For the Love of the Game – Gordie Howe Remembered

GORDIE HOWE… aka “Mr. Hockey” was the GREATEST hockey player that’s ever been; we’ve ever seen and the greatest that ever will be…because he had BIG REASONS WHY that shaped him and motivated him to achieve, to be the best!

It’s been a difficult couple of weeks as yet another sports legend passes away. Gordie Howe was a professional Hockey Player from 1946 to 1980, and played twenty-six 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 considered one of the greatest ice hockey players of all time.^[2] A 23-time NHL All-Star, Howe held many of the sport’s scoring records until they were broken in the 1980s by Wayne Gretzky. Howe continues to hold NHL records for most games and seasons played ( source wikipedia).

Howe was recruited by the Red Wings and made his NHL debut in 1946. He led the league in scoring each year from 1950 to 1954, then again in 1957 and 1963. He ranked among the top ten in league scoring for 21 consecutive years, and set a league record for points in a season (95) in 1953. Howe won the Stanley Cup with the Red Wings four times, won six Hart Trophies as the league’s most valuable player, and won six Art Ross Trophies as the leading scorer.

He retired in 1971 and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame the next year. However, he came back two years later to join his sons Mark and Marty on the Houston Aeros of the WHA. Although in his mid-40s, Howe scored over 100 points twice in six years. He made a brief return to the NHL in 1979–80, playing one season with the Hartford Whalers, then retired at the age of 52.

What makes a professional athlete like Gordie Howe become the best?

Is it training, drive , determination or is it plain and simple genetics? Success in sport, business and life in general comes as a result of intentionally shaping your mindset towards a specific goal. Just like the athlete who trains everyday shaping their muscles and building their endurance so too must we train our minds for success. Part of this training must be to carve out a strong reason to motivate us to change; something that will not only help in the beginning but will stick with you through the ups and downs of life.

Gordie Howe is a role model that we can all learn from.  He achieved extraordinary results as a hockey player and a business person as well, all because he had BIG Reasons to make it to the top and stay at the top.  Howe was a fierce, physical competitor who could beat you with his elbows or a deciding goal. The Gordie Howe hat trick…when a player scores a goal, records an assist and gets in a fight in one game, is named after him.  This accomplishment is sought after by many young hockey players who all want to be like Howe!  This is further supported by the comment of the Great One, Wayne Gretzky. “To play so well and for so long is simply incredible,” said Gretzky. “No player will ever do the things in hockey that Gordie did.”

There were many life experiences Gordie Howe had which helped shape what he believed, and the reason WHY he had to succeed.  Here a few samples that motivated him to be the best:

• One of his most important life lessons came from his father who taught him when he was young, was to not take dirt from anyone, because if you do they’ll just keep giving it to you!
• A mild case of dyslexia made reading difficult and he was often teased by elementary school classmates. This forced him to get tough mentally and physically and stick up for himself.
• He played the game physical, not to get revenge but to get respect. It would make him very happy to be remembered with respect. He will forever be known as Mr. Hockey out of respect.
• Howe worked relentlessly to improve as a hockey player, often staying 30 minutes after practice to shoot pucks into the tops of the nets.

If you have a big enough reason WHY to do something, you can always figure out how to do it.  Reasons come first, and answers come second.  If you have a specific goal you want to achieve, it is your BIG reason WHY that will make it work – it gives you the fuel to persevere through all the ups and downs you will inevitably experience while struggling to achieve.  Any goal can be accomplished as long as the person or the people behind it have passion and intensity from a strong reason WHY and as long as they can be flexible enough to adjust when necessary.

Let’s all learn a great lesson from Gordie Howe “Mr. Hockey”.  Start your lesson today by writing down a goal that you MUST achieve and all the reasons WHY you must achieve it.  Dig deep into your deepest desires and let the powers of WHY change your destiny forever as it did for the late Gordie Howe.

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With gratitude,

Doug Howorko and George Tsougrianis