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Gordie
Howe's
life and
legacy
celebrated
at
Detroit
funeral
By LARRY
LAGE
AP
Sports
DETROIT
- Gordie
Howe
could
break a
lobster
claw
with his
fingers,
one of
his sons
said,
and make
people
melt in
his
hands
with his
kindness
and
humility.
With a
nod to
the two
dominant
personas
of Mr.
Hockey,
his
family
was
joined
by
hundreds
of
friends
and
acquaintances
Wednesday
for a
funeral
service
to bid
farewell
to one
of the
NHL's
greatest
players.
Wayne
Gretzky,
Bobby
Orr,
Scotty
Bowman,
Gary
Bettman
and
dozens
of
current
and past
players,
coaches
and
executives
were in
attendance
at the
public
service,
including
fans
decked
out in
Detroit
Red
Wings
gear.
"The
people
paying
their
respects,
including
who's
who of
hockey,
shows
the
impact
that he
had,"
Red
Wings
coach
Jeff
Blashill
said
after
the
two-hour
service.
"But I
also
thought
it was a
great
family
funeral
and a
great
tribute
to him."
When
thousands
of
people
lined up
and
waited
to pay
their
respects
during a
visitation
at Joe
Louis
Arena
the
previous
day,
Gretzky,
Bowman
and Al
Kaline
were
among
the
pallbearers.
About
six
miles
away the
next
day,
Howe's
brown
casket
adorned
with red
and
white
roses
was
guided
in and
out of
at the
Cathedral
of the
Most
Blessed
Sacrament
by nine
family
members.
Family
first.
Just the
way Howe
would
have
liked
it.
Murray
Howe,
one of
his four
children,
began
the
service
with a
tear-
and
laugh-provoking
eulogy
that
emphasized
his
father's
toughness
and
generosity.
"How do
I do
justice
to the
life of
a living
legend -
my own
hero? I
still
pinch
myself
at the
realization
that he
was my
father,"
he said
to a
rapt
crowd
before
delivering
a speech
that
Gretzky
called
"incredible."
Dozens
of fans
stood in
line a
couple
hours
before
the
funeral,
which
was
streamed
online
by the
Red
Wings
from the
cathedral
that has
a
capacity
of about
900. Ted
Lindsay
- part
of
Detroit's
famed
"Production
Line"
with
Howe and
Sid Abel
- was
among
those on
hand.
The
rugged
Hall of
Famer
died
Friday
at the
age of
88.
Murray
Howe
recalled
talking
with his
father
about
what he
should
say
after
Gordie
died.
"He
said,
'Say
this:
Finally,
the end
of the
third
period.'
Then he
added,
'I hope
there's
a good
hockey
team in
heaven,'"
Murray
Howe
said.
"Dad,
all I
can say
is, once
you join
the
team,
they
won't
just be
good,
they'll
be
great."
Howe set
NHL
records
with 801
goals
and
1,850
points -
mostly
with the
Red
Wings -
that
stood
until
Gretzky
came
along.
Howe
also won
four
Stanley
Cups
with
Detroit
and
those
banners
flanked
his
casket
during
the
visitation
on
Tuesday
on the
floor of
the
arena.
Gretzky
wore No.
99 as a
player
in a
tribute
to Howe,
a man he
got to
know
when he
was a
kid. The
Great
One said
he was
"embarrassed"
to break
Howe's
records
because
he
played
in an
incomparable
era.
"He had
19
enemies
in the
arena
every
night,
but
those
were the
only
ones he
ever
had,"
Gretzky
said
after
the
funeral.
St.
Louis
Blues
coach
Ken
Hitchcock
met Howe
in
Edmonton,
Alberta,
about
six
decades
ago when
he was a
kid.
Like a
lot of
people
in
western
Canada
in the
1950s
and
1960s,
Hitchcock
grew up
rooting
for the
Red
Wings
because
of Howe.
Hitchcock
became
one of
Howe's
many
friends
in the
early
1990s
when he
was an
assistant
coach
for the
Philadelphia
Flyers
and
Howe's
son,
Mark,
was
playing
for them
toward
the end
of his
Hall of
Fame
career.
"Gordie
would
spend
all day
and
night at
the rink
because
he just
loved
the game
and the
people
in it,"
Hitchcock
said
Wednesday
in a
telephone
interview
with The
Associated
Press.
"And if
you got
an
autograph
from him
back
then or
at any
time in
his
life, he
would
look you
in the
eye and
you
could
read
every
letter
of his
name
because
that's
what
kind of
great
guy he
was."
Murray
Howe has
said his
father's
remains
will be
cremated.
The
family
requested
donations
be made
to the
Gordie
Howe
Traumatic
Brain
Injury
Initiative,
the Howe
Foundation
or the
Gordie
Howe
Fund for
Alzheimer's
Research.
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