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Wayne Gretzky

Wayne Gretzky learned how to skate in a back yard rink. Wayne was born on January 26, 1961, in Brantford, Ontario, Canada, of Russian and Polish descent. Wayne has an alternative name/nickname, "The Great One". In the 1983 NHL All-Star game, Wayne scored 4 goals in the third period, set three records, tied one, and won a car. On his first shift in a game in L.A., he’d been checked cleanly, fallen against the boards and felt something give in his right shoulder. A bruise, he thought. As the days went by, it got worse, they thought it might be a sprain. 2 days after the All-Star game, they X-rayed it. The shoulder wasn’t bruised and it wasn’t sprained. It was separated. They called it “Class 1”. He played with a separated shoulder. In 4 NHL years, he’d set 24 league records and shared 10 others.

Wayne’s Granddad died in 1973. There was a special kind of closeness between Wayne and his grandparents. After he died, Wayne was even closer to his grandma, Mary. When Wayne was 5 years old he told her that some day he was going to have a car. From that day on she started putting a little of her pension money aside. In fact, she buried it and by the time Wayne was 16, she was ready. "I'm going to buy you a car," she told him. "I've got the money buried." Wayne thanked her but couldn't let her do that. A year later when Wayne turned pro, he bought a car of his own, a new Pontiac Trans-Am that he got in Indianapolis.

If you cross-check Wayne or knock him down, he just gives you that funny smile, then goes and tries to score the goal that will beat you. Wayne needed a police escort to get in and out of rinks. In his first year, he had that one goal. In his second, he scored 27, in his third, 104 plus 63 assists in 62 games. In their second tournament, Brantford beat Beaconsfield, Que., 9 to 1. He finished with 2 goals and 3 assists. Hockey has taken Wayne all over the world. He’s been to the Soviet Union, he played in Europe, and he’s hopped back and forth across North America. The longest, toughest trip he ever took was 60 miles, from Brantford to Toronto. Bill and his wife, Rita, offered to take Wayne into their home. He could live there, go to school, be in a good family situation, mix with new kids, even get a trip to Europe with the Nats for a couple of exhibition games.

Wayne has received so much recognition in his career, and most of the publicity was centred on him. Wayne stayed with the Nationals, playing 3 age groups above him. Although he hadn't started until the season was almost 6-7 years old, he scored 27 goals and got 33 assists for 60 points and was named the league's rookie-of-the-year. In pre-season Wayne had 31 points (9 goals and 22 assists) including 6 in his first game as a junior "A". He was 16 playing against 18 and 19 year olds. It ended up with Smith on top with 69 goals and 123 assists for 192 points, Wayne second at 70-112-182, and Ciccarelli third at 72-70-142. Pocklington phoned Gus and told him he wanted to sign Wayne to a 21 year contract- 9 years plus 26 year option, at $180,000 per year for nine years, plus a $100,000 bonus. That would make him an Oiler until 1999. Peter called back and offered the same deal, only at $280,000 for each of the first 9 years, plus the $100,000 bonus. Wayne's birthday was on Friday and now he is legal and was 18 so now he can go into pubs with the boys and could afford to buy a round that is if he remembered to bring any money. The Oilers put season tickets on sale and sold all 15,242 in 11 days. Edmonton set NHL records for most goals (417), most assists (706) and most points (1,123). In 1981-82, Wayne had broken his own NHL records for assists (120) and points (212). We're through the 1983-84 season and Wayne's a veteran pro at 23. Gretzky was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on November 22, 1999, becoming the tenth player to bypass the three-

year waiting period.

Gretzky met American actress Janet Jones in 1984 when he was a judge on Dance Fever and she was a dancer. In 1987 they began dating after running into each other. Janet was four months pregnant when they got married on July 17, 1988. Now they have 4 other children: Ty Robert (b. July 9, 1990), Trevor Douglas (b. September 14, 1992), Tristan Wayne (b. August 2, 2000), and Emma Marie (b. March 28, 2003). Wayne has won many awards. There were rumours about Wayne becoming the Alternate Governor and Managing Partner of the Phoenix Coyotes NHL team then on August 8 2005 Gretzky agreed to become the new coach of the Coyotes.