Athletes like Olympian rower Oscar Rompani or surfer Kelly Slater, who stunned the world as they somehow kept performing at an elite level way past their prime years. But nothing compares to this NHL legend whose career lasted the presidencies of Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter.
Discussing longevity in sports on the JRE, Joe Rogan stated that good-looking people can maintain their looks in their 50s by taking care of their skin, but there were no super athletes who continue to be so after half a century on the planet. That’s when young Jamie dropped NHL legend Gordie Howe’s name.
According to a report by ESPN, Howe claimed that as a young man, he would have been happy to turn in and play one season of the NHL. 300 stitches, multiple broken ribs, wrists, shoulders, and shattered knee cartilages later, and he had played 26 seasons in the NHL and six in the WHL.
On October 3, 1997, during the Detroit Vipers’ season opener, Howe took a single shift at 69 years of age. But that brief outing on ice added a new chapter to his legacy, leaving Rogan visibly stunned.
It was a historic moment that made Howe the only professional hockey player to compete in six different decades.
“That’s insane,” Rogan said, completely floored. “Who is that? Hockey? He was 69? That’s insane,” he exclaimed.
Interestingly, Howe had actually announced his retirement from the sport decades before this in 1971 – a record-holding NHL legend even back then with 786 goals, 1,023 assists, and 1,809 points. But something roped him back in.
Howe played with his sons in the NHL
Did Howe return to just experience the nostalgia of his glory days? Or was it a big bag of money, as Rogan claims Mike Tyson did?
The UFC commentator, still skeptical of Tyson’s performance against Jake Paul last year, claimed he knew of people being offered fake fights.
“A 100%, people have been offered a fight where they will say ‘You’ll win the fight‘”, Rogan noted. The UFC commentator also claimed that celebrity boxing matches and fights were entangled in such nefarious deals.
However, that was not Howe. His love for hockey transcended the need for a nostalgia-fuelled ego boost.
Two years after his 25th season with the Vipers, he was made the Vice-President of the team. But apparently, his role as an executive in the organization was poorly managed.
And as fate would have it, he would be allowed another opportunity to take his talents to the ice, which at 45 did make him doubt himself.
“If I failed badly, people would remember me more for trying to make a stupid comeback at 45 than for all the other things I did in hockey”, he had said at the time.
However, as he mulled over the decision, the Houston Aeros had signed him to play with his two sons, Mark and Marty Howe.
Notably, he would still go on to the MVP as the three Howes would lead the Aeros to win the WHL title in 1974 and 1975.
Mark and Gordie would move back to the NHL in 1979, soon after the WHL went bankrupt. Gordie would eventually call it a day at the age of 52, a year later, only to return for a cameo for the Vipers’ 1997 season opener to become the oldest NHL athlete of all time.
This feat reminded the UFC commentator of boxer Bernard Hopkins. “Wasn’t Bernard Hopkins’ world championship fight when he was in his 50s?” he asked.
Hopkins, one of the all-time boxing greats
“That’s f****** crazy,” Rogan exclaimed, noting, “So he [Hopkins] wins two titles — a title at age 48 and a title at age 49 —incredible.”
But it wasn’t just the wins that impressed Rogan, it was how Hopkins did it. Praising his excellent defensive technique, Rogan asserted that even at an older age, opponents couldn’t land clean shots on him.
Hopkins is known to have had an almost mathematical understanding of pugilism, which he banked on liberally to win the IBF middleweight title in 1995. He was 30 at the time.
Hopkins defended it 20 times, eventually unifying the division in 2001. He held the undisputed middleweight title from 2001 to 2005.
Hopkins also won the lineal light heavyweight title in 2011 and held it for a year. He then won the IBF light heavyweight title in 2014, when he was 48. He defended that title twice.
The last victory of his career came when he won the WBA Super light heavyweight and IBA light heavyweight titles in 2014, as a 49-year-old. According to Rogan, it all came down to discipline.
“His footwork was always on point… never drank, never smoked, always took care of his body, ate only organic food, worked out every day, never got out of shape,” the UFC commentator noted in admiration.
