By David Fleet

Editor

A cold February night in 1971, Olympia Stadium, Detroit. The Detroit Red Wings were set to play the Junior A Wings in a March of Dimes charity event.

According to the Associated Press, it was the first time Gordie Howe and sons, Mark and Marty, would play on the same forward line.

Gordie Howe, then a right winger for the Red Wings, was part of four Stanley Cups, won six Hart Trophies as NHL MVP and six Art Ross Trophies as the league’s top scorer. Howe began playing for the Red Wings in 1946, leading them to seven straight first-place finishes in the regular season. He was a part of the “Production Line” with Hall of Famers Ted Lindsay and Sid Abel during his 25-year run with the franchise.

The attendance that night at Olympia was 11,650 when former Ortonville resident Bob Flath walked out on the ice just before the face-off to get a picture of the hockey trio—Gordie, Mark and Marty.

Flath, now 79 and retired from The Citizen newspaper where he worked as a photographer for eight years, was then employed by the United Press International covering the Detroit area. Flath also contracted with Stroh’s Brewery Company to assist with promotion pictures.

“Stroh’s produced a lot of calendars and posters at the time, which included photos of the Detroit Red Wings,” said Flath. “I suggested the Howes go to center ice for the picture that night. So I had to walk all the way to the middle on the Olympia ice—about half way across I slipped backwards and landed on my ass,” recalled Flath. “The Olympia crowd just went hysterical. I remember laying there laughing, trying to figure out how I was going to get up, when two big Red Wing players came over and scooped me up. They skated me out to center ice for the picture then back off the ice.”

The game ended in a 6-6 tie.

Howe, known as “Mr. Hockey,” left the Red Wings in 1971, just a few months after his encounter with Flath. Over Howe’s hockey career, which spanned five decades and 2,421 professional games, he tallied 801 goals and 1,850 points before his induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Howe’s jersey is retired in the rafters of Joe Louis Arena.

Gordie Howe died June 10, 2016.He was 88.

“I never talked to Gordie or his sons,” added Flath. “But I did speak with Gordie’s wife, Colleen Howe. She was very active with March of Dimes and helped arrange the charity game.”

Colleen died in 2009.