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PAGE 4 TERRACE BAY NEWS JUNE 20, I973 SPORTS SLANTS - By Ray Shank As I expected (and predicted), Gordie Howe severed his ties with Detroit Red Wings - a team he had been associated with for 27 years - last week. Although he hadn't officially announced it as of last Tuesday, the No. 1 Red Wing was within a whisker of signing a contract with Houston Aeros of the World Hockey Association, which would, for him, realize a life-long dream - to play professional hockey with his two sons, Mark and Marty. The Aeros have offered Poppa Howe $I mill- ion to sign and it's doubtful if he'll pass up that kind of money. Gordie's been a real busyboy for the last three or four weeks, with all the negotiations with Houston going on, etc., so I wasn't able to contact him, as promised, last week. However, I was able to reach Jim Smith, the youthful president and general manager of the Aeros. Smith told me the story of how he and other Aero officials suddenly got it in their heads that there was a chance of making pro hockey history = signing the best known hockey player in the world - and his two sons. The idea came to mind, according to Smith, during the WHA's annual meeting in Toronto in early May. "We decided to draft the two boys (Mark and Marty), even though we knew they still were eligible to play junior hockey. We stunned the NHL and the Canadian Amateur Hockey Assoc- iation by making this move, and even the other owners in the WHA," Smith recalled. Marty still has one year to play with Tor- onto Marlboros and Mark (apparently the better of the two), still had two years. "But I realized that both boys were born in the United States. Because they are Amer- ican citizens and because they were paid $60 a2 week to play for Toronto, they were classi- REMBER FURNITURE WAREHOUSE I20I W.Walsh Street Thunder Bay,Ont. (at end of Walsh St.,near Airport) NEW FURNITURE AT DISCOUNT PRICES Bedroom, Livingroom,Kitchen Furniture, Westinghouse Appliances ,Wall-to-Wall Broadloom Motel Furniture and Bedding FREE DELIVERY in NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO fied as pros in the U.S. So, we were drafting professionals, not amateurs." The next step, of course, was talking to Gordie about leaving the Wings and coming dut of reitrement to play with Mark and Marty. "It was a natural," says Smith. Gordie was excited about the whole thing from the start, and the ball has been rolling even since. ; Smith says that former star Montreal Canad- ien defenceman Doug Harvey was instrumental in coming up with the idea. It was Harvey who started to talk about it a couple of months ago and Smith and his associates followed it up. The move, as you can well imagine, has made NHL (especially Red Wing) officials and CAHA executives bite their foreheads in disgust. Signing the two boys now clears the way for any junior-aged kid to turn pro when he pleas- es (in the WHA, that is), and at the same time the NHL, as well as missing out on the best junior stars in Canada, in future years, lost a lot of prestige by losing the services of Mr. Hockey himself. First it was Bobby Hull who defected... Then came several other established NHLers, like Bernie Parent, Derek Sanderson (who later re- continued page 5 PUBLIC. NOT IBaC'E USE OF SANITARY LAND FILL SITE TOWNSHIP OF TERRACE BAY To comply with the standards established by the Waste Management Branch of The Ministry of Environment, it is necessary to implement changes affecting the use of our Land Fill Site. Effective date for the following chang- es will be July 2, I973. (I) To provide proper covering and compaction the site will be open during specified periods only: nd £il availa CLOSED tosnter JESDAY 4 P.M. to FRIDAY 4 P.M. | OPEN MONDAYS 8 A.M. THURSDAYS 8 A.M. Persons using the site during the above periods must ensure that their refuse is | placed over the bank in the pit area pro- vided. Garbage will continue to be picked up on Tuesdays and Fridays. This will apply to both residential and commercial premis- | eS. TOWNSHIP OF TERRACE BAY.