Gordie Howe, red light and what might have been at 1964 hockey camp [I Know a Story column] | Local News

I wasn’t one of those “jocks” in high school and, with me having only been a third-string guard in junior high, football didn’t seem to offer any promise of a sports career.

I did earn a varsity letter, however, playing on my high school’s tennis team that eventually was part of 104 consecutive dual-meet victories. However, tennis didn’t seem to be in vogue back in the ’50s!

Although I liked to be involved in sports of some kind while growing up, and I tried them all, I never found the one that might offer a future in the professional ranks, until I got involved in ice hockey.

I played in a six-team league at the Overlook Ice Rink. I had initially become involved, after being invited to an organizational meeting of a Lancaster team. There I was asked what position I played. I could skate, but never considered myself a very strong skater, so I answered, “goalie!”

In this October 1966 file photo, Gordie Howe of the Detroit Red Wings poses during an NHL hockey game in Detroit. 

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO

They were already secure with their goaltender, but frequent practices required the need for a backup goalie, so they could use the full length of the rink in their practices.

Experience is a good teacher, and I began to think that this is where I could possibly make it beyond the amateur ranks.

Later, after a season as the starting goalie for another league team and looking forward to another winter of ice hockey, a member of my former team advised me that he planned to attend a summer hockey camp at the Detroit Olympia stadium, and did I want to join him?

So yeah, maybe this was an opportunity to now showcase my believed talents that might just lead to something bigger.

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Campers were split into two groups, and while my group was captained by Howie Young, a Detroit Red Wings defenseman, the second group was captained by none other than “Mr. Hockey” himself, Gordie Howe.

It was a five-day camp in August of 1964, and we scrimmaged every day. All the goalie wannabes got their chance in net. When my opportunity came, I was nervous to say the least.

As fate would have it that day, Gordie’s line came down the ice to my left and, as my defenseman back-skated, he let loose with a wrist shot. In those days, goalies were mostly erect in the net, so I emulated my idol, Terry Sawchuk, and got ready for the approaching puck.

With catching glove at the ready and with thoughts of “I got this thing,” the puck “knuckleballed,” dipping under my glove, between my legs and into the net. The dreaded red light now declared that Gordie had scored another goal.

This file photo shows the former Detroit Olympia stadium, where the author went to hockey camp and faced off against Gordie Howe.

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Whenever I relate this story, the listener usually states, “well, that’s nothing to be ashamed of. Gordie Howe has lit the light on many goalies.” And my reply is always, “but were they from just over the red line?”

If that’s not a career-ender, then I don’t know what is.

I did go on later to play in a league at Hershey, which later led to my being selected by the coach of the Hershey Junior Bears, Arnie Kullman, as their starting goalie. But I still have that Terry Sawchuk-like face mask that I had fashioned for me at that summer camp, as a reminder of what might have been.

The author lives in Lancaster, and was a member of the J.P. McCaskey class of 1955.

If you know an interesting, true story, please write it in 600 words or less and send it to Mary Ellen Wright, LNP editorial department, P.O. Box 1328, Lancaster, PA 17608-1328, or email it to features@lnpnews.com. (No fiction or poetry, please). Please include your phone number and the name of the town you live in.

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