Great Influence : Every Day Has Been Father’s Day for Wayne and Walter Gretzky

Walter was always there for Wayne.

Walter Gretzky was the first coach of his superstar son, his biggest fan, his top adviser and his best friend.

But Walter can’t be there for Wayne now. Not in all those capacities. Not 100%.

And that made Wayne’s return home earlier this week for the start of the Campbell Conference finals a bittersweet experience.

Wayne, of course, is deeply thankful his dad is there at all.

Nineteen months ago, Walter, then 53, suffered a ruptured aneurysm--the breaking of a bulging wall in a weakened blood vessel--in the brain.

“We thought he was going to die that night,” Wayne said. “He was given just a 10% chance to survive.”

Walter not only survived, but has recovered about 75% of what he lost physically and mentally. Back home in Brantford, about 60 miles from Toronto, Walter is continuing to improve with the help of a therapist who works with him eight to nine hours a day.

But as grateful as Wayne is for the progress, he couldn’t help but feel a void after each of the first two games in this best-of-seven series between the Kings and the Toronto Maple Leafs.

“Everyone wants someone to talk to,” Wayne said.

“Everyone wants someone to be supportive. My dad could break me down and build me back up like no one else. I don’t have that anymore, although I certainly feel fortunate just that he’s alive.

“He’s had a problem with short-term memory loss. My dad used to be able to sit down and remember every single play that happened in a hockey game. He would remember all the mistakes. You always see the last mistake, but he would remember what happened 30 seconds before to create the opportunity.

“He lived for being at the rink. That was his life.”

Wayne remembers a lot of moments, too, when Walter was there for him.

He was there when Wayne was only 3 and skating on a frozen river near his grandmother’s house. Walter improved on that, building a rink in his back yard for his young son.

Walter was there when Wayne was 10 and, playing in a youth hockey game, had three front teeth broken off. As he was being taken for treatment, the young Gretzky was in agony, the cold air blowing against the exposed stubs of his broken teeth.

“At least,” Walter said, trying to cheer up his son, “you look like a hockey player.”

Walter was there, too, when the young Gretzky had his doubts about his ability to succeed on the ice. Wayne can still remember Walter’s words.

“ ‘There’s pressure,’ ” he would say. “ ‘But pressure is part of life. If you can’t handle it in sports, you will not be able to handle it in life.’

“ ‘You’ve got so much God-given talent. People would kill to have your talent.’ ”

Walter was there when the teen-age Wayne was offered his first contract.

“You’re not signing that unless you agree to go to high school,” Walter said.

“I can’t go to high school,” Wayne argued. “I don’t have the time.”

He signed. He went to school.

Walter was there when Wayne was 16 and flush with the excitement of having played and excelled in his first game with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League.

Wayne couldn’t wait to see Walter after scoring three goals and assisting on three more in a 6-1 victory.

“I was crazy and excited,” Wayne remembered. “I was on a real high.”

Until he saw Walter. Uh-oh, something was wrong.

“The goals and assists mean nothing,” Walter said. “You stood around and let everybody else do the work.”

It was a mistake Wayne rarely repeated.

Walter was there when Wayne was 17 and received a $250,000 signing bonus to join the Indianapolis Racers of the old World Hockey Assn.

Walter thanked owner Nelson Skalbania, took the check and put it in the bank.

Until Wayne was 23, Walter saw to it that his son never had more than $2,000 in his checking account.

Walter was there when Wayne, a teen-age professional hockey phenom, was tempted to follow some of his peers and try drugs.

“I was petrified of my dad,” Wayne said. “The only reason I never tried drugs was that I was scared to death to have to look my father in the face afterward. I didn’t want to have to face him and lie.”

Walter was there when Wayne was 18 and already making $400,000. Wayne wanted to buy a new car. Walter insisted he buy a used car.

“He wanted to make sure I did not forget my priorities,” Wayne said.

So Wayne Gretzky, making $400,000 a year, drove around that season in a three-year-old car that had cost him $5,600.

“I was so mad,” Wayne said. “But I would never, ever cross my dad. I had too much respect for him.”

As his income grew into the millions, Wayne began spending much more of it. And his greatest joy was in spending it on his father.

Walter is an avid fisherman. One Father’s Day, Wayne bought him a boat and had it delivered to Walter’s front lawn.

It got to the point that, when an occasion arose, Walter, anticipating some extravagant gift, would tell his wife, Phyllis, and his four other children to lock the doors because, “You don’t know what’s going to happen with Wayne.”

Sitting in a Toronto hotel this week, Wayne laughed at the memories of those days.

“I got more enjoyment from buying things for him than for anyone else,” Wayne said.

Gretzky has a lot of pleasant memories of growing up near Toronto. He can clearly recall the last time he attended a playoff game in this city.

The year was 1975. The Maple Leafs were playing the Philadelphia Flyers. In those days, anybody who had a jacket from the Maple Leafs’ youth teams could get into the Maple Leaf Gardens’ standing-room section for a dollar.

Gretzky borrowed a jacket. Only problem was, the 14-year-old didn’t have a dollar.

“A nice, older gentleman at the gate let me in anyway,” Gretzky said.

He was desperate to get in so he could study one of his idols, Philadelphia’s Bobby Clarke.

“He was the first guy I saw behind the net,” Gretzky said. “I patterned myself after him.”

Almost two decades later, Gretzky doesn’t need a jacket or a dollar to get into Maple Leaf Gardens. He’s the one standing behind the net, the idol of millions.

But, he figures, that wouldn’t be the case if Walter hadn’t been there.