Quotes by Gordie Howe
Welcome to our collection of quotes (with shareable picture quotes) by Gordie Howe. We hope you enjoy pondering them and that you will share them widely.
Wikipedia Summary for Gordie Howe
Gordon Howe (March 31, 1928 – June 10, 2016) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. From 1946 to 1980, he played 26 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) and six seasons in the World Hockey Association (WHA); his first 25 seasons were spent with the Detroit Red Wings. Nicknamed "Mr. Hockey", Howe is often considered the most complete player to ever play the game and one of the greatest of all time. At his retirement, his 801 goals, 1049 assists, and 1850 total points were all NHL records that stood until they were broken by Wayne Gretzky, who himself has been a major champion of Howe's legacy. A 23-time NHL All-Star, he still holds the NHL record for seasons played, and his all-time NHL games played record of 1,767 was only surpassed in 2021 by Patrick Marleau. In 2017, Howe was named one of the "100 Greatest NHL Players".
Howe made his NHL debut with the Red Wings in 1946. He won the Art Ross Trophy for leading the league in points each year from 1950–51 to 1953–54, then again in 1956–57 and 1962–63, for a total of six times, which is the second most in NHL history. He led the NHL in goal scoring four times. He ranked among the top ten in NHL scoring for 21 consecutive years and set an NHL record for points in a season (95) in 1953, a record which was broken six years later. He won the Stanley Cup with the Red Wings four times and won six Hart Trophies as the NHL's most valuable player. He also led the NHL in playoff points six times.
Howe retired for the first time in 1971 and was immediately inducted into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame that same year. He was then inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame the next year, but came back two years later to join his sons Mark and Marty on the Houston Aeros of the WHA. Although in his mid-40s, he scored over 100 points twice in six years, won two straight Avco World Trophies (1974 and 1975) and was named most valuable player in 1974. He made a brief return to the NHL in 1979–80, playing one season with the Hartford Whalers, then retired at age 52. His involvement with the WHA was central to their brief pre-NHL merger success, forcing the NHL to recruit European talent and expand to new markets.
Howe was most famous for his scoring prowess, physical strength and career longevity, and redefined the ideal qualities of a forward. He is the only player to have competed in the NHL in five different decades (1940s through 1980s); he also played a shift in a 1997 game for the Detroit Vipers of the IHL, playing professional hockey for a sixth decade. He became the namesake of the "Gordie Howe hat trick": a goal, an assist and a fight in the same game, though he only recorded two such games in his career. He was the inaugural recipient of the NHL Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008.

Share... | See all 16 versions
I wish I had more opportunities to play for Canada when I was younger, but pros just never had the chance in those days. It was just set up that way.

Share... | See all 16 versions
If I learned one thing by playing professional hockey for thirty-two years, it's that you have to love what you do. And that's not just true for sports.

Share... | See all 16 versions
You should hold the top hand on the stick like you would hold a hammer when you're driving a nail. You have the most leverage, and you won't get your wrist broken.

Share... | See all 16 versions
I still believe it is important that children have a chance to play other sports because they all offer learning experiences. Soccer is a growing sport and would be a good complement to hockey.

Share... | See all 16 versions
I might have some quibbles with the way the game is played today, but at its core, I know that hockey will always be hockey no matter what year the calendar reads.

Share... | See all 16 versions
I would say it is important to have a good education, as hockey is a career that does not last many years, and you need to be prepared for this.

Share... | See all 16 versions
It's been said that, while growing up, I ate meals with my skates on. It's true.

Share... | See all 16 versions
To me, hockey was always tremendous fun. That's what kept me going for so long. I simply love to play hockey.

Share... | See all 16 versions
You've got to love what you're doing. If you love it, you can overcome any handicap, or the soreness, or all the aches and pains and continue to play for a long, long time.

Share... | See all 4 versions
Overall I can fairly safely say Bobby Orr impressed me more than anybody with his tremendous talents. In Bobby's first N.H.L. game he layed the lumber to Gordie's head. Later Howe retalliated and wanted to let the kid know he wasn't washed up yet.

Share... | See all 16 versions
I like to think that I'm a family man first and a professional athlete second.

Share... | See all 16 versions
It doesn't matter whether I'm in an NHL arena, at a local rink, or on a sheet of ice in the middle of a baseball stadium: when I'm around the game, I feel at home.

Share... | See all 16 versions
I always tell kids, you have two eyes and one mouth. Keep two open and one closed. You never learn anything if you're the one talking.

Share... | See all 4 versions
I'm aware that not everyone approved of how I played, but I don't think any apologies are in order. Early in my career, I decided that it was worth it to do whatever was necessary to earn the extra split second it takes to make a pass or shoot the puck.

Share... | See all 16 versions
You find that you have peace of mind and can enjoy yourself, get more sleep, and rest when you know that it was a one hundred percent effort that you gave -- win or lose.

Share... | See all 16 versions
If Colleen Howe had been a hockey player, she would have been a centremen. I can see her as a centreman because you can do what you want and go wherever you want to go.

Share... | See all 16 versions
My philosophy is never start talking about 'if,' 'and,' 'but' or the past, because 90 percent of what follows will be negative.

Share... | See all 16 versions
There's always something in the game you wish you would have done different. That's why players improve, because they learn from what they did before. They might have been guessing before, but now they know.

Share... | See all 16 versions
I helped put in a rink in Cadillac, Michigan, when my wife was very healthy. She helped them put it in and the rink is going full-bore the last time I was there.