Everything Gretzky then More

In 1994, before his induction to Canada's Sports Hall of Fame at Toronto's famed Royal York Hotel, 14-year Montreal Canadien veteran, Bernie Geffrion and I sat in the lobby bar and ordered afternoon cocktails to celebrate the honour he was about to receive.

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He played at only 5'9" but he was a bull ... scoring 50 goals in the 1960 season (the second player to 50 -- behind teammate, "Rocket" Richard). His scoring success had a lot to do with being credited with inventing the slap shot. On the ice, his opposition couldn't see his shot but they could hear it. His nickname was "Boom Boom"  for a reason.

FUN FACT: If you were lucky enough to get an Original Six player to sign your gameday program or a BeeHive Corn Syrup collectible hockey picture, or OPCHEE hockey card that signature was always legible and the person who was giving it to you put a little effort into it ... some signatures like Howe and Hull and Orr and Rocket and Beliveau were very stylish - they were proud of their signature and happy to oblige an autograph (unlike today).

During our conversation, I asked what he thought about superstar Wayne Gretzky who was enjoying a great year as an LA King. "Boom Boom's" response was very unexpected. "Gretzky would never survive in my league," he said. "He and the rest of the Original Six players would never allow him to play the way he does in today's NHL".

The media said "He can't skate that well and doesn't have much of a shot" but after a 20-year career, there's no question, he is the G O A T.

FUN FACT:  Every hockey fan could easily recognize Gretzky the player from a distance because he always tucked his jersey in the right side of his hockey pants. He even did it for publicity photos like the one above ... the only other player that I can remember doing that was Doug Gilmour. The hockey jersey company, CCM, was perplexed -- their CCM logo was stitched into the bottom right-hand corner of all the jerseys and nobody could see their all-important logo because the world's best player buried it in his pants. The company soon issued all Gretzky jerseys with the CCM logo on the right and another on the left -- problem solved. 

 

"Boom" (he referred to himself as Boom) was also quick to remind me, that his Hall of Fame teammate, "Doug Harvey, removed the spleen of NYRanger, "Red" Sullivan because he stayed too long in the slot".

I didn't want to argue with him about 99's abilities. I didn't recall seeing Gretzky spending any time in the slot as he was on his way to scoring 2857 points in 1487 games. 

FUN FACT:

At the end of a game when the losing team is looking to tie, that team's goalie is often pulled to make room for another forward player. The opposing team always ices their best shooters in hopes of scoring an empty net goal and win.

 

Gretzky scored 55 empty net goals in his career and is second only to OV who has 57 -- nobody else is close -- Crosby has 35 and Lemieux 33.

Bernie Geffrion had a reputation for being fun, gregarious, approachable and very happy to be in his own skin so this show of professional jealousy didn't seem to fit his profile. 

If you are a regular hockey fan, you would likely find it easy to write a 500-word essay about Wayne Gretzky just from the information we've gathered before, during and after his playing days. But, the first professional writer to recognize his talent when he was eleven years old, interview him and wrote about it was Toronto Sun sports writer, John Iaboni.

                          John Iaboni - Toronto Sun

Following Iaboni's first piece, millions of words have been written about The Great One. Additionally, the art world also took notice. Internationally famous soup can guy, Andy Warhol and Playboy Magazines' sports superstar master painter, Leroy Neiman featured Gretzky in their catalogues.

                                       by Andy Warhol

                                     by Leroy Neiman

I've met him on several occasions. One of those sessions was for the creation of this photo of him with all the trophies he'd earned.

         "Mr. Hockey" and The Kid ... 10-year-old and his idol.

I asked for him to personally autograph 15 copies and had each 16" x 20" copy museum framed. These exclusive presentations also included signed pucks from each of his 4 NHL teams and the piece was completed with a biography of his career. The 15 copies were presented for sale by auction at Special Olympic Canada fundraisers across Canada. 

The average sale price was $5,000 so his effort gifted the charity $75,000 in much-needed funding. Taking the time to pose for the snap and his willingness to help the charity was just an example of his generosity. He is the real deal.

Gretzky was on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine 13 times. But the best article I've ever read about him was this Ken Whyte February 1990 piece in Saturday Night Magazine.

In addition to all the printed stuff, he's been interviewed several hundred times by some first-rate interviewers and, some not-so-great.

Which brings me to the attached. If you choose to click on it you'll get a 48-minute very personal view of himself and his place in hockey history. It's very revealing, informative, and a very thoughtful give and take because the interviewer knows when to talk and when to be quiet. It's the best I've seen about 99 and I think I may have seen them all.

So, if you have the time and the interest you'll be rewarded.

This is the quintisential Gretzky.

https://youtu.be/2dQk5yYqK7k?si=PcebuumjMIOFN37_