after record. When he retired as a Detroit Red Wing player after the 1970-71 season, the customary, three-year waiting period was waived as he was immediately inducted into Hockey’s Hall of Fame.
But, in Howe’s words, “nobody teaches you how to retire” and at 45, disenchanted with his job of Red Wing Vice President, Gordie decided again to put time to the test.
Joining the ranks of hockey’s millionaires, Howe signed a four-year contract with the Houston Aeros–one year as a player, and three in the World Hockey Association team’s front office.
It didn’t take Howe long, however, to alter his thinking. One year as a player he decided–and the decision was made in the heat of August–seems hardly enough.
“I’ll probably play a second year if something doesn’t happen (like an injury) and everything goes well,” Howe says.
He then produced the family’s favorite joke: “Remember I’ll have my boys to look after me out on the ice.”
He will, and it will be something unique in the history of hockey: father and sons playing together on a top-level professional team.
Marty, 19-year-old defenseman, and his spectacular younger brother, 18-year-old Mark, a left winger, were also signed by the Aeros, also for four years each for a reported total of $800,000.
Marty and Mark, without doubt, will be WHA stars. Both played with the Toronto Marlboros of the Ontario Major Junior League where they were standout performers.
Because they would be ineligible for the NHL draft until they are 20, both Marty and Mark decided they would be wasting time staying in junior hockey.
“You develop only against tougher opposition,” Mark reasoned. “That’s what we’ll find in the WHA.”
And then there was the prospect of playing with their father. This has been a family dream ever since the boys were skating on double runners. There was never a doubt that they would follow their father into professional hockey.
Of the two, Mark, who is 15 months younger than brother Marty, has been the more spectacular. As a left winger (Gordie, although he can shoot a puck with either hand, is a right winger), Mark set scoring records with the Detroit Junior Wings, was a member of the U.S. National Team that won the silver medal at the Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan, in 1972 and, along with Marty, helped the Toronto Marlboros win the Memorial Cup as Canada’s junior champions in the spring of ’73. Mark was also voted the most valuable player of the final series.
Perhaps an inch shorter than his 6-foot father, Mark is expected to achieve superstar status within a few seasons. Marty’s development may be slower–it usually is with defensemen–but there is no doubt that the husky, 6-foot-1 youngster will also become a star.
As for Gordie, it’s a new career. It’s fun . . . and it’s family. And what credentials he brings with him to Houston. A record, six-time winner of the Hart Trophy as the Most Valuable Player in the NHL. A record, six-time scoring champion in the NHL.
Of the future, his chief worry is an arthritic left wrist.
“But I’ve undergone thorough medicals and I’m 100 percent,” Gordie insists. “You know, at 45, you are allowed to take your NHL pension. In fact, I’ve already been notified I can start collecting it if I want to. But what the heck.”
What the heck, indeed.