Wayne Gretzky eulogizes father, Walter, Canada's Hockey Dad: 'He was a remarkable man'

Jackie Spiegel

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Wayne Gretzky eulogizes father, Walter, Canada's Hockey Dad: 'He was a remarkable man' image

Wayne Gretzky stood at the lectern Saturday and in an emotional eulogy paid tribute to his father, Walter, who died Thursday at age 82.

"He was a remarkable man who loved life, loved family," the eldest of Walter's five children said. "We'd be a way better world if there were so many more people like my dad."

While the service was restricted to family, crowds gathered outside in Brampton, Ont., to pay their respects. As Wayne said, Walter Gretzky had a "heart of gold." Known as "Canada's Hockey Dad," he left a lasting legacy across the country and the hockey world.

"Every grandchild loved him, close to each and every one of them. They understood how important he was not only to our family but to the culture of Canada," Wayne Gretzky said. "He came here, his family as 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 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."

MORE: Canada's Hockey Dad dies at 82, Twitter pays tribute

Walter Gretzky, who battled Parkinson's disease and had a nearly fatal brain aneurysm in 1991, suffered a bad hip injury a few weeks ago.

"We thought weeks ago that the end was here," Wayne said, pointing out that COVID-19 had no impact on his father's passing. "He has tremendous amount of faith, faith like I've never seen, but he had a love for life and didn't want to leave. And we were 21 days sitting with him and just enjoying life and we got a chance and opportunity to tell stories."

After the news was posted to Twitter, people from all walks of life took to social media to offer condolences and to tell their own stories of meeting and interacting with Walter Gretzky, who always made time for each and every person he met. 

Wayne Gretzky also told two these stories during the eulogy:

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're going to play these better teams than little towns in this area. And on the Friday night we're 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 OK, you can wait till we get back.' So, Brent was born on the Saturday. We went to this tournament in Whitby, Ont. 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 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 . . . came over, she was the last person to come over. She said, 'Walter, I can't believe you missed the birth of Brent.' And when she walked out the door he was so mad he stood up and grabbed the trophy and he goes: 'Yes! but we got the trophy.'

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, my sons 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're playing golf one day and he's picking up golf balls, and I'm like, we have all these golf balls. What are all these golf balls for? And finally the next day, Ty, Trevor and 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 them. I said, 'You guys got to stop grabbing golf balls.' They're like, 'What do you mean? 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.' We take my dad to the airport at 5 a.m. Sure enough, we get to the airport and there's this two big bags and my brother Glen, 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, oh, my god. So there was four hours, but that's how he was.

You can watch the entire eulogy below:

Jackie Spiegel