NHL father-son duos: Gordie, Mark and Marty Howe
There comes a time in every dad’s life in which he is surpassed by his child at his own game. It’s the proverbial one-on-one basketball game in the driveway, the metaphorical passing of the torch from a man leaving prime, to his child now entering it.
Something tells me Gordie Howe never really got that memo.
Gordie Howe is synonymous with the game of hockey. He helped lay the blueprint of how we conceive of NHL players. Elegant yet robust, full of skill and privy to high IQ plays. Willing to drop the gloves and go toe-to-toe with an opponent, but not above shaking hands with him after the game. Gordie Howe is “Mr. Hockey.”
The only player to skate in five decades, Howe’s resume speaks for itself. Four Cups, six Hart Trophies, 21 All-Star appearances, six Art Ross Trophies, 1,850 points and a Hall of Fame induction. There really isn’t anything Howe couldn’t do.
But perhaps his most underrated achievement, is that he got to play the game at the highest level with his own two sons.
In 1973, Gordie’s two sons, Mark and Marty had been signed by the Houston Aeros ahead of the WHA season. Retired from hockey for two years, Gordie made the decision to undergo wrist surgery and joined his sons in Houston.
At the ripe age of 45 — and already a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame — Gordie Howe was back.
The trio dominated the WHA, with Gordie matching Mark’s output despite a nearly 20-year age difference, as they helped the Aeros capture back-to-back titles in 1974 and ’75.
In 1979-80, the three players became the first and only father-son trio to suit up together in an NHL game. Howe would call it a career at the end of the season at age 52.
Marty carved out a respectable six year career, and Mark distinguished himself as one of the NHL’s most dynamic defenseman of the 80s, notably clashing with Gretzky’s Oilers while he was a member of the Philadelphia Flyers.
Mark Howe would be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2011 after recorded 742 points in 929 NHL games.
Altogether, the Howe’s combined for 3,819 points in 4,113 NHL and WHA games, and kept the Howe name in hockey for half a century.
Mark and Marty will always have the definitive rights to the “my dad can beat up your dad” game.
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