European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 06, 1980, Darmstadt, Hesse Friday june 6,1980 the stars and stripes Page 23 Howe could skate shoot and fight new York a the hockey Odys Sci of Gor die Howe an incredible journey through live decades of greatness has come to an end. At age 52, the quintessential iceman has announced his retirement. Hockey will never forget him. Howe was the greatest scorer in the history of the sport with More goals More assists and More Points than any Man who has Ever played this game. But that simple sentence does t begin to scratch the surface of the Man. He played for an unbelievable 32 Yean so longevity alone would give him the Opportunity to score More goals than anyone else. The goals Are Only part of the Howe Saga though. Perhaps the Best Way to describe his Impact on his sport would be to compare him with his contemporaries. If Maurice Richard was hockey s babe Ruth the explosive Home run hitter then Gordie Howe was the game s Joe Dimaggio a Man of consummate skills on skates. Howe came to the National hockey league with Detroit in 1946, when Harry Truman was president of the United states. That s seven presidents ago if you be lost count. With the red wings for 25 magnificent years he carved a legend for himself As the ultimate hockey player. Howe could skate. Of How he could skate. He accelerated instantly zooming after the puck sometimes it seemed from a standing Start. And Howe could shoot. He frowned on those Boom ing banana wide slap shots that Fly off in All direct Hal Bock Lions. Rather Howe used a deadly wrist shot. He would snap his powerful wrists and the puck would zip toward the net. Give him an open Corner even for an instant and he d fire away. Those Are the two things hockey people ask first about a player. Can he skate and can he shoot Howe did both with a brilliance that few others could match. And yet those two qualities were Only a fraction of his talents. Some great scorers have never visited the Corner of a hockey rink. They Perch in front of the net waiting for somebody else to dig out the puck and feed them. Howe did not wait. Some of his Best work was done in hockey s dungeons the Corners where bodies collide and Sticks and skates slash away seeking control of the puck. Howe was a master there his elbows pumping away like pistons driving away opponents digging forthe puck. Hockey was still in its dark Ages when Howe came to the nil. There were Only six teams and rookies were tested in a hurry. Drop your gloves and prove yourself. The Challenge was always there and Howe met it with zest. He could play hockey and he could fight and pretty soon they tested him. When they did he taught them a lesson. You could not trifle with him. If you cared to you came away with bruises for your trouble. The Man came to play hockey but if it was a fight you wanted Well of he d give you a fight and Don t complain about the consequences. You did after All ask for it. Howe did everything on ice that a hockey player must do and he did most of those things with a special flare that set him apart from other players. In 1971, Detroit thought a Quarter Century of hockey was enough to ask from this legend and retired him gracefully. But the sedentary life did t satisfy two years later he was Back on the ice with the Houston Aero of the world hockey association. The lure was the Chance to play the game with his sons Mark and Marty a rather unusual accomplishment inane sport. Later he moved on to new England and was with the whalers when they moved into the nil last Winter As the Hartford franchise. It was a special treat for nil fans one More Chance to see a Hall of Famor play the game the Way it was meant to be played. Howe is a Grandfather now and it s time to write Finis to his legend As an Active player. The final figures including both nil and wha regular season and playoff production read 1,071 goals 1,518 assists and 2,589 Points. They Are numbers that will never be matched. There s just one More thing. Has anybody Ever played hockey with his grandsons Urcla s Anderson jazz officials won t comment breezes to Mcaa decathlon title King s future Cloudy after fudge s ruling Austin Texas up Mark Ander son of Urcla rallied past a badly shaken Jeff Montpas of Arizona slate wednesday night easily capturing the decathlon title at the 59th annual Mcaa track and Field championships. Anderson set personal bests in six of the 10 events Over the two Days of the tiring decathlon and clinched the Victory with Fine performances in the final two events the javelin and 1,500-Mctcr run. Wednesday s final live even is took eight hours to run off with the pole vault alone taking three hours. The two Days of Competition took 14 hours and 39 minutes to com plete. Anderson finished with 7,893 Points to 7,688 Points for runner up Joe Schneider of St. John s. Montpas who had the Lead after eight events faded to fifth with 7,551. Mont Pas had taken the Lead during the pole vault but on his final vault he missed the Landing pit and hit Fiat on his Back on the track. Although he was shaken by the near disastrous fall Montpas came Back to com Pete in the final two events. He had a 25 Point Lead Over Anderson after the pole vault but even without the injury Montpas figured to have Little Chance of holding off Anderson in the javelin and the 1,500 me threw the javelin 234-8, the Best in the Field which clinched the title. No honors for month go to Carlton Schmidt new York a Steve Carllon and Mike Schmidt both of the Philadelphia Phillies Are the National league Pitcher and player of the month for May the no office announced. Carlton went 6-1 during May with a 1.65 earned run average. He struck out 70 Bat ters and walked 24 in 60 innings pitched allowing 11 earned runs on just 40 hits. Schmidt walloped 12 Home runs and drove in 29 runs during the month. He scored 26 runs and had 29 hits in 95 at bats for a .305 average. He leads the league in Home runs runs batted in total bases and slugging percentage. Salt Lake City a Utah jazz officials remained tight lipped wednesday about the future of suspended Forward Ber Nard King after a judge fined him and placed him on two years probation for sex related offences. Team officials have refused to comment except to say King would remain suspended at least until his Legal troubles arc resolved. A Misdemeanour cocaine Possession charge Hill is pending in circuit court against the 6-foot-8 King who has a history of brushes with the Law since his spectacular College career at Tennessee. King 23, was sentenced by District judge Christine Durham to two suspended one year jail terms and a $2,000 Fine. King s attorney Robert Vansciver and prosecutors had worked out a plea bargain ing agreement the Day before whereby King would plead guilty to reduced Mise Meanor charges of attempted forcible sexual abuse. The judge told King she was suspending the jail terms so he would be free to play basketball and to continue treatment for alcoholism. King was suspended by the National basketball association club following his arrest new year s Day at his apartment. A 25 year old Salt Lake woman told police King forced her to perform sexual acts after she went with him to his apartment. King originally was charged with three felony counts of forcible sodomy and two felony counts of forcible sexual abuse. But under the plea bargaining arrangement the three charges of forcible sodomy were dropped and the others reduced to misdemeanours. Meanwhile an arbitration Case involving King and the jazz has been decided in King s favor by the Aba players association. Larry half iced jazz managing part Ner said the club will have to pay King his full salary during his suspension. The team had maintained King was suspended with out pay. Salt Lake county assistant attorney . Gwynn said he had no idea when the drug Possession Case against King would be heard. Police who arrested King found a Quantity of cocaine in his apartment. Gwynn said a significant part of the decision to enter into plea bargaining was the results of several polygraph tests which showed King unable to remember much of what happened the night of his arrest. Bernard King. On probation Arizona Powers past Hawaii 6-4, to stay alive in College world series Omaha neb. A Dwight Taylor and John Moses slammed consecutive triples to open the Lith inning and Terry Francona added a run scoring single wednesday night giving Arizona a 6-4 Vic tory Over Hawaii in the College world series. Arizona 43-21. Stayed alive in the series and was to meet Pacific-10 conference rival California in a semifinal game thursday night. The Winner will meet Hawaii 60-17, for the Mcaa championship Friday night. Hawaii had gone into wednesday night s game As the Only unbeaten team in the tour , 44-22, rated no. 3 nationally eliminated top rated Miami 4-3 earlier wednesday night when Pinch runner Mike Buggs scored on a throwing error by Short Stop Ross Jones in the ninth inning. Pamlico upheld on Codex win Baltimore up Maryland s thoroughbred racing Board denied a re quest wednesday by the owners of genuine risk to overturn a stewards decision and disqualify Codex As the Winner of the pc Akness Board deliberated 55 minutes on the third Day of hearings at Pamlico race course then voted 3-t to uphold the Stew Ards decision that Codex did not foul genuine risk on the final turn of the May 17th pc Akness. Bert Firestone one of genuine risk s owners left the. Hearing when the Board s deliberations s attorney Henry lord said the dissenting vote by Board member j. Neil Mccardell might provide the basis for an Appeal to the courts. Board member Kenneth Proctor speak ing for the majority said the Board was convinced that Codex went wide on the final turn of the second leg of racing s triple Crown but that the i Pulc was a judgment Call by the stewards and the Board had no business overturning it. In the final testimony wednesday co Dex s jockey. Angel Cordero. Said he kept pc Akness Winner Codex to the inside when he allegedly bumped genuine risk. Cordero said lie was whipping Codex on the right shoulder to keep him from going wide. He said the turns at Pamlico race course arc so Sharp that when a horse comes off. The turn nine limes out of 10 he s going to go u
