Sporting News
TSN Archives: Gordie Howe, at 42, yields to injury (Jan. 2, 1971)
This story, by Bill Brennan, first appeared in the Jan. 2, 1971, issue of The Sporting News, under a headline (“At 42, Even Iron-Man Howe Yields to Injury”) that was particularly prescient. Ironically, it wasn't the rib-cartilage injury chronicled here but rather a chronic wrist injury that forced the Detroit icon’s (first) retirement later that year, after 25 seasons with the Red Wings. This story introduced TSN readers to Howe’s older hockey-playing sons, Mark and Marty, who in 1973 would sign with the Houston Aeros of the World Hockey Association, joining with their father, who at 45 signed with the Aeros and led them to WHA championships in 1974 and ’75.