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His ancestors and upbringing
Gretzky's ancestors came from Europe, his grandfather Tony being from Belarus and his grandmother from Poland. They arrived at Canada via the United States, at the beginning of the 20th century. They came from a humble background and owned a vegetable farm in Canada. The farm was a second home to the family, and where they would often watch hockey games on television (Redmond, 1993; Kukushkin, 2007; Jones, 2008).
Growing up, Gretzky's father taught him how to play the game in their backyard and the kid showed a remarkable talent. He started playing in a group when he was 14, and at age 17 he was already signed to the Indianapolis Racers. He quickly achieved his first record against Dave Dryden of the Edmonton Oilers. However, he only played in the group for eight games, and then, due to financial losses of the team, he was told that he would be moved and given the choice between Edmonton and Winnipeg. He chose the former, in which he was from 1979 to 1988. After winning the Stanley Cup in 1988, he found out that the group is about to sell him to another group. In an arrangement referred to as "the trade", he agreed to move to the Los Angeles Kings with Marty McSorley and Mile Krushelynski, which were traded for three other players (Matheson, n.d).
In the new group Gretzky was named captain and performed very well, except for a regular season between 1992-3, when he had a back injury. In 1996, he was sold to the St. Louis Blues at his request, where he was also captain. But he didn't click with the others and that same year moved to New York Rangers. He had many achievements and even broke the professional total goal-scoring record.
How he was perceived in the sports world
Gretzky was considered by some to be too short and light to be in the NHL, his height being 6 feet and his weight 160 pounds. But his notable intelligence and ability to read the game were skills that helped him advance quickly in the game. He was said to have eyes in the back because he could anticipate where every player is going to be even if the player wasn't in his field of vision ("Ordinary Guy", 1977)
After his retirement, he was inducted at the Hockey Hall of Fame on November 22, 1999, without the needed three year waiting period. He was the tenth and last player to be awarded with that honor without waiting for that period of time. He was also inducted to the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2000 ("Induction Showcase", n.d).
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