1938–2021 · Bell Canada repairman, minor-hockey coach, father of Wayne Gretzky
Walter Gretzky spent thirty-four years as an installer and repairman for Bell Canada and his winters flooding a backyard rink in Brantford, Ontario — the “Wally Coliseum” — where he drilled his son on anticipation rather than puck-chasing. The puck line was one of his standing coaching prompts. Wayne used it in the first person and it attached to his name; it was Gordie Howe and Walter himself who told Fast Company in June 2000 where it had actually come from. He became one of hockey’s best-known parents in his own right before his death in 2021.