SportsCentury Greatest Athletes #21: Gordie Howe

Originally aired in 1999. This was the 30-minute version that aired as part of the SportsCentury countdown.

[@MrMcGiblets1]

21 is too low. Top 5 for sure.

[@andynieuwenhuis7833]

If not the Top 5 At Least TOP10. THE BEST OF HIS GENERATION.

[@BBBYpsi]

Gordie is ranked to low here. He could have played pro baseball or pro golf if he wanted to. His power was legendary hitting a baseball for those who saw him hit it. He also could hit a golf ball over 400 yards & also had great touch with short irons. Of course a 9 Iron would be over 180 yards for him.

[@lloydkline6946]

Before Wayne Gretzky, gorde howe was the king of 🏒hockey, gorde howe was more complete player

[@stephencouch3130]

#1 of all time. First, hockey players are the best athletes on the planet. Next, he was the best hockey player of all time. Enough said.

[@PlumpHotdog]

Of his ERA. Please do not say all time and try to compare guys from his era to today. Gordie is a legend, but leave it at that. Guys today are in another universe compared to 60 years ago. Watching a game from the 50s/60s is like watching a bad beer league game, leave the legends of the past in the past because 99.9% of them wouldn't make a roster today

[@dougbrowne9890]

You are full of it@@PlumpHotdog

[@kcbarbo78]

@@PlumpHotdogI would love to watch a bad beer league that features the likes of Gordie Howe, Maurice Richard, or Bobby Orr. Come on, dude.

[@freddyfurrah3789]

Bobby orr is the best

[@loilt5091]

@@freddyfurrah3789 Orr insisted Gordie WAS the MAN…so did Gretzky. It was a much more manly game in those days & #9️⃣ sustained his dominance for multiple decades‼️ 🇨🇦

[@rediscoveryrecords1348]

If Gordie may have stuck up with the players the Players Assoc might have formed early but like he said, he felt taken care of. He was very poor when he was young. He was getting paid to play a sport he loves. If thats the only bad blemish on Howe's legacy, how amazing of a person was he? Truly and amazing hero.

[@berryscott3590]

These guys that grew up in the depression era... add in the fact it was rural Saskatchewan... Most never outgrew it... Dirt Poor... Then you had the Dust Bowl... cue the 'Grapes of Wrath' sequence... I'll say this about Gordie... Gordie was tough... He didn't need no damn policeman.. He was 'THE MAN'...

[@shyte6247]

Bobby Clarke calling Gordie Howe a dirty player is ridiculous. Howe was a guy who played in a rough era of the game, and he was as rough as they come....but he was never a dirty player.

[@dougbrowne9890]

Mark Howe said Gordie was the meanest player he ever saw. Look for the video of when Phil Esposito talks about his first shift against Howe. If that isn't dirty nothing is. EDIT: in this video above what did Bobby Hull say about Gordie? That he, "....loved every high sticking moment." smh Howe was dirty, but not dirty like Mark Messier.

[@loilt5091]

They were BOTH DIRTY & liberally applied the lumber…the difference being, Gordie could back it up by himself, with his fists. His own son, Marty Howe, said a Gordie Howe hat trick should more accurately be; a goal, an assist & cross check to the face, based on his father’s game. 🇨🇦

[@loilt5091]

@@dougbrowne9890 Sure, junior…Messier’s entire game was based on Gordie Howe’s blueprint. His father Doug, was a hard nosed, minor leaguer with the Edmonton Flyers, Detroit’s farm team in the ‘50-60’s. I saw Gordie play against his father during their annual preseason game in 1963, at the old, Edmonton Gardens. Juvenile, bias statement…What’s your team, the Islanders❓I was literally at the game, exactly 4️⃣0️⃣ years ago, today, when Edmonton dethroned the Islanders, forming the greatest Dynasty in NHL history.

[@eddriver7815]

OIHHHHH BULLDHIT GORDIE WAS THE ORIGINAL STICK MAN HE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR A THOUSAND STITCHES TO OTHER PLAYERS //// I LIKE GORDIE , BUT BOY WAS HE DIRTY

[@rawekulture5188]

Greatest hockey player of all time. One of the Top 10 greatest athletes in the history of U.S sports as well...

[@BrandonKohout]

The greatest Detroit Red Wings player in franchise history.

[@jasonlassiter9229]

Greatest Hockey 🏒 Player in History...Sorry Wayne. 😕

[@lloydkline6946]

Gorde howe had the NHL records 📚 in his hand when he retired , king of hockey 🏒

[@lloydkline6946]

Gorde howe two way hockey 🏒player, greatest ever

[@cdjhyoung]

Saw an interview with Gretsky after his playing days. He claims he was a much better baseball player than hockey player, but saw no avenue to becoming a major leaguer in baseball so went the hockey route. Hockey does have the greatest athletes. The fewest crybabies too.

[@BBBYpsi]

@@cdjhyoung Gordie could have been a pro Baseball or Pro Golfer maybe pro bowler if he wanted to. But his love of hockey kept him there. Many stories of him hitting monster home runs in Tiger Stadium. They say he hit the hardest hit home run there ever started off at pitcher level on infield & by the time it was out of the park hit the facing of the upper deck still rising & got out in lighting speed.

[@MrMcGiblets1]

Why are you sorry? Gretzky agrees with you. So does Orr...and Lemieux, Bobby Hull, and Esposito do too.

[@m.alexanderzagorski3868]

Howe was undoubtedly the best two-way forward ever! Orr,Howe,Lemieux,Gretzky were the four greatest non-goalies of all-time!

[@ronbonora7872]

make that five...the Rocket Richard too!

[@lloydkline6946]

Gorde howe was a greatest two way hockey 🏒player

[@treehousesmotors2562]

Total badass! He was the front figure of the sport and could knock you out until next thursday, yet "all he wan' do was play hockey!"

[@BBBYpsi]

Gordie could have been a pro golfer or baseball player also. I bet he would have been a wicked Middle linebacker back in his prime.

[@cdjhyoung]

He would have been too tall to play middle linebacker, in fact, that position hadn't been invented until the late 1950's. There is a candid picture of Howe from the 1950's sitting in the locker room with his shirt off. This man looks like a WWF wrestler all pumped up for a photo shoot, but Gordie is just relaxing on the bench. The man was a monster.

[@cdjhyoung]

@Spam Houston I attended a celebrity bowling tournament at which Howe was 'competing'. After he scored a high 200 game, the other athletes demanded he switch hands. So he bowled the next game left handed, and did better. Howe played for years before score keepers realized he was shooting from both sides - right handed and left handed. This is like a batter coming to the plate and randomly picking a side to hit from. In the later part of his career, he took a cheap shot from and up and comer. No immediate retaliation. But in the next period, Howe found a way to steer the youngster to the boards near the kids bench. Gordie Reached out, left handed, put the point of his stick in the kids crouch and dumped him into his own bench. On national TV. The man was strong, highly skilled, and wickedly evil when it served his purposes. Do they still call a goal, an assist and a ten minute major penalty a Gordie Howe hat trick?

[@MrJohnnyDistortion]

@@cdjhyoung I've seen a clip of Gordie scoring on Montreal with a backhanded slap shot from the left wing blue line. And I'm not making it up.

[@danman1809]

The Greatest Hockey player. The Greatest Football player. Both share the same M.O. From the west, California n Saskatchewan, to Mich

[@MapleSyrupPoet]

I was wearing my Red Wings cap today ...it suits me ...Detroit near my hometown ...I feel like I'm home, with Red Wings cap 😊🏒🥅

[@andrewdouris6035]

one of the nicest guys I ever met

[@randybailin4902]

Having seen Bobby Clarke play live maybe 20 times, he shouldn't be calling anyone else a dirty player. Clarke got away with all kinds of crap on the ice. As dirty as any player on those thuggish Flyers teams.

[@karlschneider9479]

My late dad who was a life long Bruins fan said he saw Louie 2 days later in Boston and was still looking really beat up from what Gordie did to him. RIP Mr. Hockey!

[@janellemaynait]

What's with the godfather theme in the background ? Is Gordie Howe not Vito Corleone

[@johnkidd1226]

Kids do well to get three hours a week of ice time. He played 20 hours on a weekend. Pond hockey, no whistles, you only stopped to face off after a goal. Today a 1-2 minute shift is average, stoppages in play are frequent and 20 minutes in a game is high. Even in the NHL, Gordie played on a dominant line, killed penalties and was on the power play. He often played 40 minutes in a game. They dont make men like that any more.

[@robertmacleod7587]

Every old school hockey nut says goodies is the greatest of all time

[@craftechroofing5429]

GOAT!!!

[@freddyfurrah3789]

Orr

[@1963tlaw]

I didnt like his viciousness and dirty play. You didn't need to scar every new player when he came into the league. Yes he was a good player. But I still think gretzky is a little better.

[@freddyfurrah3789]

Orr is the best

[@toddm9501]

Back when espn actually mattered.

[@toddm9501]

Back when danny boy wasn't woke

[@johnlothrop293]

Orr, Hull, Howe, Beliveu.Mario in any order.

[@freddyfurrah3789]

Orr

[@tomgeoghegan9173]

I remember this show when I moved to the States....

[@craftechroofing5429]

GOAT

[@freddyfurrah3789]

Orr

[@marvinh4166]

Loop

[@eddriver7815]

iF i WAS GOING INTO A GAME 7 .... AND I HAD TO CHOOSE BETWEEN GORDIE AND ROCKET ... I TAKE ROCKET EVERYTIME .... 6 OVERETIME GOALS .. 7 PLAYOFF HAT TRICKS AMD NUMEROUS OTHER RECORDS .. *** *** >>> GORDIE NEVER SCORED AN OVERTIME GOAL IN 25 SEASONS *** > NOT GORDIE BECAUSE TED SCORED OVERTINE GOA;LS NOT GORDIE

[@freddyfurrah3789]

ORR, GRESKEY, HOWE.