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Summers With Gordie - Jul. 18 2016 - Vol. 70 Issue 1 - Johnny Bower

(NAT TUROFSKY/HHOF IMAGES)

Once during my career, I was with Gordie Howe in Saskatoon, where we were playing an exhibition game. I was outside afterward. He came and talked to me a little while. He asked where I was going and said he would walk with me. We got about a block away, when all of a sudden he turned around.

“Hey, Howe, where you goin’?” I asked.

“John, don’t go too far,” he said. “I’ll be right back. Stay right here.”

Gordie had promised an autograph to a man in a wheelchair and had forgotten, so he went back and signed it. I imagine other guys would just walk away, but he went all the way back and signed it. He promised him an autograph after the game, and he did it. I couldn’t believe it. That’s a star right there.

He was well liked by everybody.

And he was a great hockey player. We were always worried about Detroit. I was worried about him. Every time he got the puck, I got the shakes a little bit. I didn’t know what he was going to do with it. I didn’t like Gordie shooting at me too much, because he had a forehand and a backhand, and a lot of times he’d catch me on the backhand, which was a very hard shot to stop. At that time, a lot of players didn’t use that backhand shot.

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And he could fire it. All wrists, real quick. There was no hesitation. You couldn’t give him a second, because if you did, it was in the net. That’s how quick he was, like Rocket Richard. In terms of the best I ever faced as a goalie, I always felt it was a tossup, a tie between and Mr. Beliveau in Montreal and Gordie in Detroit. I thought the world of them.

Gordie was a great athlete. Strong as a bull. Once, I happened to walk into the Red Wings dressing room, and he had a stomach like a washboard. The muscles, I couldn’t believe it. Just like Timmy Horton’s. And Howe had a mean streak in him, too, once in a while. The elbows would be flying. That was one of his big assets. But I wasn’t afraid to leave the net and go behind it. He’d come behind me and say, “Oh, John, I’m right behind you coming for the puck.” So I’d step out in a hurry.

We’d go fishing together in the off-season at Waskesiu Lake, in Prince Albert National Park, in our home province of Saskatchewan. That’s where we got to know each other a lot better than everywhere else. That’s where I got to know Gordie really well. He was strict as a fisherman. He would watch me and help me. “You’re not doing this, you’re not doing that.” He had such strong wrists, and he could throw his line way, way out. I tried it, but I’d get snagged up, and he’d get a little mad. You could tell his lips were ready to say something, but he never did. He kept that to himself. He kept helping me out.

He didn’t like to talk about hockey too often when we fished. I’d start to talk about the Detroit Red Wings, and he’d say, “John, I don’t want to talk to you about hockey, OK? I’m here to do the fishing. I’m concentrating on fishing.” And that was it. We’d talk about other things, but nothing about himself.

He was as good a man off the ice as he was on the ice. He did everything for charity. There’s not a bad word I could say about him.

His passing is sad for everybody, his family and anybody who knew Gordie Howe, even those who just watched him as a hockey player. He was a fighter. He fought a long time. They figured he would die, maybe go away a year ago. But he didn’t give up. That’s the kind of player he was, too. He never gave up until the end. He fought it out. He’ll meet his wife up in heaven now. 

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