The funeral comes a day after thousands of people, famous and relatively anonymous, paid respects to Howe during a visitation at Joe Louis Arena on Tuesday. SI senior writer Michael Farber remembers Mr. Hockey’s indelible legacy, which ranged from earning four Stanley Cups with the Red Wings to being named MVP of the World Hockey Association at age 45. The Red Wings set up the inner bowl of the arena nearly like a church, with Howe’s retired jersey hanging at the center, where Howe’s children spent time greeting mourners who came to pay their respects.
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“Gordie’s gone home”, said Rev. Mech, at the end of his homily, inducing many tears in the crowd.
Howe’s funeral, which is also open to the public, will take place Wednesday at 11 a.m. ET at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit.
No wait would’ve been too long for 66-year-old Paul Snapp, one of more than 100 people waiting outside to get in, where another, longer line snaked through the storied arena. Like a lot of people in western Canada in the 1950s and 1960s, Hitchcock grew up rooting for the Red Wings because of Howe.
“This big old arm come around me at the front of the bus, and he said ‘Hey kid, they freaking know who you are now, ‘” Chase said.
Four days after Howe’s death, a string of red-and-white clad fans got a chance to walk near Howe’s casket and to shake hands with some of his four children.
Gretzky added that it wouldn’t matter if you were a server in a restaurant or the Prime Minister, Howe treated everyone the same.
Gretzky said he was “embarrassed” to break Howe’s records because he played in an incomparable era. He took the puck and said, ‘Don’t ever take the puck from me, ‘ and I said, ‘OK’.
Howe, who was born in Canada but spent a large portion of his playing career in Detroit, played professional hockey across the span of six decades and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1972. But Howe was the star of stars, who was at his peak, and the Red Wings’ hopped on his broad, sloped shoulder as he led the franchise to genuine greatness.
As Gretzky approached Howe’s National Hockey League career points record of 1,850 in 1992, he wasn’t sure how to react.
Government house leader Ken Cheveldayoff told the assembly that Gordie Howe was known as a humble man, but when the puck dropped, he was a fierce competitor. I played with some great players: [Mark] Messier and [Paul] Coffey and [Jari] Kurri, Hall of Famers, and the coach would say, ‘You guys can win 6-5 or 7-6, go to it.’ It was a different game.
“My Dad said, ‘He’s what you should be when somebody is closing in on your records”. “And sometimes when you meet them, it wasn’t as good as you thought it would be”.
“The greatest player ever”, he said.
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All the cliches about Howe being a better person than athlete fit.
