'Mr. Hockey' dies at 88

Gordie Howe, the rough-and-tumble Canadian farm boy whose boundless blend of talent and toughness made him the NHL's quintessential star during a career that lasted into his 50s, died Friday. The man forever known as "Mr. Hockey" was 88.

"We are celebrating the life of a devoted husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather and a friend to all," his family said in a statement sent by the Detroit Red Wings, Mr. Howe 's longtime team which also confirmed that Mr. Howe died in Sylvania, Ohio, at the home of Murray Howe. Funeral arrangements were pending.

Mr. Howe shattered records, threw elbows and helped the Red Wings win four Stanley Cups, becoming an idol to Wayne Gretzky and countless others while also helping the sport attract American fans in a development key to the NHL's growth. With finesse and a heavy dose of grit, the Hockey Hall of Famer set NHL records with 801 goals and 1,850 points - mostly with the Red Wings - that held up until Gretzky came along.

The Great One himself left no doubt about what he thought of Mr. Howe .

"Unfortunately we lost the greatest hockey player ever today, but more importantly the nicest man I have ever met," Gretzky said on Twitter.

"When Gordie came into the NHL, hockey was a Canadian game. He converted it into a North American game," former NHL president Clarence Campbell said when Mr. Howe retired the first time in 1971 because he was playing with arthritis in his left wrist and for a last-place team.

Mr. Howe suffered a stroke in late October 2014 while at his daughter's home in Lubbock, Texas, losing some function on the right side of his body. He suffered another stroke a short time later and family members said chronic back pain, advanced stages of dementia and high blood pressure were taking a toll. The body Mr. Howe relied on as an athlete stayed relatively strong, but memory loss became a problem that family members noticed before the death of their mother, Colleen, in 2009.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman lauded "the incomparable" Mr. Howe as a remarkable athlete with incredible longevity.

"Gordie's commitment to winning was matched only by his commitment to his teammates, to his friends, to the Red Wings, to the city of Detroit and - above all - to his family," Bettman said.

Mr. Howe began his National Hockey League career as an 18-year-old in 1946 with the Detroit Red Wings. He went on to play 26 seasons in the NHL, winning four Stanley Cups and many individual awards.

Mr. Howe was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1972 upon his retirement from the NHL. He got the rare honor of the mandatory three-year waiting period waived.

In 1973, Mr. Howe came out of retirement to play alongside sons Mark and Marty for the Houston Aeros of the World Hockey Association. The three men would later move together to the WHA's New England Whalers, which later became the NHL's Hartford Whalers.

Gordie even played one game for the International Hockey League's Detroit Vipers at age 69, making him the only player to skate in professional games across six decades.

Mark went on to star for the Flyers after playing for the Whalers. In 2012, the Flyers retired his jersey on a night when they hosted the Red Wings. It was only the fifth time ever that the Flyers retired a jersey, and just the second time in NHL history that a father and son combination had jersey numbers retired within the league.

Longtime Flyers executive Bobby Clarke led the team's tributes Friday.

"So many generations of players wanted to play like Gordie Howe," Clarke said.

"He was the ultimate professional hockey player."

Former Flyers Cup-winning goalie Bernie Parent shared some of his favorite Gordie Howe memories.

"I remember my first year in Boston we had a defenseman named Gilles Marotte, who I played with in junior," Parent said in an email. "Gilles was a big, stocky, strong kid who was about 20 or 21 at the time. We were playing in Detroit and in the one corner they had the door where the players would come out to the ice.

"Gordie Howe came in one time along the boards and Gilles hit Gordie so . . . hard that Gordie went right through the door. Gordie got up and never said a word. Three plays later Gilles went to check Gordie again and Gordie saw him coming and gave Gilles an elbow that broke his jaw and that was the end of the story.

"On a more serious note, Gordie represented the sport of hockey so well. To me, he was a champion all the way, as a player, as a person and as a family man. He was always kind to people and was a great, great individual and we're going to miss him."

Staff writer Sam Carchidi contributed to this article.