The night Mr. Hockey came for family dinner in Windsor, Ont.
'He thought he was being funny, but it was hurting'
When Windsor, Ont., businessman Larry Horwitz asked the legendary Gordie Howe to come for a Friday night dinner, he didn't expect Mr. Hockey would accept the impromptu invitation.
"I didn't think he would do it, but him and his son-in-law came to my house with my family and friends," Horwitz said.
It was November 2013. Gordie Howe came to Windsor to be the Grand Marshall for Downtown Winter Fest, an annual holiday celebration which includes the Santa Claus parade.
Horwitz, head of the Downtown Windsor Business Improvement Association, picked up Howe at the Windsor International Airport and said the jokes — and fists — started flying immediately.
"He kept hitting me in the chest, and grabbing my arm and squeezing it, and he thought he was being funny, but it was hurting," Horwitz said. "He didn't even know his strength at that time, he had hands that were as big as my head, and he would put them on my head."
Howe was 85 years old at the time.
Horwitz spent several hours with Howe before he mustered up the courage to ask Mr. Hockey to come to dinner. He eventually asked and Howe accepted.
Once the word got out that Howe accepted the invitation, the guest list began to grow.
"My wife, my nephew, four of my five children, a couple of friends came in from Detroit when they heard about it, a couple friends from Windsor," said Horwitz.
Dinner was served in the dining room, where Horwitz says there was plenty of room for everyone.
"It was a beautiful meal," he said, "It started with salad, then a little brisket, some soup, and ended with a great dessert."
That menu met with Howe's approval and he offered his compliments.
"He said to my wife, if he knew the food was this good, he might have converted," said Horwitz. "He had such a good sense of humour, he was humouring my mother, and making her feel good about herself, he had a way of making people feel good about themselves."
Horwitz said the conversation really revolved around Windsor.
"He wanted to talk about Windsor and he wanted to talk about the old Windsor arena, and even then how dilapidated it was. He talked about Ouellette Avenue and all the fun shops he would go to along the strip." "He talked about the people in Windsor, that he really enjoyed being in Windsor when he did come here."
Howe, widely regarded as the most complete player in the history of the sport, starred for the Detroit Red Wings, right across the river from Windsor.
While at dinner that November night, Howe still seemed to have a thing with getting "rough" with Horwitz.
"Once again, started grabbing me, and choking me and pretending like we're in a hockey game. And I have very little understanding of the game, so for me I just felt like he was choking me," said Horwitz.
Howe died June 10. He was 88 years old. He will be remembered in Detroit at a public memorial Tuesday at Joe Louis Arena.
With files from Aadel Haleem