The Great Gretsky calls Gordie Howe “THE GREATEST” and over the years all who love the game of hockey call the late, great Gordie Howe “Mr. Hockey.” Before I get into my love affair with NHL hockey, and the Detroit Red Wings, and the Howe family, I want to share a short vignette about a recent hockey “discussion” I had just this year…
In March 2025, I attended a world figure skating competition at TD Garden in Boston and while entering the arena amongst a huge crowd of Bostonians, I saw a beautiful statue of the greatest Boston Bruin, Bobby Orr. You know the one, remember when he went flying after scoring the winning goal of the Stanley Cup Playoffs back on Mother’s Day, May 10, 1970? As he raised his stick in jubilation he was intentionally tripped by an angry St Louis Blues defender and it gave the appearance that Bobby Orr had “taken flight.” Both the play and the statue were/are fabulous. Well, 55 years later, on this particular day, while standing in the slow moving crowd, I heard this 6’3” 250lb stranger standing next me who was also marveling at the Bobby Orr statue say, loud enough for me to hear, “greatest hockey player ever”…to which I responded, loud enough for him to hear, “nope, Gordie Howe was the greatest hockey player ever”…to which he replied “You’re right”….then we both went our own ways and enjoyed the ice skating
My experience growing up in the Detroit area was a fantastic one. I developed a love for sports, especially hockey. And I grew up in the era when Gordie Howe played for the Detroit Red Wings. When I was in little league baseball, I remember seeing Mr. Howe come to watch his sons play baseball. Everybody left Gordie alone as his family time was respected. He was at these games to watch Marty and Mark play baseball as young boys. When Gordie Howe came to watch, we all took notice and played our best. People respected others privacy back in those days.
I was fortunate enough to live in the same suburb of Detroit as Gordie and Colleen Howe and their four children. We all lived in Southfield, Michigan where two of the Howe children, Marty and Mark went to Southfield-Lathrup High School and I attended the cross-town rival (and original) Southfield High School. Marty was in the same grade as me (we played football against each other) while Mark was one year younger. Marty and Mark were both outstanding athletes in their own right, no surprise given their father was Mr. Hockey. Another famous Detroit Red Wing, defenseman Bill Gadsby, also lived in Southfield and his daughter, Judy went to Southfield High with me. On a side note, Bill Gadsby and Gordie Howe were close friends and remained so well after they retired. Judy, a friend of mine, and the Howe boys were also friends with each other, not uncommon in the hockey family world.
I mentioned the Howe boys were great athletes and, in fact, I competed against Marty in football in the 9th grade when the Lathrup freshman team visited Levey Jr. High to play our ninth-grade team. I played fullback and linebacker for Levey and Marty Howe played running back for Lathrup. Our mid-October 1968 game was scoreless midway through the fourth quarter and we felt we were in good position to win as Lathrup was punting out of their own end zone on fourth and long. I blocked their punt and we recovered on the Lathrup 4-yard line! FIRST AND GOAL…LEVEY JAGUARS!!! We were only four yards and two minutes away from shutting out and defeating our main rivals! Since I had blocked the punt, I felt sure the coach would dial up my number and let me carry the ball into the end zone for the winning score! Instead, our half-back took the handoff, fumbled, and Lathrup recovered on their 2-year line. On the very next play, Marty Howe took a handoff and proceeded to scamper out of their endzone and down the sidelines for a 98-yard game-winning touchdown. Final score: Southfield-Lathrup Chargers – 6, Levey Jaguars – 0. We were crushed emotionally and we were not in love with the Howe family on that day. Live goes on, right Corky?
You may recall my mentioning in my “Rockin’ Foxboro with Rock n’ Roll Foxtales” story my having to prepare three newspaper articles for the local “Southfield Eccentric” newspaper after a Led Zeppelin concert? Well, despite being only a high school student, my status as a “reporter” sometimes got me a pass to some pretty, pretty, pretty (remember Larry David from “Curb Your Enthusiasm?”) cool events.
By far, the most thrilling experience I had as a Southfield Eccentric Reporter was covering an event at Southfield-Lathrup High School on Friday, January 28, 1972. The US Olympic ice hockey team had just won the silver medal in Sapporo, Japan and the youngest player on that team was none other than 11th grade Southfield-Lathrup student, Mark Howe. The event was called “Mark Howe Day” by our mayor, Norman Feder.
Thousands of students, local dignitaries, the entire Howe family, and the press (including me) packed the Lathrup gymnasium for a celebration and tribute to Mark. I wasn’t too thrilled sitting in the Lathrup gym (they were our biggest rivals), but it was great getting a day out of classes to do my “job” as a reporter.
I had no expectations of doing anything but “covering” the event for the Eccentric that beautiful Friday, but while watching our mayor congratulating Mark Howe at the podium, a crazy thought crossed my mind…I had met Mayor Feder when I was elected “Mayor for the Day” at Southfield High School and I had spent an entire day trailing the mayor earlier that school year.
I wouldn’t say the mayor and I were close friends, but it certainly gave me the courage to boldly ask him a favor. As the festivities concluded, I flashed my “PRESS” pass as I weaved my way through the crowd and approached the mayor. I asked him if he could introduce me to Gordie and Mark as I was reporting for the “ECCENTRIC.” Knowing that I had just been nominated for West Point, the patriotic mayor said, “Sure, Joe, let’s go meet the Howes!”
Like my birdhouse moment from my first story, I had not prepared properly for this moment. I was about to meet and interview both Mr. Hockey and son Mark. Luckily, (rather be lucky than good) I had my cassette tape recorder with me and was able to get my bumbling interview on audio. My dad took the cassette, recorded it on his reel-to-reel tape recorder before making a few copies on a CD for me.
Fast forward (remember, I used a cassette recorder for the interview) 38 years from 1972 to 2010 when the NHL announced that Mark Howe would be inducted into the NHL Hall of Fame in 2011. I had a few copies of the 1972 “Howe Interview” on CDs and another lightbulb went off in my head…I had figure out a way to get copies of this interview to both Mark and Gordie to commemorate Mark’s earlier hockey successes.
Remember what I said about hockey families and the Gadsby/Howe friendship? Well, I reached out on Facebook to my Southfield High friend Judy Gadsby and told her I wanted to get the CDs to Mark and Gordie. I asked her for Mark and Marty’s email addresses so that I could initiate a conversation with either or both of them. Thankfully, Judy shared their email addresses with me and told me to mention to them that she had given me their contact info.
I wrote both Mark and Marty one email, mentioning how I received their email addresses from Judy, that I had graduated from Southfield High School, and expressed my condolences to the Howe family after the passing of their mother, Colleen just the prior year. I also mentioned to Marty that he and I had actually met in 1968 when he ran that 98-yard touchdown to beat us!
Both Mark and Marty graciously returned my email with Mark giving me his mailing address. I sent him two copies of our interview from January 28, 1972 and Mark was able to share it with his dad, Mr. Hockey, Gordie Howe, who passed away on June 10, 2016 at the age of 88, just three months after Gordie had said goodbye to his buddy, Bill Gadsby, who passed on March 10, 2016 .
In a lighter note, Marty’s email mentioned that we were actually “closer” friends than I had imagined. He referred to our meeting on the gridiron in 1968 when I blocked the punt, we fumbled, and then Marty beat us with a 98 yard run…he said “Joe, we were a lot closer than you knew, as it was MY punt that you blocked as I was also our punter!”
Thank you to the Howe family for their contribution to hockey and humanity. Life goes on…
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