December 1, 2014
In this genial memoir, Howe recounts his remarkable career as a professional athlete. Raised in Depression-era Saskatoon, Canada, Howe developed the toughness and drive that would be the hallmarks of his playing style. Ambidextrous and with unusually short legs (27 in. inseam) on his 6'1" frame, Howe could do everything on the ice, and was as renowned for his fighting as for his scoring (A "Gordie Howe Hat Trick" is when a player has a goal, an assist, and a fight in a game). After winning four Stanley Cups with the Detroit Red Wings, Howe played on a line with two of his sons in the WHL Houston Aereos, and received that league's most valuable player award in 1974, at the age of 46. Howe modestly downplays the qualities that earned him the name of "Mister Hockey." The chapters on his impoverished childhood provide a vivid picture of a world without central heating or indoor plumbing where kids played on frozen ponds and made shin guards out of magazines. Even as a star with the Red Wings, Howe still worked day jobs in the off-seasons, and his long career tracks the transformation of elite athletes from regular Joes at the mercy of owners to the mega-millionaires of today.
October 1, 2014
A legendary hockey star, now 86, reviews his storied and stellar career.In the acknowledgements, Howe thanks Paul Haavardsrud, a Canadian journalist, "who helped to take the thoughts in my head and put them down on paper," but only Howe's name appears on the cover and title page. No assist for Haavardsrud? Regardless, this memoir is fairly conventional, beginning (after an introduction) with his birth in 1928 and proceeding chronologically. (The author appends some celebratory words from his children.) Occasionally, he pauses to comment about various hockey-related issues-hockey violence, the late-career discovery that the Detroit Red Wings (long his hockey home) had lied to him about his salary (they had assured him he was the highest paid player, but he was not), injuries (he had over 300 facial stitches), the sad economic situation in today's Detroit, and the vast differences in salaries between his day and ours. But the most interesting sections deal with his discovery of the game, his long devotion to it and his many achievements, listed at the end. Howe has kind words for his successors as the premier hockey stars: Bobby Orr (who wrote the somewhat fawning foreword) and Wayne Gretzky, whom Howe met when the Great One was only 11. Howe also writes with great fondness about his family-his parents, his wife, Colleen (who died in 2009), and his children (his two sons were hockey stars in their own rights). He greatly enjoyed his time playing on the same team with his sons and even won the World Hockey Association MVP award in their first year together in Houston. The author intersperses portions of personal letters he sent to and received from family members. Lots of action, a bit of rumination and few regrets in this unremarkable work by a most remarkable athlete.
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October 15, 2014
Hockey legend Howe recalls his journey from the frozen ponds of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, to the smooth ice of the NHL in this intimate memoir. His career spanned an astonishing 32 years and included 801 goals, 23 all-star appearances, and 4 Stanley Cup titles. Signed by the Detroit Red Wings in 1946 at age 18, the now 86-year-old Howe reminisces about the scoring exploits of the Production Line with Sid Abel and Ted Lindsay, his joy in courting and marrying Colleen Joffa, and the pride of playing with his sons, Marty and Mark, in Houston and Hartford. He looks back on his life and career with mostly fond memories, despite his extensive injuries, but he does repeatedly voice his displeasure at his treatment under Red Wing's coach and GM Jack Adams, who was known to micromanage and underpay his players. With a foreword by Bobby Orr and a final chapter written collectively by Howe's four children, the book will appeal to hockey fans who remember Howe and his career.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)