'Mrs. Hockey' Colleen Howe Passes Away

07/03/2009 04:49

With a keen business mind and the interests of her husband and sons at heart, Colleen Howe was the glue that held the Howe family together.

She was such an integral part of her husband Gordie Howe's hockey career that her nickname was Mrs. Hockey.

Gordie was Mr. Hockey, reflecting his status as the NHL's all-time leading scorer before Wayne Gretzky broke his records, so it seemed right the woman who worked so hard for him behind the scenes should get a similar title.

Colleen Howe died Friday at the age of 76 in the family home in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., following a long battle with Pick's disease, an incurable neurological form of dementia.

She was the outspoken business manager of one of the most prominent families in the history of the sport. As the first female hockey player agent she was as forceful in the boardroom as her husband was in rink corners for the Detroit Red Wings.

"The National Hockey League grieves the passing of Colleen Howe - a formidable woman, the wife and partner of our iconic player, the matriarch of a remarkable hockey family," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement.

There is no known cure for Pick's disease. Colleen was diagnosed with it in 2002. Her judgment and behaviour became impaired and her speech and memory more scrambled as the condition worsened.

"I thank God for the years we had," Gordie Howe said upon their 50th wedding anniversary in 2005.

Colleen was an only child raised by her divorced mother, with the help of an aunt and uncle, until her mother remarried. Colleen grew up on a farm outside Sandusky, Mich., where an arena was eventually named after her, and in Detroit.

Gordie Howe met Colleen Joffa at the Detroit bowling alley Lucky Strike Lanes during the 1951-52 Red Wings hockey season. She was a gregarious teen and he was a bashful but star player. They were married on April 15, 1953.

The couple had four children: Marty, Mark, Cathleen and Murray. The latter became a doctor who was involved in treating his mother in her final years.

As her children grew up, Colleen became involved in youth hockey. She drove her three sons to their games and, including her husband's NHL games, she might have attended as many as 200 games a year.

When there was no local junior team for which highly touted prospects Marty and Mark, she helped found the Detroit Junior Red Wings. She was general manager for three years.

She became heavily involved the business aspect of the careers of her husband and sons. It was an aspect of hockey in which Gordie had little interest.

"He just hates paperwork and stuff like that," she once explained. "Over the years, I've just naturally taken on more and more of it."

Gordie was happy to have her do it.

"People say I'm henpecked," Howe once said. "Well, let them say it.

"Colleen likes doing things and she does them pretty well so I say let her carry on. She's done a great job raising the kids and keeping me going."

She headed up Power Play International, Inc. (formerly Howe Enterprises,) which controlled all business aspects of her husband's hockey career, and that of her sons through their early pro seasons.

"She did so much for Gordie," former Montreal Canadien Dickie Moore said Friday. "Gordie did a lot in hockey and she did a lot for him."

Gordie retired in 1971 after playing 25 years in Detroit. He expected to work with the Red Wings at the management level but that didn't pan out.

Colleen was named Sportswoman of the Year in Detroit in 1972.

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SWIVEL HIPS SAYS:

This is truly a very sad day for hockey. Condolences and deepest sympathies to Gordie Howe and family.