Walter Gretzky
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Walter Gretzky, O.Ont, (born October 8, 1938 in Canning, Ontario, Canada) is the father of former NHL legend Wayne Gretzky, as well as Brent Gretzky and Keith Gretzky.
The son of ethnic Polish immigrants from Mogilev, Belarus and Pidhaitsy,Ukraine he played ice hockey for much of his youth, but never made it beyond juniors. He met his wife Phyllis Hockin (October 14, 1941 in Paris, Ontario - December 19, 2005), daughter of Betty Hockin, at a wiener roast at the Gretzky farm when she was 15 and he was 18. She was related to British General Sir Isaac Brock, a hero of the War of 1812. They married in 1960, and moved to Brantford, Ontario. Unlike Walter - who did Sharp ViewCam commercials with Wayne and Wayne's son, Ty - Phyllis mostly refused to embrace the celebrity that sprang from their son's exploits, although she did a commercial with Wayne for ProStars Cereal in the 1980's, and appeared in the video Wayne Gretzky: Above and Beyond (1990).
Walter was an installer and repairman for Bell Canada for 34 years, retiring in 1991. A work-related injury he suffered in 1961 left him in a coma, and resulted in deafness in his right ear. Five days after his 53rd birthday, he suffered a near-fatal brain aneurysm which destroyed his long-term memory. His physical therapist, Ian Kohler, married his daughter Kim in 1995. His ordeal is the basis of the CBC movie Waking Up Wally: The Walter Gretzky Story. He spends his time helping charities and fundraisers and coaching at his summer youth hockey camp in California.In his book Walter recounts that during his recovery from his brain aneurysm, the only language he could speak was Polish.
Fans come to his house to see his basement, stuffed with momentos from Wayne's amateur career, and his backyard, which, every winter, was turned into a "rink" Walter taught his sons and their friends hockey on. The "rink" was replaced by a swimming pool on the day Wayne was traded to the Los Angeles Kings. His other children - Kim, Keith, Glen, and Brent - were also athletic. Brent, drafted by the Tampa Bay Lightning, played 13 NHL games. Keith, drafted by the Buffalo Sabres in 1985, never made it to the NHL, but has coached in the minors (he was Brent's coach when both were with the UHL Asheville Smoke. Kim was an exceptional track and field star.
He has written two books: On Family, Hockey and Healing (2003), and Gretzky: From Backyard Rink to the Stanley Cup (1985), in which he recounted how he recognized Wayne's prodigious skills and shaped him into the most prolific scorer in hockey history. In an unusually frank 1990 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Wayne recounted how Walter would build him up one minute and tear him down the next, reminding him constantly that he could never have an "average" game. Not surprisingly, Wayne reportedly has tried to get his own three sons involved in sports other than hockey.
Phyllis died of lung cancer at Brantford General Hospital. Her mother, Betty Hockin, died in Brantford on January 7, 2006 from complications from a heart attack.
