Who was Gordie Howe? - A look back at his career

Gordie Howe is one of the most popular athletes in Detroit sports history. After his incredibly long playing career, he lived in Metro Detroit for many years. This native of Canada became an adopted son of Detroit and it's why the new bridge connecting the two countries has his name. His nickname, Mr. Hockey, played a staggering 26 seasons in the NHL. The vast majority of that was with the Detroit Red Wings. Born in Saskatchewan in 1928, he's a hero in both countries. He scored more than 800 goals, was the game's all-time leader until Wayne Gretzky came along. Howe won six heart trophies which are given to the league's most valuable player. He once spoke with Fox 2 about how he got involved with the game as a kid. I was about 12 or 13. I'm underneath the street light and about 10 o'clock at night and I had made a little net and I was shooting balls into it and a car stopped and it was Mel Hill, Sudden Death Hill, showed me, said drop that left hand to you for accuracy and so about three o'clock in the morning I was still shooting them. My dad had to come and get your fanny back. Gordie Howe died in 2016 at the age of 88, about a year after it was announced that that border spanning bridge would bear his name. Among those in attendance at the ribbon cutting, dozens of members of Gordie Howe's family. His son Marty Howe was there with a special memento. What it's all about is this is Gordie's hat. Gordie's hat is visiting the bridge that they're opening in his name so that's what it's all about. What do you think your dad would say? Oh I don't know, he'd be so happy. Gordie was actually, we always call him Gordie and some people think it's not polite but when we played together as teammates, if we called him dad, he wouldn't talk to us. So if we talked to him, hey Gordie, he'll talk to you like a teammate. Marty Howe is a defenseman who played six seasons in the NHL. Mark Howe played 16 seasons in the NHL and is a member of the Pro Hockey Hall of Fame.