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.