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Before he was an NHL Hall of Famer, Wayne Gretzky was just 10, missing teeth and lighting up the scoreboard with 400 goals. But the nickname that would follow him forever came from a single line in a local newspaper, and his dad wanted nothing to do with it.
Gretzky recently shared how the iconic “Great One” nickname originated. It wasn’t a planned publicity move. A reporter from the London Free Press came to write a story after Gretzky’s amazing season. At the end of the article, the journalist made a bold suggestion: if legends like Gordie Howe were “Mr. Hockey,” maybe the 10-year-old sensation should be called “The Great One.”
As soon as the article was printed, Gretzky’s father pushed back. He didn’t want his son carrying that kind of title at such a young age. But no matter how hard he tried to stop it, the nickname wouldn’t fade away. It kept coming up until eventually, even Wayne had to accept it. “We’re going to have to live with it,” he remembered thinking.
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The name came after an almost legendary season—400 goals in a single year. For most kids, that number might sound impossible, but for young Wayne, it was just another chapter in a journey that had barely started. That stat alone had reporters and fans scrambling to find words big enough to match his performance.
That same year brought a rite of passage. Wayne Gretzky took a hit, lost some teeth, and burst into tears. His father didn’t coddle him; instead, he offered a sentence that stuck just as much as the nickname: “Well, now you’re a real hockey player.”
Between the missing teeth and the 400-goal season, it was a year that shaped a legacy. “The Great One” wasn’t created in the NHL spotlight; it started in the pages of a local paper, with a kid who couldn’t stop scoring and a name too fitting to ignore.
