Happy Birthday. One Day Late.

I just realized that yesterday was the birthday of my friend, Gordie Howe. Okay, he's not really my friend, but I had an assignment to take photos of him and I did get to hang out around him and chat with him a little bit. It was a real thrill to meet the greatest hockey player of all time. He would have been 78 in the photo above and he's as sharp as ever. Mugging for the camera with girls and horsing around with young boys. He had a line of hundreds (maybe 500?) waiting for his autograph and he took time to talk to every single one of them and he maintained his sense of humor throughout.

At the end of the evening as he was wrapping up to go home, he took the time to pose for this photo (graciously taken by photo superstar Barry Rankin of Dirla Studio) and sign a puck for me to "Mr. Photo from Mr. Hockey." That was a pretty good night.

Happy birthday, Gordie.