Jerry Green

Howe, Mrs. Hockey, was first lady of sports

Wife of Wings legend inspired family of hockey players, all the while instilling love and unity.

The three of them were on the ice together when the fight broke out -- Colleen Howe's husband and two of their three sons.

"Look, they're all fighting together," said Colleen, sitting in the grandstand of the hockey rink in Houston.

Gordie, Marty and Mark had all dropped their sticks and their thick, leather padded hockey gloves and fought the enemy. A family, all together, for each other.

Certainly, that's what the Howes were -- a family.

And Colleen Howe was the glue that kept this family active, determined, motivated, winning.

She was, in my mind, the first lady of sports in the United States. An inspiration to Gordie, his business agent and adviser through his quarter-century with the Red Wings and 32 seasons as a player. And to Marty and Mark when they went through school and played junior hockey and then turned pro, teammates of their father. And to Murray, who became a prominent physician, and to their daughter, Cathy.

Colleen was in charge of family unity -- and love. She controlled the show until she became ill with Pick's disease, a form of encroaching dementia. She endured a long, tragic illness that was chronicled on the front page of The Detroit News and then nationally in Sports Illustrated, the illness that led to Colleen's death Friday at age 76.

And for sure, Colleen also was Gordie's press agent, or public relations adviser, when he was active.

Proud and energetic

That's how I met her. I'd telephone to learn some item of interest to write about Gordie. Colleen would provide the details in staccato bursts, a lady full of energy and friendship.

And the night the fight broke out, she had invited me to sit with her for a column I planned about the three Howes playing professional hockey as teammates. It was the week of Super Bowl VIII, January 1974, in Houston. Gordie had ended his retirement and at age 45 was playing for the Houston Aeros in the World Hockey Association.

Before us, the game went on at speed as Colleen chatted about her pride, Gordie and the two boys, playing together, teammates.

"Hey, some guy jumped on Marty," Mark yelled to Gordie, an explanation given to me later when we all went out for a postgame snack.

It was the third period. No. 9 had looked to be the vintage Gordie Howe.

Suddenly, the game stopped as often happens in hockey matches. Sticks were tossed away, followed by the gloves. And Gordie, along with Mark, went to the aid of Marty.

And Colleen, the wife and mom, was cheering, yelling encouragement.

Of course it was all sorted out. These hockey fights usually are.

And as I recall, Colleen watched her husband and two hockey sons in the penalty box alongside one another.

As always, a family united.

Before Marty and Mark became professionals, Colleen jump-started their careers.

She was founder and manager of the Junior Wings, a team sponsored by the Red Wings that played at the redbrick Olympia Stadium on Grand River. The boys went on to play Junior in Canada. And they still were teenagers when the WHA beckoned.

She meant business

Colleen always was the shrewd businesswoman. Somehow, I believe it was Colleen who concocted the idea that Gordie should make his comeback and team up with his sons.

"Gordie has a pasture job," she was quoted as saying in Sports Illustrated back in 1973.

This was her version of Gordie's famed mushroom-treatment story about brooding over his job as a token vice president with nothing to do with the Red Wings.

One night at Plum Hollow, at his golf tournament, Gordie announced he was leaving the Red Wings to resume playing hockey with his sons in Houston.

"The Red Wings put me in a room and gave me the mushroom treatment," Howe told his audience. "Every few days they open the door and shovel some horse manure on me."

Gordie had used another word in place of manure, and we roared with laughter. I'm sure Colleen suggested Gordie step out of the pasture and back onto the ice, to play with their sons -- a heartwarming sports story with a happy ending. And I'm sure it was Colleen who controlled the negotiations of their contracts.

"Two things you really don't get schooling at are how to keep a marriage together and how to raise children," she was quoted as saying in an Internet blog that originated in Calgary before her illness. "I think we've made a good team and the trophies in our house are our four children."

Colleen was forceful and imaginative with wonderfully imaginative business sense. She earned her top tribute, as the first woman to be enshrined in the United States Hockey Hall of Fame.

And she provided an indelible personal memory one night in Houston, with running commentary on a hockey game -- cheering another Gordie Howe hat trick. A goal, an assist and a fight!