[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 94 (Tuesday, June 14, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E914]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        IN MEMORY OF GORDIE HOWE

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 14, 2016

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in remembrance of Gordie Howe, 
who passed away on June 10, 2016, at the age of 88. Our thoughts and 
prayers are with his family, friends, and fans across the country.
  Born on March 31, 1928, he grew up in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan before 
coming to Detroit, where he made his National Hockey League debut on 
October 16, 1946, scoring in his first game at the age of 18. Gordie 
Howe, or as he was known to a generation and beyond, ``Mr. Hockey'', 
was the embodiment of the National Hockey League, and an ambassador 
from Detroit to the rest of the country and to the world. I speak here 
for Detroit, for the Red Wings, and for the entire NHL, when I say that 
we will miss him dearly.
  Gordie Howe, a 23-time All-Star, was unmatched on the ice, and in his 
twenty-five seasons with the Red Wings, he led the city of Detroit to 
four Stanley Cups, winning numerous distinctions along the way. He was 
also instrumental in the conception of what would become the National 
Hockey League Players' Association. But Gordie Howe was so much more 
than a man with a hockey stick; he was a force for good off the ice as 
well. Gordie, whose wife Colleen ``Mrs. Hockey'' Howe, suffered from 
Pick's Disease, was heavily involved in the search for a cure to 
degenerative brain diseases, founding the Gordie and Colleen Howe Fund 
for Alzheimers, in partnership with the University of Toronto Baycrest.
  Mr. Speaker, on June 10, we lost one of the greats. For almost half 
of his adult life, Gordie Howe represented the city of Detroit with 
distinction and class, and his legacy will live on long after we are 
gone, on the banners hanging in Joe Louis Arena, at the charities he 
championed in retirement, and in the hearts of millions of hockey fans 
across the continent.

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