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Family tradition
Jan-Christian Sorensen jsorensen@nsnews.com
WALTER Gretzky considers himself one very lucky man.
Not once but twice in his lifetime the father of hockey's greatest product has successfully cheated death.
In his 20s, when Wayne was just a toddler, Walter was working for Bell Canada when he was struck in the back of the head by a piece of equipment that split his hardhat, fractured his skull and left him totally deaf in his right ear.
Then, on Oct. 13, 1991, Walter was struck by an aneurism that threatened his life and effectively wiped out all the memories he had made between the late '70s and mid-'90s.
Wayne's glory years? The great Oilers dynasty? That big trade to the Kings? Gone in the blink of an eye.
And to this day, like Guy Pearce in Memento, it's still a chore for Walter to fashion new, short-term memories.
"For a lot of that time between the '70s and the '90s, time just doesn't exist," says Walter. "The odd thing I remember but most everything I don't. I never knew we had two memories - long term and short term. I thought your memory was either good, bad or indifferent."
The two second chances gave him a new perspective - besides the renewed lease on life, he says.
"I've had a second chance at life not once, but twice. It made me realize that every second of every day is precious."
That's one of the reasons why Walter spends most of his time these days giving back to the community and helping out with charity events across the country.
He's the spokesman for the Ontario Heart and Stroke Foundation and also represents the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB). It was in that latter capacity that he visited Vancouver last week to announce the launch of the Labatt-sponsored Walter and Wayne Gretzky Fund.
The fund will host the popular Seemore at Seymour charity golf tournament at Seymour Golf and Country Club on June 24. One hundred and thirty-five golfers will take to the links in foursomes to raise funds for local CNIB initiatives. Corporate sponsorships are available, as well as individual tickets ($145) to take part in the event.
It's one of three tournament stops on the CNIB fundraising tour - the other two will take place in Gretzky's hometown of Brantford, Ont. while the other will be hosted by Halifax.
It's been a long association with the CNIB for the Gretzky family.
It all began when Wayne was 18 and waiting at Toronto's Pearson International Airport for a ride back to Brantford. He struck up a conversation with a pair of visually impaired youths, one of whom immediately recognized Wayne's voice and began spouting off statistics.
Walter remembers Wayne telling the story when he finally got home from the airport that night.
"It was 12:30 at night, I gotta go to bed, I gotta go to work in the morning, but Wayne's sitting at the kitchen table and was so impressed that this young man knew everything about him and he said 'You know what I should do, Dad? I should phone a few of my friends and have a little tennis tournament to raise a few dollars for the CNIB'."
Four million dollars and 22 years later, Walter has taken over the reins for his son and keeps the family's charity torch burning brightly. The CNIB recently chose to repay the rewards it has reaped from the celebrity endorsement by renaming the main CNIB office in Brantford to the Gretzky Family CNIB Service Centre.
"We started off with Wayne being the ambassador and our goodwill speaker, and because of his schedule and when he went from Edmonton to L.A. he asked his Dad to take it over for him and ever since then Walter's been the catalyst behind everything," says Ron Finucan, the CNIB's Gretzky family liaison.
One of the Gretzky family initiatives which has come around in the past few years is the growth of the institute's scholarship foundation. Five years ago it awarded three students $1,000 grants. Currently it's up to 20 students a year claiming a $5,000 purse each.
Walter also spearheads the annual summer Gretzky SCORE camps - also known as the Summer Computer Orientation Recreational Educational program designed to teach visually impaired children how to use computers. Every summer for 12 days the institute takes 20 youngsters under its wings and gives them the basics.
When asked if he's ever worried about being in the shadow of the Great One, Walter laughs, saying he takes it all in stride.
"Everybody tries to get Wayne to come and do things or be a part of things and they can't get that so they settle for the second 'W'," he says. "I do it because I like being able to help someone. I wasn't involved until that day when Wayne met that young man at the airport."
The CNIB eventually managed to track down the young man who so impressed Wayne that night at the airport - a transplanted Nova Scotian by the name of Steven Linquist.
Wayne got in touch with Linquist's mother not long ago to tell her about the impact that her son had made on his family and how that had spelled millions of dollars of donations which have benefited the visually impaired all across the country.
"When we phoned her and told her we found who we were looking for, she couldn't even sleep that night," says Walter, who hopes to one day reunite Wayne and Steven at one of the CNIB golf tournaments.
"She said she stayed up all night. She just couldn't believe that because of her son all those millions of dollars were raised."
For more information on sponsorships or to buy a ticket to the event, contact the CNIB at 604-431-2020.
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