September 3, 2026 • 9 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, when Walter Gretzky passed away at 82, people didn’t just remember him as the father of Wayne Gretzky. They remembered the man who stood quietly behind the scenes for decades, offering time, stability, and a kind of presence that never asked to be noticed. The backyard rink he built in Brantford became the foundation of Wayne’s earliest training, but the influence ran deeper than the ice.
In this remembrance, Wayne reflects on what he shared at his father’s funeral and how that quiet support shaped his life, both on the ice and far beyond it.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories,
and we tell stories about everything here on this show,
including your story. Send them to OurAmericanStories.com. That's OurAmericanStories.com. They're
some of our favorites. Known as Canada's hockey dad, Walter
Gretzky died at the age of 82. His death prompted
(00:30):
an avalanche of tributes for an approachable, authentic person who
nurtured the unsurpassed hockey talents of his son, Wayne Gretzky,
on the family's famed backyard rink in Brantford, Ontario. Walter
suffered a serious brain aneurysm which robbed him of much
of his memory in 2007. That includes many of Wayne's
(00:51):
biggest moments. The 60-year-old NHL legend-turned-American citizen delivered remarks about
At the St. Mark's Anglican Church in Brantford, shortly after
laying his father to rest, Wayne stepped up to the
podium in front of family, seated in the pews, and
reminisced about his father's life. Here's Wayne Gretzky.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Thank you. And obviously with the pandemic that we've had,
it's been horrible for everyone throughout the world, Canada, North America.
I really wanted to tell everyone that my dad and
my sister and our family were so conscious of it
(01:34):
that COVID had nothing to do with the passing of
my father. Unfortunately, a few weeks ago, he sustained a
bad hip injury. And as he just said earlier, we
thought weeks ago that the end was here. He has
tremendous amount of faith. like I've never seen, but he
(01:57):
had a love for life and he didn't want to leave.
And we were 21 days sitting with him and just
enjoying life and we got a chance and an opportunity
to tell stories. Our grandchildren had never seen my dad
after his brain aneurysm and we were telling them all,
(02:19):
you're thankful that you didn't know him before his brain
aneurysm because he was a lot tougher. So it's been
a tough time. I want to thank everyone in the
community who dropped off food, who dropped off sandwiches. They
knew we were all there for 21 days. My sister
(02:41):
was a champ. She was beside him each and every
minute of the day. The grandkids were wonderful. My dad
and mom I know are so proud. So I thought
I would tell a couple stories. I didn't know. I
spent the last four nights talking with my wife, Janet,
thinking what I was going to say. And like I
(03:04):
usually do, I try to just kind of wing it
and speak from my heart. So years ago, as everyone knows,
my dad was such a huge sports fan and hockey guy.
And we were playing in a hockey tournament outside of Toronto.
And My dad was so proud of the fact we
(03:26):
were going to play against better teams than little towns
in this area. And on a Friday night, we were
going to the tournament, and my mom said to him, Walter,
we're going to have this baby this weekend. And he said,
it's okay, you can wait until we get back. So,
(03:47):
Brant was born on the Saturday. We went to this tournament.
In Whitby, Ontario, we played against good teams like Burlington, Oshawa, Hamilton, Toronto, Marlies, Nationals.
We won the tournament, we got in the car, and
we weren't sure if the car could get us back
from Oshawa to Brantford. So we finally got back, and
(04:11):
the next day, mom came home with Brent, people were
coming by, families, friends, sisters, congratulations on the baby, and
every single person would say to my dad, Walter, I
can't believe you missed the birth of your son. So
our next door neighbor, Mary Rosetto, came over. She was
the last person to come over. She said, Walter, I
(04:34):
can't believe you missed the birth of Brent. And when
she walked out the door, he was so mad, he
stood up and he grabbed the trophy and he goes, yes,
but we got the trophy. So, As time goes on,
he was so nice to all the grandchildren. Every grandchild
loved him, close to each and every one of them.
(04:58):
They understood how important he was, not only to our family,
but to the culture of Canada. He came here, his
family is an immigrant. They came here because they wanted
a better life. I don't think I've ever met a
prouder Canadian than my dad. And all my five children
(05:18):
are American, born in the United States. And I always
tell them, you should be as proud of the United
States as your grandfather is of Canada, because that's how
much he loves the country. So I always tell my kids,
you know, there's nothing better in life than family. So
my dad would come every year to our summer house.
(05:40):
My son, Ty, Trevor, Tristan, they had a... hockey school,
and Dad would come out. He'd go to the rink,
sign autographs like he always does. And we were playing
golf one day, and he's picking up golf balls. And
(06:01):
I'm like, we have all these golf balls. What are
all these golf balls for? And finally the next day, Ty, Trevor, Tristan,
my friend Mike and Tom, they're in the fairway, they're
in the rough, they're grabbing all these balls. And I
finally grabbed him. I said, you guys got to stop
grabbing golf balls. And they're like, what do you mean?
(06:21):
Your dad wants them for the kids. I said, I
know he wants them for the kids, but I got
to sign them for the kids. So I take my
dad to the airport at 5 AM. Sure enough, we
get to the airport. And there's these two big bags.
And my brother Glenn, he runs out of the car.
He's going to get a cup of coffee. And my
dad goes, you'll sign these for the kids, right? I'm like,
(06:42):
oh my god. So there I was signing for hours.
But that's how he was. He was a remarkable man
who loved life, loved family. We'd be a way better
world if there were so many more people like my dad.
Very special. We're all hurting. This is a tough time.
I'm so proud of the fact that so many people
(07:04):
have reached out and given him such great tributes because
he deserves it. He has the heart of gold and
just wonderful people.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
And you've been listening to Wayne Gretzky eulogizing his father.
And by the way, though he suffered tremendous memory loss
due to that brain aneurysm, the father did remember many
accounts of his own personal faith. And we have a
couple of quotes from you. In our family, Walter once said,
we're all Christians and we all help each other. It's
(07:39):
due unto others as you would like done unto yourself.
Walter also said in 2013 that one morning during his rehabilitation,
He woke up and couldn't stop singing all of Amazing Grace.
And that would be all the verses. It drove my
therapist nuts, he said. For my sister and three brothers,
Dad was our team captain, Wayne said. He guided, protected,
(08:02):
and led our family every day, every step of the way. And,
by the way, we would love to hear your stories
about your father, your mother. And we love eulogies. I mean,
not that we love that there's a death, But there
inevitably is for all of us. And the eulogy is
a summary of a life written by people closest to
(08:23):
the person that's departed. And so if you have a
great eulogy in mind from a family member or someone else,
our favorite here on this show, and I think there
are two, Swen Nader, a player who had played for
John Wooden, wrote a poem for Coach. Swen was a poet,
a great ballplayer, but a poet. And it was spectacular.
(08:43):
And then my favorite, my personal favorite, was Jack Nicklaus
eulogizing Arnold Palmer and telling the world what made Arnold special.
So if you have those stories, eulogies, and if you
have a recording, it will be still in my heart.
Send it our way. Send it to OurAmericanStories.com. Wayne Gretzky
eulogizes his father. And one can tell there was great
(09:07):
love there. And when you have a father's love and
a mother's love, you're privileged. And when you don't, Well,
enough said. Wayne Gretzky's eulogy of his father here on
Our American Stories.
This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories,
and we tell stories about everything here on this show,
including your story. Send them to OurAmericanStories.com. That's OurAmericanStories.com. They're
some of our favorites. Known as Canada's hockey dad, Walter
Gretzky died at the age of 82. His death prompted
(00:30):
an avalanche of tributes for an approachable, authentic person who
nurtured the unsurpassed hockey talents of his son, Wayne Gretzky,
on the family's famed backyard rink in Brantford, Ontario. Walter
suffered a serious brain aneurysm which robbed him of much
of his memory in 2007. That includes many of Wayne's
(00:51):
biggest moments. The 60-year-old NHL legend-turned-American citizen delivered remarks about
At the St. Mark's Anglican Church in Brantford, shortly after
laying his father to rest, Wayne stepped up to the
podium in front of family, seated in the pews, and
reminisced about his father's life. Here's Wayne Gretzky.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Thank you. And obviously with the pandemic that we've had,
it's been horrible for everyone throughout the world, Canada, North America.
I really wanted to tell everyone that my dad and
my sister and our family were so conscious of it
(01:34):
that COVID had nothing to do with the passing of
my father. Unfortunately, a few weeks ago, he sustained a
bad hip injury. And as he just said earlier, we
thought weeks ago that the end was here. He has
tremendous amount of faith. like I've never seen, but he
(01:57):
had a love for life and he didn't want to leave.
And we were 21 days sitting with him and just
enjoying life and we got a chance and an opportunity
to tell stories. Our grandchildren had never seen my dad
after his brain aneurysm and we were telling them all,
(02:19):
you're thankful that you didn't know him before his brain
aneurysm because he was a lot tougher. So it's been
a tough time. I want to thank everyone in the
community who dropped off food, who dropped off sandwiches. They
knew we were all there for 21 days. My sister
(02:41):
was a champ. She was beside him each and every
minute of the day. The grandkids were wonderful. My dad
and mom I know are so proud. So I thought
I would tell a couple stories. I didn't know. I
spent the last four nights talking with my wife, Janet,
thinking what I was going to say. And like I
(03:04):
usually do, I try to just kind of wing it
and speak from my heart. So years ago, as everyone knows,
my dad was such a huge sports fan and hockey guy.
And we were playing in a hockey tournament outside of Toronto.
And My dad was so proud of the fact we
(03:26):
were going to play against better teams than little towns
in this area. And on a Friday night, we were
going to the tournament, and my mom said to him, Walter,
we're going to have this baby this weekend. And he said,
it's okay, you can wait until we get back. So,
(03:47):
Brant was born on the Saturday. We went to this tournament.
In Whitby, Ontario, we played against good teams like Burlington, Oshawa, Hamilton, Toronto, Marlies, Nationals.
We won the tournament, we got in the car, and
we weren't sure if the car could get us back
from Oshawa to Brantford. So we finally got back, and
(04:11):
the next day, mom came home with Brent, people were
coming by, families, friends, sisters, congratulations on the baby, and
every single person would say to my dad, Walter, I
can't believe you missed the birth of your son. So
our next door neighbor, Mary Rosetto, came over. She was
the last person to come over. She said, Walter, I
(04:34):
can't believe you missed the birth of Brent. And when
she walked out the door, he was so mad, he
stood up and he grabbed the trophy and he goes, yes,
but we got the trophy. So, As time goes on,
he was so nice to all the grandchildren. Every grandchild
loved him, close to each and every one of them.
(04:58):
They understood how important he was, not only to our family,
but to the culture of Canada. He came here, his
family is an immigrant. They came here because they wanted
a better life. I don't think I've ever met a
prouder Canadian than my dad. And all my five children
(05:18):
are American, born in the United States. And I always
tell them, you should be as proud of the United
States as your grandfather is of Canada, because that's how
much he loves the country. So I always tell my kids,
you know, there's nothing better in life than family. So
my dad would come every year to our summer house.
(05:40):
My son, Ty, Trevor, Tristan, they had a... hockey school,
and Dad would come out. He'd go to the rink,
sign autographs like he always does. And we were playing
golf one day, and he's picking up golf balls. And
(06:01):
I'm like, we have all these golf balls. What are
all these golf balls for? And finally the next day, Ty, Trevor, Tristan,
my friend Mike and Tom, they're in the fairway, they're
in the rough, they're grabbing all these balls. And I
finally grabbed him. I said, you guys got to stop
grabbing golf balls. And they're like, what do you mean?
(06:21):
Your dad wants them for the kids. I said, I
know he wants them for the kids, but I got
to sign them for the kids. So I take my
dad to the airport at 5 AM. Sure enough, we
get to the airport. And there's these two big bags.
And my brother Glenn, he runs out of the car.
He's going to get a cup of coffee. And my
dad goes, you'll sign these for the kids, right? I'm like,
(06:42):
oh my god. So there I was signing for hours.
But that's how he was. He was a remarkable man
who loved life, loved family. We'd be a way better
world if there were so many more people like my dad.
Very special. We're all hurting. This is a tough time.
I'm so proud of the fact that so many people
(07:04):
have reached out and given him such great tributes because
he deserves it. He has the heart of gold and
just wonderful people.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
And you've been listening to Wayne Gretzky eulogizing his father.
And by the way, though he suffered tremendous memory loss
due to that brain aneurysm, the father did remember many
accounts of his own personal faith. And we have a
couple of quotes from you. In our family, Walter once said,
we're all Christians and we all help each other. It's
(07:39):
due unto others as you would like done unto yourself.
Walter also said in 2013 that one morning during his rehabilitation,
He woke up and couldn't stop singing all of Amazing Grace.
And that would be all the verses. It drove my
therapist nuts, he said. For my sister and three brothers,
Dad was our team captain, Wayne said. He guided, protected,
(08:02):
and led our family every day, every step of the way. And,
by the way, we would love to hear your stories
about your father, your mother. And we love eulogies. I mean,
not that we love that there's a death, But there
inevitably is for all of us. And the eulogy is
a summary of a life written by people closest to
(08:23):
the person that's departed. And so if you have a
great eulogy in mind from a family member or someone else,
our favorite here on this show, and I think there
are two, Swen Nader, a player who had played for
John Wooden, wrote a poem for Coach. Swen was a poet,
a great ballplayer, but a poet. And it was spectacular.
(08:43):
And then my favorite, my personal favorite, was Jack Nicklaus
eulogizing Arnold Palmer and telling the world what made Arnold special.
So if you have those stories, eulogies, and if you
have a recording, it will be still in my heart.
Send it our way. Send it to OurAmericanStories.com. Wayne Gretzky
eulogizes his father. And one can tell there was great
(09:07):
love there. And when you have a father's love and
a mother's love, you're privileged. And when you don't, Well,
enough said. Wayne Gretzky's eulogy of his father here on
Our American Stories.
Host
Lee Habeeb
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