"Mr. Hockey"

[Staniowski]

When we hear "Mr. Hockey" now, we automatically think of Gordie Howe. But, over the years I've seen several references to Maurice Richard being called "Mr. Hockey"/"Monsieur Hockey" also.

I'm curious about the history of this.

Was Maurice commonly referred to as Mr. Hockey in addition to "Rocket" when he played? When did it start? Was he called by this name before Gordie was?

When did people start calling Gordie Mr. Hockey?

Has anybody else ever been called Mr. Hockey?

Click to read more...

 

[Staniowski]

The Montreal Gazette - Google News Archive Search

This is a 1957 Montreal Gazette reference to Maurice Richard, "Mr. Hockey".

 

[Theokritos]

Howie Morenz was already referred to as "Monsieur Hockey".

Here's what Zotique Lespérance wrote in "La Patrie" in 1944:

"The best tribute we could pay to Morenz was to nickname him 'Mister Hockey' and repeat without ceasing that there will never be another Morenz."

Le plus bel hommage que l'on pouvait alors rendre à Morenz était de la surnommer "Monsieur Hockey" et de répéter sans cesse qu'il n'y aura jamais plus un autre Morenz.

Interestingly, the author draws a comparison between Morenz and Richard right afterwards.

 

[Staniowski]

I found an instance of Foster Hewitt being referred to as Mr. Hockey, but that's not really what I was looking for!

 

[Staniowski]

Side note: Howie Morenz was already referred to as "Monsieur Hockey".

Here's what Zotique Lespérance wrote in "La Patrie" in 1944:



Interestingly, the author draws a comparison between Morenz and Richard right afterwards.

Thanks. Exactly what I was looking for.

Do you know if he was called that while he was playing? Or was it only after he passed?

 

[Theokritos]

Thanks. Exactly what I was looking for.

Do you know if he was called that while he was playing? Or was it only after he passed?

Unfortunately I don't know. I was quite surprised when I stumbled upon that piece by Lespérance.

 

[vikash1987]

I’ve come across newspapers from the 1940s which referred to Eddie Shore and Frank Calder (the NHL’s first president) as “Mr. Hockey”

 

[Theokritos]

I’ve come across newspapers from the 1940s which referred to Eddie Shore and Frank Calder (the NHL’s first president) as “Mr. Hockey”

Any links?

 

[DowntownBooster]

When we hear "Mr. Hockey" now, we automatically think of Gordie Howe. But, over the years I've seen several references to Maurice Richard being called "Mr. Hockey"/"Monsieur Hockey" also.

I'm curious about the history of this.

Was Maurice commonly referred to as Mr. Hockey in addition to "Rocket" when he played? When did it start? Was he called by this name before Gordie was?

When did people start calling Gordie Mr. Hockey?

Has anybody else ever been called Mr. Hockey?

Anyone that's managed to play 32 years of major league hockey deserves the title of "Mr. Hockey".

 

[vikash1987]

Any links?

I can't share the links, since they require subscription to access, but here are the direct quotes/sources:

"[Eddie] Shore may not have been as great a hockey player as Lionel Conacher, and he may not have had as Important a hand in the development of the game as Lester Patrick. But Shore Is Mr. Hockey, Just as Ruth was Mr. Baseball." (Source: The Province [Vancouver, BC], 6 Feb. 1940)

"It was Eddie (Mr. Hockey) Shore speaking to your rink reporter a couple of days ago...." (Source: Daily News [New York, NY], 12 Apr. 1940)

"Although [Frank Calder] had suffered a heart attack a week ago, death came to the 65-year-old 'Mr. Hockey' with a suddenness that shocked the hockey world." (Source: The Windsor Star [Windsor, ON], 5 Feb. 1943)

 

[Theokritos]

I can't share the links, since they require subscription to access, but here are the direct quotes/sources:

Great! Thank you very much.

 

[Theokritos]

So we've got the following two quotes now:

"Shore Is Mr. Hockey, Just as Ruth was Mr. Baseball."

(Source: The Province [Vancouver, BC], 6 Feb. 1940)

"After a 14-year career in the NHL, the great Howie died tragically, having reigned supreme in hockey as Babe Ruth in baseball. The best tribute we could pay to Morenz was to nickname him 'Mister Hockey' (...)"

Source: La Patrie [Montreal, QC], 31 Dec. 1944)

So it seems that Babe Ruth was at least occasionally referred to as "Mr. Baseball" – for example in this 1948 headline reporting his death:

The quote from the 1940 Vancouver Province shows that this wasn't just a posthumous nickname, it was already used during Ruth's lifetime. It makes sense that contemporary writers who compared any hockey player (Eddie Shore in 1940, Howie Morenz in 1944) to Babe Ruth could be tempted to label the player "Mr. Hockey" if Ruth was "Mr. Baseball".

Note, however, that the nickname "Mr. Baseball" was apparently used in a slightly different manner before:

"According to the latest Dickson Baseball Dictionary, Mr. Baseball is (or was) "a title given to one who has devoted his life to baseball." Dickson: "It was the long-time nickname for Connie Mack, manager of the Philadelphia Athletics from 1901 to 1950."

Source: SBNation

This usage – for a manager/official type (rather than an athlete) – chimes with the third quote provided by @vikash1987:

"Although [Frank Calder] had suffered a heart attack a week ago, death came to the 65-year-old 'Mr. Hockey' with a suddenness that shocked the hockey world."

Source: The Windsor Star [Windsor, ON], 5 Feb. 1943

The other usage proved popular though. In a 1950 poll by the Associated Press, Babe Ruth was voted" Mr. Baseball", Jim Thorpe "Mr. Football", Bobby Jones "Mr. Golf" and George Mikan "Mr. Basketball". And in 1960, a French biography of Maurice Richard was titled "Monsieur Hockey":

 

[Voight]

I think it stuck with Howe versus the other guys because he played for 40 years. He was a staple in the hockey community for nearly half a century, and stayed relevant even after he retired (partly due to Gretzky breaking his records).

I mean, the new Windsor-Detroit bridge is being named after him.

 

[vikash1987]

I just uncovered another "Mr. Hockey" attribution: Bobby Hull!

Time magazine featured Bobby Hull as its cover story for the March 1, 1968 issue. As an aside, this was quite a distinction, considering hockey was the least popular of the four major team sports, and considering 1968 was chock full of important news stories/events. But in the story, there is this reference:

A groan rose from the heartbroken Oakland crowd. But it was a groan almost equally mixed with cheers. If their favorites had to go down, how better than at the hands of Bobby Hull? For the sight of Robert Marvin Hull, 29, leaning into a hockey puck is one of the true spectacles of sport—like watching Mickey Mantle clear the roof, or Wilt Chamberlain flick in a basket, or Bart Starr throw that beautiful bomb. It is the thing that hockey fans go to see—whether in Chicago, Montreal or Oakland. And it is the thing that makes Bobby Hull the superstar of his blazing sport. A legion of partisans call him "the Golden Jet" and "Mr. Hockey," regard him as the greatest player of this or any other day—and rare is the expert who says them nay.

I don't think this was an error on the part of Time, because they cited other hockey nicknames in the piece: Maurice ("the Rocket") Richard, Bernie ("Boom Boom") Geoffrion, Lorne ("Gump") Worsley. And Gordie was mentioned as well, sans nickname.

 

[Staniowski]

I just uncovered another "Mr. Hockey" attribution: Bobby Hull!

Time magazine featured Bobby Hull as its cover story for the March 1, 1968 issue. As an aside, this was quite a distinction, considering hockey was the least popular of the four major team sports, and considering 1968 was chock full of important news stories/events. But in the story, there is this reference:

A groan rose from the heartbroken Oakland crowd. But it was a groan almost equally mixed with cheers. If their favorites had to go down, how better than at the hands of Bobby Hull? For the sight of Robert Marvin Hull, 29, leaning into a hockey puck is one of the true spectacles of sport—like watching Mickey Mantle clear the roof, or Wilt Chamberlain flick in a basket, or Bart Starr throw that beautiful bomb. It is the thing that hockey fans go to see—whether in Chicago, Montreal or Oakland. And it is the thing that makes Bobby Hull the superstar of his blazing sport. A legion of partisans call him "the Golden Jet" and "Mr. Hockey," regard him as the greatest player of this or any other day—and rare is the expert who says them nay.

I don't think this was an error on the part of Time, because they cited other hockey nicknames in the piece: Maurice ("the Rocket") Richard, Bernie ("Boom Boom") Geoffrion, Lorne ("Gump") Worsley. And Gordie was mentioned as well, sans nickname.

Interesting.

I'm a bit surprised that somebody other than Gordie was being referred to as Mr. Hockey as late as 1968. I had thought that it was Gordie's alone by this time.

 

[Big Phil]

This reminds me of a debate I had on a football board once. When you think of the term "The Drive" do you think of John Elway's 98 yard drive right away against the Browns in the 1986 AFC Championship? Other great drives can be Montana's game winning drive in Super Bowl 23 and so on. But I remember one poster saying to me that there is only one "The Drive", and it was Elway's. True enough. It is the drive we all think of to this day.

So while other players have loosely been called "Mr. Hockey" at different times there has only been one guy where the name has stuck and has become his nickname and dare I say even trademark and that's Gordie Howe.

 

[vikash1987]

The article says “legion of partisans,” so at first I was thinking this may have been isolated to just Hawk fans in Chicago or something.

Not so.

A little further probing reveals multiple other uses in different markets:

* Later that year (1968), one of the LA papers wrote: “If you’ll excuse the pun, Los Angeles hockey fans are in for one Hull of a time tonight at the Forum when Bobby Hull, Mr. Hockey, and the Chicago Black Hawks engage the Kings, those royal rascals of the ice.”

* In 1969, when the inaugural Heritage Golf Classic was held, Bobby was in attendance and was referred to in one of the local South Carolina papers as “Mr. Hockey.”

* In 1972, when Bobby defected to the WHA, papers in New York and New England referred to him as “Mr. Hockey.”

And I’m sure there are a handful of other examples out there.

That said, nothing will ever take the nickname away from Gordie, the rightful bearer/owner.

 

[The Panther]

Didn't Colleen Howe actually try to register the name 'Mr. Hockey' as Gordie's legal trademark?

 

[Staniowski]

Didn't Colleen Howe actually try to register the name 'Mr. Hockey' as Gordie's legal trademark?

Hickey: Mr. Hockey remains the greatest player ever

I think Mr. Hockey and Mrs. Hockey (for Colleen) are both trademarked.

 

[vikash1987]

Question is, when was it trademarked?

 

[MadLuke]

Hickey: Mr. Hockey remains the greatest player ever

I think Mr. Hockey and Mrs. Hockey (for Colleen) are both trademarked.

Seem to be, by an american Online retail store (POWER PLAY INTERNATIONAL, INC.):
Canadian Trademarks Details: MR. AND MRS. HOCKEY — 1870812 - Canadian Trademarks Database - Intellectual property and copyright - Canadian Intellectual Property Office - Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

That one filed in 2017

 

[Theokritos]

Follow-up to post #12:

Recently, Eric Zweig has come up with more historic examples where hockey players were compared to Babe Ruth, including a few references predating Howie Morenz:

Newsy Lalonde (1920)
Frank Frederickson (1921)
Raymie Skilton (1921)
Vernon Forbes (1921)
Herb Drury (1922)
Art Duncan (1924)
Billy Burch (1925)
Babe Dye (1925, 1926)
Joe Simpson (1926)
Howie Morenz (1927, 1928, 1937, 1944)
Ching Johnson (1928)
Eddie Shore (1931, 1940)
Maurice Richard (1950, 1951, 1957)
Gordie Howe (1967)

See Zweig's article The Babe Ruth of Hockey

 

[JMCx4]

Seem to be, by an american Online retail store (POWER PLAY INTERNATIONAL, INC.):
Canadian Trademarks Details: MR. AND MRS. HOCKEY — 1870812 - Canadian Trademarks Database - Intellectual property and copyright - Canadian Intellectual Property Office - Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

That one filed in 2017

According to inside of the back cover of Gordie's autobiography entitled "Mr. Hockey: Gordie Howe, My Story" ...

Gordie Howe's name and nickname, "Mr. Hockey," as well as his wife's nickname, "Mrs. Hockey," are registered trademarks.

This statement is supported by this Crain's Detroit Business article after Colleen' death on 2016.

... She was his late-career agent, and his business manager for decades, running their enterprises and charitable ventures as Rochester Hills-based Power Play International Inc.

Together, they crafted what became the successful Gordie Howe brand.

They trademarked "Mr. Hockey" and "Gordie Howe" in August 1993 with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and "Mr. and Mrs. Hockey" followed in 2005. ...

 

[Sanf]

Follow-up to post #12:

Recently, Eric Zweig has come up with more historic examples where hockey players were compared to Babe Ruth, including a few references predating Howie Morenz:

Billy Burch (1925)
Babe Dye (1925, 1926)
Howie Morenz (1927, 1928, 1937, 1944)
Ching Johnson (1928)
Eddie Shore (1931, 1940)
Maurice Richard (1950, 1951, 1957)
Gordie Howe (1967)

See Zweig's article The Babe Ruth of Hockey

I was going to give additions of Joe Simpson and Herb Drury, but those have been (later) additions tto the blog apparently. Yeah it seemed to be quite common thing to refer players as Babe Ruth of hockey. Sometimes a marketing gimmick though.

 

[Theokritos]

I was going to give additions of Joe Simpson and Herb Drury, but those have been (later) additions tto the blog apparently.

Wow, there are even more. I'll add them!

Yeah it seemed to be quite common thing to refer players as Babe Ruth of hockey. Sometimes a marketing gimmick though.

Indeed. Apparently the term was used in a rather inflationary manner in the first half of the 1920s.