Gordie: Part Two

   If you should happen to do a Google Images search on old-time NHL player Lou Fontinato of the New York Rangers, the chances are the most prevalent and striking image you are going to see is that of a hockey player whose face is pointed south while his nose is most definitely pointed west. And bloody.
   Such was the damage inflicted on Fontinato in a fight with the Red Wings' Gordie Howe on Feb. 1, 1959 that it has lived on in hockey lore and was one of the recollections people spoke about recently as Howe was recovering from his stroke. It was said at the time that the other players nearby could hear something break with pretty well every one of Gordie's punches during this fight.

Fontinato--facing two directions at the same time

   Howe, during his long NHL career, was regarded as the toughest and meanest player in the league. His elbows were legendary and he was also not shy about "laying on the lumber", if the circumstances warranted it.
   A few short years later, though, Fontinato suffered a career-ending neck injury while playing for the Montreal Canadiens. He, in fact, was paralyzed for over a month before finally recovering. Howe was one of the first people to offer well-wishes.
   This then was the dichotomy Gordie represented---he was a mean s.o.b. on the ice but one of the nicest men you'd want to meet off of it.
   Long before Howe suffered this recent stroke (he has been plagued with smaller ones in the past little while) I already knew that I wanted to do a blog post about him. On top of the strokes, Gordie has also been suffering with Alzheimer's disease.
   I have, and always have had, an image in my mind of Gordie Howe. Some of that image is as a hockey player, albeit with streaks of grey around his temples. Much of it is as an older gentleman, surrounded by those who respected and/or idolized him. Any image I have of him is as a vital and strong person. To hear that he has been struggling with Alzheimer's and to hear how this has affected him is distressing.
   Recently, Gordie was viewing some Red Wing related coverage on the T.V. and afterwards commented that he really wanted to connect with his old friend and former teammate, Sid Abel. Sadly, Sid Abel has been dead for almost fifteen years. At some point, Gordie obviously knew this but had been robbed of this information by the Alzheimer's. I can only assume that he has both his good and his bad days coping with the disease but this is totally at odds with how I remember him to be.

Howe and Richard

   I am not so naive to believe that celebrities and sports heroes should be immune from all that ails us. I do find it interesting, though, how easily we fashion a place for them in our minds (and hearts) which finds them exempt from old age, illness and infirmity. I tried to imagine Gordie Howe struggling to speak, walk and remember and I found this almost impossible to do.
   A few years ago, another famous Number 9 in hockey, Maurice "Rocket" Richard, also found himself struggling with both Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. I recall that, as journalists would quiz him about his playing career, he would reply that he couldn't comment on things he simply no longer remembered. At that point, we found ourselves remembering for him.
   

Gordie Howe lives on and may be with us for some time to come. Such is his place in some of our lives that it may not be  necessary to think of him as he is now but only to remember what it is he has meant to us over all these years. I do find myself occasionally at odds with the mortality of people who have been important in my life, whether they be people I know or whether they be people we all know and hold in some form of high esteem. I think there are those who we hold as constants in our lives. Sometimes they are friends and family, sometimes they are people who have the power to move us through music, art, written words or film. Occasionally they are sports heroes, those who have demonstrated physical skills and a type of determination we ourselves can only aspire to. Gordie Howe is that kind of constant in my life.