NHL teams
Craig Custance, ESPN Senior Writer 8y

Fans from all walks of life pay tribute to Gordie Howe at public visitation in Detroit

NHL, Detroit Red Wings

DETROIT -- Some showed up in Detroit Red Wings jerseys. Others in full suits and black dresses. A few who came from work had company logos on their shirts and jackets. They were retired police officers, longtime arena works, autoworkers, delivery guys, teachers -- everyone. Mixed among them were the biggest names in hockey history, such as Scotty Bowman and Wayne Gretzky.

These were Gordie Howe's people. Every single one of them. From the best to ever coach or play hockey right on down to those who paid to get in the building and listened on the radio.

They lined up in downtown Detroit, thousands of them, to pay their respects one last time to Gordie Howe, whose casket rested under his retired No. 9 banner, lowered from the rafters for the occasion along with his Stanley Cup banners. Howe's No. 9 glowed in a darkened and hushed Joe Louis Arena.

Fans slowly worked their way down the red carpet in a line that extended out the door and around the building, running parallel to the Detroit River. The line moved slowly because a Howe family member was waiting at the end to greet every single person who took time out of his or her day for one last visit. The hours were from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., in honor of Howe's number. It makes for a long day for the kids, including Mark, Marty and Murray Howe, who shook countless hands and listened to countless stories.

There was also no other way to do it.

"He was a man with the people," Mark Howe said. "He wouldn't have it any other way."

"It was so touching that the family did that for us," 69-year-old Detroit native Bob Wilson said after going through the line. "I was shocked. I was very impressed."

To talk to those in line was to realize that Gordie Howe must have met everyone in Michigan at some point. They all had a story.

Some were as simple, such as the one told by Celeste Zogas. She fell in love with hockey when her dad took her to see a game at Olympia Stadium as a kid. After that, she spent Saturdays on the kitchen floor of her Hamtramck home. There, she listened to Red Wings games on a Zenith radio that sat on the bottom shelf of a cabinet built by her father, and she pictured Gordie Howe scoring goals and throwing elbows.

"I'd listen and imagine where he was on the ice," Zogas said while waiting in line.

"He was always in front of the goalie," a fan behind her interjected.

Zogas met Howe at a book signing years later in Shelby Township. His signature is still clear on her white Red Wings jersey.

Gordon Moore grew up living next to Hall of Famer Norm Ullman in Livonia. He saw Howe all the time. He said he learned how to play hockey from Howe while skating with Howe's sons in Lincoln Park. Every time Howe stopped by Ullman's house for a visit, he had time for the kids outside.

"Gordie was just a great guy," Moore said. "He always stopped and played ball with us -- even football. He'd grab that football and say, 'Go deep!'"

Red Wings legend Steve Yzerman shared his own Howe stories, including the time he borrowed Gordie Howe's shin pads for a charity fundraiser in Halifax.

"Not too many people can say that," said Yzerman, now GM of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Each person, from those who would be forever immortalized on a hockey Mount Rushmore to those who would do the carving, had his or her own Howe moment.

"I remember walking through the airport with him when I was 18 years old, and every single person in the airport knew and recognized him," said Wayne Gretzky, who spent the entire day at Joe Louis Arena with Howe's family and friends. "[He] stood and took pictures with everybody and signed his name. He never thought it was a sort of a burden. He just thought it was part of his life."

Now, as that life is being celebrated, the people returned to say goodbye. The storytelling and laughing stopped at the front of the line. After a greeting from the Howe family, there was one final goodbye to Gordie. Some bowed out of respect. Others put both hands on the casket and wept. 

Without a doubt, Howe was loved by this city and by the entire hockey world. He touched more people than he could have ever realized. And they were just as touched to get the opportunity to honor the life of one of the greatest ever.

"This is wonderful," said Zogas, a teacher. "He has meant so much to Detroit. This is Hockeytown. We'll always remember him and miss him dearly."

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