Who is walter gretzky

He lost several years of his long-term memory and key moments of his kids lives. Wayne credits his skill to his fathers brilliant coaching.

Walter is a strong supporter of many local and national charities including the Canadian National Institute for the Blind and the Ontario Lung Association which is supported through the Walter Gretzky Street Hockey Tournament. Walter was awarded the Honour of Canada in for his contributions to minor hockey in Canada and for his dedication to helping a myriad of local, provincial and national charities. Sign up for our newsletter Learn about Hall of Fame news, upcoming events and more!

In his remaining years, he was more outgoing and carefree. There were 61 of them. He also became an avid golfer. He gave that up, while devoting more of his time to worthwhile causes. Global News will live stream the service on Globalnews. World Canada Local. Walter Gretzky, father of hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, dies at Full Menu Search Menu.

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Sponsored content. On Family, Hockey and Healing. His autobiography and a made-for-TV movie told the story. Walter Gretzky was the son of immigrants — a Polish mother and Russian father — who started a vegetable farm in in Canning, Ontario, just outside Brantford, on the Nith River, where Wayne learned to skate when he was two. Walter played minor hockey in Paris, Ontario, then junior B for four years in Woodstock. Walter met Phyllis, his wife to be, at a wiener roast at the family farm.

She was 15 at the time. Three years later, they got married. Phyllis died of lung cancer in Wayne was the first born in , followed by Kim, Keith, Glen and Brent. Keith and Brent also played professional hockey. The same year as Wayne was born, Walter fractured his skull in a work accident as a Bell lineman. He spent some time in a coma and was off work for 18 months. The winter when Wayne was four, his father turned the backyard of their Brantford home into a rink that young Wayne called The Wally Coliseum.

Walter decided to make his own rink to avoid having to freeze standing outdoors at some outdoor rink elsewhere — or sit in his car with the engine running to get some heat — while Wayne skated.