Book Review: Gordie Howe's Son

Hockey is an old sport. Many great and fantastic tales have happened within it long before I was even born. I am always interested in learning about them. When Mark Howe, one of the greatest players for my favorite franchise, released his biography and I was eager to read it. Unfortunately, the cover and title of the book made me a little anxious.

Of course it's rude and often wrong to judge a book by its cover, but personally I have always maintained that Mark being viewed primarily as the son of Gordie has been a slight detriment to his career. It may be one of the factors, alongside his time in the WHA, that prevented him from being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. The subtitle of the book "A Hall of Fame Life in the Shadow of Mr. Hockey" seemed to hammer this home as well, particularly the last cover above showing a childhood picture of Mark.

The subtitle could also be discarded as meddling by the publisher, attempting to make it more appealing to a more casual crowd who have heard of Gordie but not Mark. Bu the title itself seems to have been chosen deliberately by Mark. I was aware of the deep bond father and son share, probably best exemplified by Mark's Hall of Fame acceptance speech (which happens to be the end point of the book), but reading the book made me appreciate this relationship a whole lot more. The book does not only follow the career of a great player, but also showcases a true and truly wonderful example of a relationship between parents and children, one that everyone should strive to achieve.

This is not limited to Gordie either, as we also often encounter Mark's mother, Colleen Howe, as a mother as well as a hockey executive dealing smartly with a rather sexist society within hockey's confines, while lending support and guidance to her sons and her husband. This makes it only more tragic when in the second to last chapter we follow along as she suffers from Pick's disease, a neuro-degenerative disease robbing her of her personality and cognitive function, that would eventually take her life.

This is not the only tragedy Mark has encountered throughout his career. Unlike other books about the Flyers I have read, this biography is not shying away from discussing the death of Pelle Lindbergh, who lost his life in a drunk-driving incident weeks into the 1985-86 season. The devastation left in its wake is personal, and only eclipsed by the pain seen when, days before the HoF induction ceremony, Mark learns of the tragic plane crash that took the life of most of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team, Mark's friend and former defense partner Brad McCrimmon.

McCrimmon becomes one of the biggest examples of what the book does right: Presents people as who they are, genuine and multi-dimensional. The book scatters anecdotes throughout its narrative which helps the reader understand the various people as actual human beings, rather than people you read about in the paper, and one can appreciate those people for who they are.

Throughout his career Mark has encountered many characters, and the career itself had many ups and downs as well. We can see the great times, such as winning championships in the WHA while playing alongside his brother and father, becoming his own person and being accepted as an exceptional hockey player of his own in Philadelphia, or winning the Stanley Cup as a member of the Front office of the Detroit Red Wings.

But there is also a lot of frustration, such as a scheming and horribly mismanaged club in Hartford, the struggle of changing position from wing to defense with little to no guidence, and the disappointment of losing two Stanley Cup championships to the Oilers. The biggest toll however takes the recovery from being impaled by a goal-post while with the Whalers, an incident that could have paralyzed Mark as the goalpost nearly pierced his spinal column.

Throughout the book it seems that while the successes is fleeting, the tragedies and struggles appear to stay with you. Maybe that is simply how life is. It is however comforting that the book ends in a high note, with Mark's long and outstanding career finally being rewarded with the induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame, playing in the 2012 Winter Classic alumni game, and the retirement of his jersey by the Flyers, in addition to personal bliss experienced through the birth of a granddaughter and the marriage of a son.

The books is not a masterpiece of literature, but it is a genuine look into the career of one of the best players to ever play the sport. While Mark never fully escapes the shadow of his father, the reader can see how over the course of his life he becomes more than just "Gordie Howe's Son" and becomes a man of his own.