Playboy Interview: Wayne Gretzky

In keeping with the Playboy tradition of interviewing heads of state, we bring you Wayne Douglas Gretzky of Canada. For those who don't follow the puck, he is Jim Thorpe on skates, Jesse Owens with a stick, Babe Ruth in hockey shorts. Going by statistics alone, Wayne Gretzky is the greatest athlete of the 20th Century. Going by the polls, he is more famous than everyone else in Canada combined.

Gretzky doesn't have the flash of Bobby Hull or Bobby Orr; he can't skate like Gilbert Perreault or Guy Lafleur; he can't muscle like Phil Esposito or Bryan Trottier; he's not a pure shooter, like Mike Bossy. Still, barring injury, Gretzky will score more goals than anyone else who has ever played hockey. Gordie Howe holds the all-time scoring record, with 1850 points. It took him 26 years to score them. Gretzky has earned more than 1000 points in fewer than six full seasons. If he keeps up his present pace, he'll pass Howe in ten years. At the age of 24, he already holds more records in hockey than any other athlete in any sport, period.

What the Great Gretzky has is a sixth sense--an ice sense, like Larry Bird's or Magic Johnson's court sense. He knows where everybody on the ice is, and he knows where the puck is going. He generally gets there first.

When a hockey player scores, which isn't often (hockey scores read like baseball scores), the last player to touch the puck gets credit for the goal. Usually, the two players on his team who touch it before him each receive assists. Goals and assists are worth a point apiece in a player's stats. The reason they have equal value is that the players who passed the puck are often as important to the goal as the scorer, if not more so.

Until recently, 50 goals was a magic number in hockey. Any 50-goal scorer was an instant superstar. With expansion and longer schedules, 100 points (goals and assists, remember) became the household-name plateau. At first, only Esposito and Orr were doing it. Then a few more--Marcel Dionne, Lafleur, Bossy and Trottier--joined them at the summit. Now there are a number of 100-point men. And then there's Gretzky, who year after year finishes 40, 50, even 60 points ahead of everyone else. According to his stats, Gretzky is 33-1/3 percent better than the second-best player in hockey. It's unlikely that anyone else in any sport is, or has ever been, that much better than his "peers."

Wayne Douglas Gretzky was born in Brantford, Ontario, on January 26, 1961. He's been famous ever since. His father, Walter, taught him to skate when he was two years old. By the time Wayne was five, he was playing on an all-star team with 10- and 11-year-olds. At the age often, he was averaging six goals a game. At 14, he left home to play Junior "B" hockey in Toronto, against 19- and 20-year-olds. Three years later, he was a pro, starring for the Indianapolis Racers of the old World Hockey Association. After only eight games, he was sold to the Edmonton Oilers. The Indianapolis Racers promptly folded. Wayne signed a 21-year personal-service contract with Oilers owner Peter Pocklington, making him--at 17--the highest-paid player in hockey.

That summer of 1979, four teams from the W.H.A., including Edmonton, merged with the National Hockey League. The scouting report on Gretzky was that at 5'11" and 170 pounds, he was too small and slow to compete in the bruiser-dominated N.H.L. All he did was tie for the 1979--1980 scoring title with 137 points. The next year, he totaled 164, breaking a decade-old N.H.L. record by 12 points.

Gretzky's third season was astonishing. He had 92 goals (the previous record was 76). With 212 total points, he broke his own scoring record by 48. Mike Bossy of the New York Islanders had a great season, scoring 147 points--only 65 fewer than Gretzky.

Last season, Gretzky led the league with 87 goals and 205 points. Double-teamed at every turn, he still led the Oilers into the Stanley Cup finals against the Islanders, winners of four straight Stanley Cups. Gretzky and company won. The aurora borealis came out over Alberta.

As his sixth season began last fall, Gretzky held or shared at least 34 N.H.L. records. He has the longest scoring streak in history--51 consecutive games (in one of them, his only point, a goal, came with two seconds left in the game). He has set the standards for most goals and most total points in a season. He has even shattered hockey's most sacred record--tantamount to a baseball player's breaking Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak: Maurice "Rocket" Richard once scored 50 goals in the first 50 games of a season; Gretzky broke that one in 39 games.

He makes about $1,000,000 a year playing hockey, plus $2,000,000 or so for endorsements. In Canada, he is as popular as the maple leaf; and thanks to his squeaky-clean image, he's a marketer's dream. There are a Gretzky doll, a breakfast cereal, a watch, a lunch box, a bedspread, wallpaper and TV commercials. How many jocks have their own wallpaper? The hockey stick he endorses went from 12th place to first in sales in 18 months. In addition to the penthouse in which he lives, he owns interests in office buildings and shopping centers in Edmonton and a high-rise in Calgary and hefty amounts of gold bullion and securities. He and his managers run the Gretzky empire from lavish offices, appointed in oak, marble and brass, in two landmark buildings in Edmonton. Their empire is multinational: The 3000 letters Gretzky receives each month come from everywhere, some of them simply addressed Wayne Gretzky, Canada.

To find out what makes the Great One so great, we sent free-lance writerScott Cohento Edmonton to speak with him before and after the Oilers' Stanley Cup victory last season. Cohen's report:

"Wayne Gretzky is unspectacular off the ice. He looks more like a surfer than a hockey player. The attribute that stands out most is his genuineness--fame hasn't gone to his head. He doesn't wear his money; he wears a sweat shirt and jeans. He owns a sports car but doesn't speed. He is loyal to his family and calls home three times a week. When he's not playing or doing endorsements, he's appearing at a banquet or a benefit or hosting a golf or tennis tournament on behalf of one of his many charities. Any girl in the country would be glad to break the ice with him; he has one girlfriend. His modesty is exasperating at times. I had thought I might be interviewing the most boring person on earth, but I, like a lot of people, had underestimated his intelligence and clarity of purpose.

"Gretzky's penthouse is tasteful, comfortable, low key. The decor is modern and masculine. His only possession that even hints at hype is a portrait of himself by Andy Warhol. The 'Interview,' which took place in Wayne's living room and at a restaurant over lunch, began with the topic of his pervasive presence in Canada."

[Q] Playboy: Your face is on billboards, posters, cereal boxes, dolls and magazine covers all over Canada. Outside Canada, you're fast becoming a household word. You hear your name a thousand times a day. You sign hundreds of autographs. Don't you get tired of being Wayne Gretzky?

[A] Gretzky: No. I drive to the rink, see a billboard, look at it--and I can stand it. [Grins] You hear Michael Jackson everywhere, too, but he's still great to dance to.

[Q] Playboy: Don't you get tired of signing all those autographs, or do you accept that as part of the job?

[A] Gretzky: It really isn't part of the job. You don't have to sign autographs. Nobody is going to throw you in jail for not signing. I believe it goes with being a professional athlete.

[Q] Playboy: At what point would fame become a liability?

[A] Gretzky: I don't think it will ever become a liability. How can I ever become more famous than Reggie Jackson? It's impossible, just because of numbers. There are almost as many people living in New York State as there are in all of Canada. If I ever became too well known, I could move to Houston, where nobody would know me. I don't think you can become too famous as a hockey player.

[Q] Playboy: Your fame is based, of course, on your being considered by many the most talented athlete in the world. How do you account for your gift?

[A] Gretzky: I think the success I have comes from believing in myself as a person and as a hockey player, utilizing all my teammates properly and having respect for the other player, that he's as good as I am. Those are the three major reasons.

[Q] Playboy: That's a little vague. Any good player could say that.

[A] Gretzky: Well, I also got a head start by playing at the age of two. By the time I was five, I was playing against 11-year-olds.

[Q] Playboy: Still, you must have had something special, something you were born with, to be able to play with kids twice your age.

[A] Gretzky: I had natural ability--plus, there was no other league for me to play in at that time. Either I played with older kids or I didn't play. At that time, kids didn't learn to play hockey until they were six or seven. I had been skating as long as most ten-year-olds.

You know, when I was two years old, I was doing the drills--taught to me by my father--that I saw eight years later, in 1972, when the Russians came over. People were saying, "Look at those drills; look at what they're doing," but I had been doing those things for eight or nine years, and they were nothing to me. My father is a very intelligent man, and to him, everything in life is fundamentals and basics.

[Q] Playboy: You were pushed to work pretty hard at it, weren't you?

[A] Gretzky: I worked hard, but there are a lot of others who worked hard at a young age, too. A lot of it has to do with being gifted. But there are a lot of people who are gifted. Whether it's in business, schooling or sports, you have to utilize your gifts. I also believe there are players who aren't doing as well as I am who are more talented than I.

[Q] Playboy: Who do you think is the best player?

[A] Gretzky: I don't know who the best is, but I can tell you whom I respect most: Denis Potvin, Mike Bossy and Bryan Trottier.

[Q] Playboy: Who else would be on your all-star team?

[A] Gretzky: Gilbert Perreault and Paul Coffey. The goal tender has to be Billy Smith. He's won four Stanley Cups.

[Q] Playboy: What have you learned from those players?

[A] Gretzky: I can't do what other players do, so I really haven't learned much. I can't hit people like Trottier can. I can't shoot as quickly as Bossy. I can't deke like Guy Lafleur. I'm not strong, like Potvin. I have to be Wayne Gretzky.

[Q] Playboy: Yet each year, you outscore those players by a very wide margin. Let's see if we can't pin down the way you assess your abilities, starting with the most obvious--passing and scoring.

[A] Gretzky: My feeling is, Let the puck do all the work. That's why Bossy and Trottier and Jari Kurri and I have success. People think that to be a good hockey player you have to pick the puck up, deke around everybody and take a shot, which is not true. Nobody can skate as fast as that little black thing. We move the puck, give and get it back, give and get it back.

[Q] Playboy: What about your shooting?

[A] Gretzky: You don't have to have a hard shot. You just have to be quick and bang it in there as fast as possible. Bossy can shoot that puck quicker than anyone else. Bang, it's in the net. As simple as that. Then there are guys with a hard shot, but I can't do that.

[Q] Playboy: One reason you do score as much as you do is your knack of being in the right place at the right time. How do you explain your ability to anticipate plays?

[A] Gretzky: I developed that just by being a smaller hockey player than everyone else. I had to be ahead of everybody else or I wouldn't have survived. If I weren't thinking, I could have been seriously injured. My dad always argues that instinct can be taught. Some guys are smart enough to learn it, but there are other guys in the league who are not smart enough and can't learn.

[Q] Playboy: How about your stamina? You play longer and harder than most players in the league, and you seem to be strongest at the end of the game, when others are the most tired.

[A] Gretzky: I used to do track and field as a kid. I was in a track club when I was six and seven, and I used to run three-, four-mile races. As I got older, the races got longer. The fact that I grew up running built up my endurance to a high level.

[Q] Playboy: Have you been tested by medical experts to see if there is something special about you?

[A] Gretzky: Yes. Our team doctors tested my endurance, strength, reflexes and flexibility with machines, bicycles and drills. They tested every guy on the team and I did bad in all the tests--except endurance.

[Q] Playboy: What do you think that demonstrated?

[A] Gretzky: You can't measure a guy's enthusiasm or intensity by having him sit on a bike or push on a machine. If you test a dull guy, you're going to get an accurate reading; but if you test an emotional guy, you won't.

[Q] Playboy: Sportswriters have said you seem to be able to see everything that's going on on the ice. Do you have exceptional peripheral vision?

[A] Gretzky: They call it peripheral vision; I call it fear. You would be able to get out of the way, too, if Potvin were going to hit you. He's a big, strong boy. And, again, growing up, I was always the small guy. When I was five and playing against 11-year-olds, who were bigger, stronger, faster, I just had to figure out a way to play with them. When I was 14, I played against 20-year-olds, and when I was 17, I played with men. Basically, I had to play the same style all the way through. I couldn't beat people with my strength; I don't have a hard shot; I'm not the quickest skater in the league, though at times I can be as fast as anybody. My eyes and my mind have to do most of the work.

[Q] Playboy: But are you able to see the entire game in a way others can't?

[A] Gretzky: I try to but, of course, I can't see everybody on the ice. I try my best to know where everybody is. So do all the good players in the league. I think that when I'm on the ice and teams see I have the puck, they send two or three players at me. That leaves openings for other players. I think that's why I get a lot of assists.

[Q] Playboy: Do you see other players or do you sense them?

[A] Gretzky: I sense them more than I actually see them. I get a feeling about where a teammate is going to be. A lot of times, I can turn and pass without even looking. Somebody will say, "Gosh, he didn't look but knew exactly where Jari Kurri was." True but not true. We've worked together for four years and have been to countless practices, and he knows I'm going to throw the puck there and I know he's going to be there. That's why it's important to know the other players and play together.

[Q] Playboy: When you're skating up ice with the puck, are you aware of who the defense man is on that side of the ice?

[A] Gretzky: All the time. When I'm on the ice, I know who else is on the ice, and when I go into our zone, I can even tell when somebody new has come onto the ice. A perfect example is when I play against the Rangers. It's no secret that if Barry Beck hit me, he would kill me. It's not as if he would intentionally hurt me. He's a big, strong man, and if I got myself into a position where I got hit by him, forget it. He could seriously hurt me. So when I'm on the ice, I try to go to the side opposite from where he is. The same with Potvin. I don't think there's any question that Potvin is the best defense man in the league. I think he's one of the reasons the Islanders won four Stanley Cups in a row.

[Q] Playboy: How would you stop Wayne Gretzky?

[A] Gretzky: I can't tell you that. If I tell you, then I'm in trouble. I know the best way to defend against Wayne Gretzky, the way that bothers him the most. Obviously, the Islanders know. They're killing me. Steve Kasper of Boston knows.

[Q] Playboy: What do they do that other teams don't?

[A] Gretzky: They play a lot more intelligently. First of all, they have more talent than other teams. Obviously, that's going to make it harder right off the bat. And then, if I'm fortunate enough to get by their players, both teams have great goal tenders.

[Q] Playboy: If a guy covers you too closely and keeps getting in your way, will you pretend you were tripped or hooked to draw a penalty?

[A] Gretzky: Would I take a dive? Sure I would. I'll tell you why. A lot of times, when you're hooked, the penalty isn't called, which is fine; but if fighters--not necessarily Kasper--know they can get away with hooking players, they will do it all night. But if you start diving when a guy's hooking you and he gets a penalty here and there, he's going to give you room. He's going to think that if he does that again, he'll get a penalty. That's the only reason I dive. If a guy is really sticking close to me throughout the hockey game, again, I can't knock him over, I can't stop and drill him in a fight, so I have to figure out ways to shake him.

[Q] Playboy: Is it getting more difficult now for you to avoid drawing penalties?

[A] Gretzky: I think more people are trying to check me now than ever before, and I have to take a stand at some point. My stand may not be very forceful, but I have to let them know they can't just elbow, slash or push me around and expect me to take it with a smile. But looking back on my penalties, I see that most have been for tripping, all accidental. Bossy gets four, five penalties a year, and three of them are for accidental tripping. I'm amazed that some guys go an entire year without a penalty. How do they do that? A lot of times, you get a tripping penalty because you're tired at the end of a shift or you're lazy on a play. It depends on how disciplined you are.

[Q] Playboy: In the past, the N.H.L. placed a lot of emphasis on physical strength. Given your size and build, do you think you would have been the player you are today?

[A] Gretzky: I might never have played 20 years ago. There's no question that I might not have made it. I remember people saying to me ten years ago that I might not make it, because I was too small. No, 20 years ago, I definitely would not have been able to play in the N.H.L.

[Q] Playboy: Even though there were a lot of small players who made it?

[A] Gretzky: But those guys had something special. They were fabulous skaters. Maurice Richard, Yvan Cournoyer--they were flamboyant skaters. I was never a smooth skater. The game in the Sixties was a lot rougher and a lot more defensive-minded. Today it's a lot quicker, the puck is moved more, the training is better, the travel is better, there are more players from the U.S., Europe and maybe Russia, there is more technique. I just can't imagine that every professional group in the world--from writers to doctors to lawyers to football players--has improved and hockey is the only one that has gotten worse. I don't buy that.

[Q] Playboy: Let's talk about the most prominent topic in the game: Is violence necessary in hockey?

[A] Gretzky: First of all, I don't think there's any question that hockey was violent back in the late Sixties, early Seventies, with bench-clearing brawls and that type of thing; but since then, the league has done a tremendous job of cleaning up the violence. That's evident by the fact that a person of my size, 5'11", 170 pounds, can play the game without being seriously injured. I think the European influence is also a big factor in changing the emphasis of the game from being able to fight to being able to skate.

[Q] Playboy: Don't fans want to see violence?

[A] Gretzky: Teams used to think that violence brought people into the building. Sure it does, but we have to appeal to a bigger market than just the 15,000 people it may bring to a particular rink. The N.H.L. realized that and cleaned it up.

[Q] Playboy: Nevertheless, don't players fight because fans want them to, even if they may not feel like it themselves?

[A] Gretzky: No. Rod Gilbert said it best: "People used to ask me if fights in hockey were fixed. If they were, I would have been in more of them." They're real. You don't fight just to please the fans. You fight for reasons of temper, frustration. I don't think you take a punch in the face for the fans.

[Q] Playboy: You say the N.H.L. has cleaned up its act, but you can't deny that hockey still seems more violent than other sports.

[A] Gretzky: That's only because there is fighting. In other sports, I believe, if you fight, you're automatically ejected from the game. In hockey, you're not, the reason being that you're carrying around a hockey stick, which is a lethal weapon. I'd rather take a punch in the face than a stick over the head. That's why refs let the fighting go on for a long time. If the referees break up a fight that has just started, chances are, those guys are going to fight their next time on the ice anyway. If it's an even fight, the referees let the players fight, and if it's unfair, they break it up.

But I don't think hockey is any more violent than other sports. I'd be more scared standing in front of the plate with the pitcher throwing a ball 100 mph at my head. Nobody's ever been really hurt in hockey fights. The worst that can happen is a guy breaks a nose, I guess, but there are only a few guys in the league who fight, anyway--12 out of 20 guys on a team don't fight. You don't see a fighter fighting a nonfighter. That's just the way it is. It's an unwritten rule that fighters fight and guys who don't want to fight don't. A fighter knows that if he drops his gloves off with me, I'm not going to fight, so he doesn't waste his time.

[Q] Playboy: Who are regarded as the best fighters in the N.H.L.?

[A] Gretzky: I guess Dave Semenko, Clark Gillies, Behn Wilson and Barry Beck. Those four are the guys I would name, anyway. I don't think I've forgotten anybody. I hope I haven't. I don't want anybody to be upset with me.

[Q] Playboy: When a fight breaks out on the ice and players from opposing teams pair off, whom do you look for as an opponent?

[A] Gretzky: I always look for Pierre Larouche, Thomas Gradin, Neal Broten--all the little guys I can grab [laughs].

[Q] Playboy: What do you talk about while you're grabbing each other?

[A] Gretzky: Well, the guys who don't want to fight might talk about whether or not we're going to each other's charity golf tournament, how's business, how's the wife and family. You meet a lot of people around the league and you become friends.

[Q] Playboy: What would provoke you to fight?

[A] Gretzky: Frustration, temper, like anybody else.

[Q] Playboy: Would you throw the first punch?

[A] Gretzky: Yeah. I was in a fight where I threw the first punch. A player did something I thought wasn't called for. He slashed me pretty hard a couple of times, and I felt I was being taken advantage of. It was silly and stupid of me to fight. I mean, I'm not going to hurt anyone. Fortunately for me, he was a good enough guy, because he could have grabbed me and broken me in half. Instead, he held on to me.

[Q] Playboy: Will an opposing player try to draw you into a fight so that you get a penalty and have to sit out part of the game?

[A] Gretzky: That happens a lot, but that's where it comes back to common sense and brains. A player having a good game must realize that getting into a fight does neither him nor the team any good. That's why people on a hockey team have different roles, and without naming names or pointing a finger at a guy, people on our team know when to step in and fight another player.

[Q] Playboy: Every team has its fighters. On your team, isn't it Semenko's job to protect you?

[A] Gretzky: I would be wrong to say that it wasn't, but he's a policeman for the entire team, not just for Wayne Gretzky. He knows his responsibilities. He's not there to just take care of me. Coach Glen Sather doesn't say, "David, go out on the ice and get that guy." But situations on the ice do occur, and if David doesn't do his job, he's spoken to. You get into a physical game and that's where guys on the team like David and Mark Messier come through.

[Q] Playboy: You say no one has really gotten hurt from fights. But what about such tactics as elbowing and high sticking?

[A] Gretzky: I guess those are the things most players get injured from. It's tough, but it's no different from a football game when players are kicking other players and stepping on guys' fingers. It's all part of winning. You can't blame a person for doing what he can to win a hockey game.

[Q] Playboy: Who are the dirtiest players in hockey?

[A] Gretzky: I'd rather not say. There are some guys I would say I purposely stay away from because I don't trust them, but you'll find them in every sport. The toughest guys in the league, not necessarily the dirtiest, without doubt, are Beck, the Sutter brothers--all of them--Rob Ramage of St. Louis, Glen Cochrane of Philadelphia; and, when he wants to be, I think Potvin is the toughest.

[Q] Playboy: How have you avoided getting hurt? You've been injured only twice.

[A] Gretzky: I've been lucky, I guess. The style that I play makes for few chances of injury. If you're moving around and see what's coming, you have a better chance.

[Q] Playboy: Some say the reason you don't get hit hard is that you don't go into the corners, where most of the hard hits--elbows and high sticks--occur.

[A] Gretzky: No. That's where I get the most points, from the corners. The real reason I don't get hit so much is that I played lacrosse. In lacrosse, there's always cross-checking. You learn to roll with the checks and never get hit straight on. I don't put myself in a position where anyone can hit me straight on. That's the biggest thing. I learned when I was a kid that it's tougher to hit a moving target than a target that's standing still.

[Q] Playboy: Let's talk a bit about the way you prepare for a game. What is the day of a game like for a professional hockey player?

[A] Gretzky: The night before a game, I'm always in bed before 10:30, 11 o'clock, religiously. I'm up around 8:30 in the morning, have a cup of tea and something light to eat, like a piece of toast, and read the newspaper. I'll go to the rink where we'll practice at 10:30, and after practice, at about 12:30, I eat. Then I spend the rest of the afternoon watching the soap operas. I go down to the rink at about four or five. When I get to the rink, I'll play ping-pong with a couple of the guys. Most of the guys show up about 5:30, except for about six of us. Ping-pong loosens me up, relaxes me and takes my mind off what's going to happen.

[Q] Playboy: When do you start thinking about the game itself?

[A] Gretzky: I don't actually sit down and think about what I will have to do in a game. I know whom I'm playing against. In the back of my mind, I know that I'm playing, say, the New York Islanders. I worry about getting myself ready, thinking about the way I'm feeling that day, if I'm feeling more energetic than the previous day or, if I have a nagging injury that day, wondering if it's going to bother me. Basically, I worry about myself and don't think about the other team.

[Q] Playboy: Are you as superstitious as most hockey players?

[A] Gretzky: Oh, yeah, about my sweater's always being tucked into my pants. I'm superstitious in that I follow the same routines: how I get dressed, being the first on the ice at the start of the game and each period.

[Q] Playboy: Every team in the N.H.L. has at least one player who is superstitious about being the first on the ice. What happens when two of you have that superstition?

[A] Gretzky: It goes by seniority. I've been here for six years, and it would be pretty tough to knock me out of that spot. The other players may not admit to it, but it's even part of their superstition that I go out first. I don't know how that came about. I started doing it in the other league and kept doing it.

[Q] Playboy: Where did the superstition about tucking your sweater into your pants come from?

[A] Gretzky: From the fact that I was five years old and playing with ten-year-olds; the team bought sweaters for ten-year-old kids and mine came down to my knees, so my dad tucked it in for me. I kept doing it.

[Q] Playboy: Are you superstitious about your number--99?

[A] Gretzky: Yes. That came about because I had worn number nine as a kid, and when I got drafted in Junior "A," there was already somebody with a number nine, so the coach said I should wear two nines. When I went to Edmonton, Bill Golds-worthy wore nine, so I kept 99. One night, my sweater was stolen--I think it was in Pittsburgh--and the trainer was wondering what I was going to wear. He was ready to get on the telephone and have my dad fly down with a sweater from a previous year, because I wouldn't wear another number. But they found it.

[Q] Playboy: What about black tape on the blade of your hockey stick? Is that because it makes it harder for the goalie to see the black puck or is it another superstition?

[A] Gretzky: Any goalie who can't see the puck because of black tape is in the wrong sport. Gordie Howe scored a lot of his 800 goals using white tape. I use black tape that has white baby powder on it. I find that when the puck is spinning, the black tape seems to catch it and stop it from spinning. As far as the baby powder goes, I use it because the stick will collect snow along the bottom and the baby powder stops it from sticking. I use it for that reason [smiles]--and also because it's a superstition.

[Q] Playboy: You're the guy goalies fear most, but which goalies do you respect most?

[A] Gretzky: I respect the goalies on the bad teams, because they handle more shots. Who do I think is the best? Well, I guess the guy who's had the most success against us is Billy Smith of the Islanders. He's had a lot of success against other teams, too. There's no question that he's the best money goalie; but then again, he has a very good team in front of him. He won't get shots that other goalies will, because his defense men are better and smarter than those on a lot of other teams.

[Q] Playboy: Great scorers have often claimed that they shoot without aiming. Do you aim or just shoot?

[A] Gretzky: Most shots I aim. Most shots. There are a lot of shots that you're basically hoping will go in. The thing that I remember is that 100 percent of the shots you don't take don't go in. A lot of times, you are in situations where you can aim the shot. I mean, you can put it in a general direction: top left corner, between the goalie's pads.

[Q] Playboy: Is it more satisfying to put it between the goalie's legs?

[A] Gretzky: Nope. They don't ask you how at the end of the year; they ask how many.

[Q] Playboy: How many of your hundreds of N.H.L. goals do you remember?

[A] Gretzky: Pretty much all of them. I can tell you almost everything that happened in my most recent hockey game.

[Q] Playboy: Can most players do that?

[A] Gretzky: A lot of the guys can. My father can tell you what happened from the first minute to the last. I'm not kidding. He has a photographic memory.

[Q] Playboy: Could your father have been a professional hockey player?

[A] Gretzky: He was an average hockey player. He was too small to be a professional, but he understood the mechanics.

[Q] Playboy: Could he have been a professional coach?

[A] Gretzky: First of all, I think you have to aspire to be one, and he never did. I believe he could have been a good hockey coach, but he would have been a better teacher for kids. We forget to teach the kids step one before we teach them step two. An example is coaches' teaching ten-year-olds how to slap the puck when they should be teaching them how to wrist the puck. It's senseless. You never see a ten-year-old Russian slap the puck. For years, I played minor hockey, and the coaches used to holler, "Dump it in, dump it in!" What is that going to teach kids? Let them carry the puck and pass it around, then go in and score. That's a game. It's fun for kids. There's no money involved. Sure, I like to win, but you also have to do it properly. Ten-year-olds' dumping it in will do nothing for them when they're 16. In order for us to be the best, we have to come together as a united country. We need a system that teaches everybody the same thing: how to stick-handle, how to shoot, the proper way to skate. Forget hitting and everything. When I was ten, the coach used to yell, "Take his head off!" But no one was going to hit me at that age. Other kids couldn't skate as well as I could.

[Q] Playboy: Do you think two-year-olds should go to hockey school, as you did?

[A] Gretzky: I wouldn't want to send my two-year-old son to hockey school. But when I skated seven hours a day, I never considered it practice. It was fun. I never once said, "I'm going to skate for seven hours and practice as hard as I can." I guess that's why I have been successful. When I was four, five, six, I used to skate for seven hours or eight hours a day, easily. I used to be out there sometimes from eight in the morning until lunch hour, sleep for a couple of hours, then skate from four to six and then go back with my dad after dinner for a couple more hours. That's what I enjoyed doing. I had no desire to go to the movies or watch TV. Even when I got older and other things came along, like dating, nothing except hockey ever entered my mind.

[Q] Playboy: Did you practice in your back yard?

[A] Gretzky: Yeah. My dad would flood it with a garden hose, make a rink with two-by-fours along the sides and put up boards at the ends so when I shot the puck, it wouldn't go into the neighbor's yard. There were two nets and two night lights, one at each end.

[Q] Playboy: What did you have in your back yard during the summer?

[A] Gretzky: A pitcher's mound. We lived about five houses from the corner, and when I was nine years old, there was a lot of dirt down there, and I would take a wheelbarrow, fill it up with dirt and build a pitcher's mound.

[Q] Playboy: Whom did you pitch to?

[A] Gretzky: My father.

[Q] Playboy: Your father spent a lot of time with you on athletics; didn't he have to work?

[A] Gretzky: Oh, yeah. He worked for the telephone company from eight to five Monday through Friday. But he didn't do anything else; he was devoted to his children. At that time, there were only my sister and myself. My little brother had just been born.

[Q] Playboy: How did your dad devote himself to your sister?

[A] Gretzky: My sister was quite athletic, too, and that made it a lot easier for my father. There could have been a lot of problems between my sister and myself and my father and my mother. But she was involved in figure skating and track and field, so it worked out very well. I moved away from home when I was 14 and my brother Keith was seven years old, so my father had plenty of time for him. Now he's working with my youngest brother, who's 12.

[Q] Playboy: How talented are your brothers?

[A] Gretzky: I have three brothers and, quite honestly, I think two of them will be professional hockey players.

[Q] Playboy: Are they as good as you were at their ages?

[A] Gretzky: One is, the youngest.

[Q] Playboy: Do you think it's hard to be a sibling of Wayne Gretzky's?

[A] Gretzky: Very hard, but as hard as it is, it still has some fringe benefits. I'd like to be a 16-year-old and have a brother who wins a car and gives it to me. I'm sure Keith is going through a lot of pressure being my brother as far as hockey goes for being compared with me; but then again, he may get that extra chance because he is my brother.

[Q] Playboy: Getting back to the pitcher's mound, could you have been a major-league pitcher?

[A] Gretzky: I don't think so; but then again, I always had confidence that if I pursued it properly, I would have had a chance. I did well where I did play--in Ontario, which has the top leagues in Canada--but it's so hard to compare Canadian talent with American. I was offered a tryout by the Toronto Blue Jays when I was 17, but I didn't take it. I was playing what they call Junior Ball, which is what you play from the age of 16 to 20, and I'm glad I decided not to go.

[Q] Playboy: Did you ever doubt that you would become a professional hockey player?

[A] Gretzky: Until the day I signed, I doubted I would be one. I was in high school, plugging away, getting my education. I was in the 11th grade when I was offered a contract with the Birmingham Bulls in the W.H.A. I was 17; that was the first contract offer I had had. Then the New England Whalers offered me a contract. But when the Whalers found out that they had a chance of getting into the N.H.L., they phoned and said they couldn't sign me, because I was underage and it would ruin their chances. So Nelson Skalbania, who owned the Indianapolis Racers, signed me. After eight games, he sold me, Eddie Mio and Peter Driscoll for about $350,000, plus another $500,000 ... oh, I can't remember. I do remember getting on an airplane and not knowing whether we were going to Edmonton or Winnipeg. The three of us were taking off in a private jet. We got into the air and somebody said, "The deal is done; we're going to Edmonton." But somebody hadn't paid the bill for the flight, and we were told that if it weren't paid, we wouldn't land. So Mio pulled out his VISA card and paid for the flight. He had a $600 limit and the guy took it.

[Q] Playboy: What would you be doing now if you hadn't been signed?

[A] Gretzky: I have no idea. I was hoping to go to the university. That was my only goal.

[Q] Playboy: Were you a good student?

[A] Gretzky: I had acceptable grades. I wasn't a brilliant student. I missed a lot of school because of hockey, but I still got by.

[Q] Playboy: Did you ever fantasize about playing hockey in the Olympics?

[A] Gretzky: I think the Olympics are great and they're a good learning experience for some people and they promote peace in the world--but they're not the biggest thing in the world. More emphasis is put on the Olympics in the U.S. than in Canada. Americans are brought up believing that if you win a gold medal in the Olympics, you'll be a national hero. In Canada, if you win an Olympic gold, it's nice, but you still have to raise your own money and pay for your travel and training. You're not going to make $200,000 to $300,000 a year, the way a guy from the U.S. who wins a gold medal will.

[Q] Playboy: You were locally famous by the time you were 11. How did that affect you at school?

[A] Gretzky: I would get embarrassed. When I was 11 and 12, there would be a picture of me in a magazine and the teacher would hang it on the wall.

[Q] Playboy: Were you very popular?

[A] Gretzky: No. I had friends, though. I knew all the girls, but I didn't socialize except on the athletic teams.

[Q] Playboy: You said you moved away from home when you were 14. Are you sorry you left home when you were so young?

[A] Gretzky: It's the only thing I do regret. I would have loved to grow up with my family and my brothers. I missed a lot of years. That's why I feel so bitter when people tell me they want to send their kid away from home at the age of 12. Parents are thinking of themselves and not their kid. In my case, I didn't move away because of hockey. Everyone thought that's why I moved. Sure, I was going to play against tougher competition, but the reason I moved was so I could be just another person in a big city, where nobody would know who I was. I wanted to get away from the pressure of having to perform at a certain level every day. My parents felt that the pressure might get to me. As it turned out, it was the best thing that could have happened to my career.

[Q] Playboy: Did your parents want you to finish high school and go on to college?

[A] Gretzky: When I turned pro at 17, they had to sign a contract to make it legal, and they made me promise that I'd live with a family and go to high school. I did that until I was sold to Edmonton.

[Q] Playboy: Will you ever finish school?

[A] Gretzky: Four years ago, I would have said yeah. Now I don't think I need it. The only reason for me to go back to school would be to be able to say that I'd gotten my diploma.

[Q] Playboy: Wouldn't you like to take some business courses?

[A] Gretzky: I would like to know more about business, but I feel I'm learning about it firsthand. In the past, the majority of players had to work at jobs in the off season. Now they're making big money and they have to take care of their finances. That is your job in the summer. Players now have to take the time to learn about business. The category "dumb jock" has been tossed out the window. Some guys, as in every profession, are more intelligent than others. Randy Gregg, on our team, is a doctor. I don't know if he's the most intelligent player in hockey, but he's doing well apart from hockey. I don't know a whole lot about business and I'll never say I am a businessman, but I am studying hard. I have some of my own stocks now that I follow.

[Q] Playboy: What do you do with the money that you don't invest? Is it available to your family?

[A] Gretzky: All of it is. If my brothers want to go to college, I'd love to pay for them. I have X amount of dollars in the bank, and if my family asked for it, I'd give it to them.

[Q] Playboy: Have they asked?

[A] Gretzky: No. I bought them a few acres of land two miles from where they live to build a house. They said they'd build one, but when I went away on a holiday and came back, they had already started building an addition to their house. I knew then that they would never build. Maybe I'll build a house there someday.

[Q] Playboy: If you're in a waiting room and there's a choice between Sports Illustrated and Business Week--

[A] Gretzky: I'll pick up Business Week. I won't hesitate to do that. The biggest change in my life is my interest in business.

[Q] Playboy: By the time you were 18, you were a millionaire. How were you prepared to deal with it?

[A] Gretzky: I guess the big thing, whether or not you have money when you're growing up, is to have to answer to only one person, yourself. As far as the money goes, I make tremendous money. I guess you don't know how much you make unless you spend the time counting it. Basically, it goes into the bank. I live not on a budget by any means but with guidelines. I'm fortunate in the sense that I have a nice car, a beautiful place, I can travel; but if I stop doing my job, I'll lose it all.

[Q] Playboy: How much money per month do you live on?

[A] Gretzky: I live on about $1500 to $2000 pocket money, not counting bills. My condominium is paid off; I bought it for cash. Now, if I want to go out and buy a leather coat, I can do it. The great thing about the money that I have is that I've earned it myself; it's mine. I get advice from everybody, parents included, but there are times when I say, "Hey, I earned this money."

[Q] Playboy: When you received your first big pay check, what was the most expensive thing you bought?

[A] Gretzky: A 1979 silver Trans Am with a T roof, C.B., stereo. I bought it in the States when I was with Indianapolis, and when I got sold to Edmonton, I sold it, because I couldn't take it across the border.

[Q] Playboy: How much money do you have in your pocket right now?

[A] Gretzky: I don't have a cent. I carry one credit card. I never carry cash. I just hate going to the bank. I hate lines and waiting. I'm patient in a lot of ways, but I'm impatient in a lot of other ways, such as standing around in airports, standing in line at the bank.

[Q] Playboy: There are many people who work at harder, more meaningful jobs than playing hockey. Do you feel guilty because they earn a fraction of what you do?

[A] Gretzky: I think the greatest thing about living in North America is our freedom to do what we want to, and we all grow up having the same choices. What these people do is tremendous work. It's not rewarded the same way that ours is rewarded, yet their work is more important than our work. The only difference is that they don't get 18,000 people paying $20 a head to see them work.

I do my job to the best of my ability. I'm making good money and I'm entertaining. Then I look at somebody making $40,000,000 a year singing and entertaining people. How do you justify making that much? It's unfortunate that those people doing something more beneficial aren't making more money than entertainers. To the hockey players, it's work, a job and a responsibility to win the Stanley Cup, but to the fan watching the game, it's entertainment. People in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, don't care who wins the Stanley Cup as long as they're watching good hockey.

[Q] Playboy: Do you feel you've paid your dues?

[A] Gretzky: Not like a lot of other people. There are a lot of players who work harder than Wayne Gretzky, who may be more dedicated than Gretzky, who haven't made it, who may still be on two-way contracts. But that doesn't mean that I didn't work hard and that I'm not dedicated. I've just been a little more fortunate. I feel I made pro on my own, all by myself, and I worked to get there.

[Q] Playboy: Do athletes pay dues at all in the larger sense?

[A] Gretzky: Looking at it realistically, you play hockey from the age of 20 to 28, and that's it. The average hockey player today plays five years. Let's say you play eight. Let's say you make $100,000 a year. After eight years, you've made $800,000. Out of that, you pay your agent five percent, the government 40 to 50 percent, so over eight years, you've made only about $350,000. People say, "How can you not have any money left?" You've got to live. You have to have a car. You may have a family to support; you may have to buy a house. You've got to work after you retire from hockey. What is a hockey player going to do? A lot of guys have nothing to fall back on.

[Q] Playboy: The classic example of that is Derek Sanderson, who during the late Sixties, early Seventies had the potential to be a huge hockey superstar but ended up blowing $2,000,000, alcoholic and with the aid of crutches, hardly able to work. Do you keep him in mind to keep yourself honest?

[A] Gretzky: He's been through a lot of bad times, and we don't like to use him as an example. We don't like to keep bringing his name up publicly. I'm sure he's depressed enough over what has happened. Sanderson is used as an example by every hockey coach. I've never been around other hockey teams or their dressing rooms, but I'll bet he is used all the time by other managers: "Don't do drugs! You'll end up like Derek Sanderson!" I feel sorry for Sanderson, but I don't feel sorry for him. There are more than enough people who went out of their way to help him--teammates, coaches, friends. I know a lot of the people who tried to help.

[Q] Playboy: You said earlier that you couldn't blame a player for doing what he had to do to win a game. What if a player took an undetectable drug that helped him play better?

[A] Gretzky: That could be the best question I've ever been asked. [Pause] I think that in the long run, it's not going to help the team. The proven history of drugs is that they affect you in a way that is negative, not positive....

[Q] Playboy: That's over the long run. What about the short run--one game?

[A] Gretzky: I don't know. It's a tough question. The individual will be hurt in the long run. Personally, I would be opposed to it, but what are you going to say to a guy who does a drug and scores two goals? The big thing, I guess, is that drugs are illegal.

[Q] Playboy: Do fans offer you drugs?

[A] Gretzky: Not fans but people. "Hey, Gretzky, you want to buy drugs?" I've heard that since I was 12. It's everywhere, not just in sports. One good thing about hockey is that they've cracked the whip on it. But I don't think there's any hockey player doing drugs while he plays. One thing we have that no other sport has is the art of skating. I have a hard enough time skating. I can't imagine how a guy could skate when he's doing drugs.

[Q] Playboy: You've been exposed to a lot of temptations since you were a kid; have you ever wished you could be less disciplined, live a more carefree life?

[A] Gretzky: Not at all. I don't stop doing the things I want to do because I'm in the public eye. I'm Wayne Gretzky, the individual, the one person I have to answer to when I get up in the morning, when I go to practice, go to dinner. The question is whether or not I did the right thing, and all I have to say to myself is yes.

[Q] Playboy: How does your image of yourself differ from the media's?

[A] Gretzky: I don't think there's much difference. The biggest problem was last season, after we beat New Jersey 13 to 4 and I said that thing about New Jersey's being a Mickey Mouse operation. That was a mistake, to criticize another organization. There's a difference between what Wayne Gretzky thinks and what he says. Ordinarily, I would have said what I did only to friends. Two years ago, I wouldn't have said it to the media; last year, I did.

[Q] Playboy: What do you do to bust loose?

[A] Gretzky: I go to Las Vegas for a couple of days. I'm not a big gambler, but I go down once a year with a thousand dollars and say, "If I lose it, I lose it." I've been lucky. The most I've ever won is $1000. It's nice for me to sit at the table, which I do from eight at night to four or five in the morning. Then I go to sleep, get up, lie by the pool, eat and do the same thing, and I love it. It's one of the few places you can go and nobody cares. The dealer may know who you are, but everybody else is gambling.

[Q] Playboy: We know what you can do. What can't you do?

[A] Gretzky: I can't sing and I can't dance. I am the worst dancer you'll ever meet. I have no musical intelligence, no feel for it.

[Q] Playboy: What was the last record you bought?

[A] Gretzky: The last record I bought, which must have been three years ago, was by Jack Green, on the suggestion of a friend. I also bought a Cliff Richard record. But I really can't spend a lot of time listening to music.

[Q] Playboy: What else can't you do?

[A] Gretzky: Fly; I'm not comfortable in planes. A couple of years ago, I went to a hypnotist. It worked for five or six months, and then I started getting progressively worse. I guess my big fear is of putting my entire life in the hands of pilots. I like to be in control all the time.

Speed also bothers me. I've owned a Ferrari for four years, and I've never had a speeding ticket in my life. Everyone I lend the car to gets a speeding ticket. People get the feeling that they have to go fast in this car. I keep it in second gear and chug along. I have to lend it to friends to have them clean the carbon out.

[Q] Playboy: Don't you have any vices?

[A] Gretzky: Oh, yeah, I'm human. I do have a bad habit of swearing on the ice. I forget that there are people around the rink. It's a problem. I hope I'm heading in a direction where I can correct it, but I don't know if I will be able to.

[Q] Playboy: Who are you cursing out--yourself? The refs?

[A] Gretzky: Everybody. Everybody but my teammates.

[Q] Playboy: Since all you've ever done in life is play hockey, do you wish you were more well rounded?

[A] Gretzky: I think I've learned a lot of things through hockey--about the people I've met and the different fields they're in, the places I've been, the cities I've seen, the parties I've been to. I think I am a more well-rounded person because of hockey.

[Q] Playboy: You said you watch soap operas to relax before a game. Do you know what's going on in all the soap operas to date?

[A] Gretzky: Oh, yeah. I watch All My Children, One Life to Live, General Hospital, The Young and the Restless. I can tell you what's going on in all of them.

[Q] Playboy: Haven't you appeared on The Young and the Restless?

[A] Gretzky: Yes. I was in Las Vegas last summer at an awards ceremony, and a lady there who was part of the ceremony asked me if I would like to be on and I said, "Sure." I played a bad guy.

[Q] Playboy: How did you prepare for your role?

[A] Gretzky: I talked with Ed Marinaro [of Hill Street Blues]. I had only five lines. I had no problem remembering them, but it was a difficult experience for me. I was shaken, to be honest. It was the first time I had ever acted. I just knew that people's expectations would be so high and that whether I did a good job or a bad one, I was going to be criticized. But I also knew that if I had read the papers, they would have said that I would never be a pro hockey player, that I was too small. I knew I would be criticized, but you can't believe everything you read.

[Q] Playboy: Would you like to act seriously?

[A] Gretzky: No. I have a curiosity about acting, you might say, but I don't lie in bed at night thinking that I will be an actor or that I want to be an actor. On the other hand, it would be nice if there were something for me to step into when I was done with hockey.

[Q] Playboy: You say you know what's going on in the soaps; do you know what's going on in Beirut?

[A] Gretzky: Yep.

[Q] Playboy: Nicaragua?

[A] Gretzky: No, not so much Central America. I know that the stock market's falling out. I know exactly where we're at on nuclear power, and that scares me. I watch the news every night that I can. I know what's going on in Poland, of course.

[Q] Playboy: Your ancestry is Polish; how Polish do you feel?

[A] Gretzky: Very. I understand Polish. My grandmother has relatives who are still there.

[Q] Playboy: Do you follow fashion?

[A] Gretzky: Yes. I love clothes. I read the fashion sections in Playboy; all the guys do. That's basic reading around here.

[Q] Playboy: What kind of clothes do you like?

[A] Gretzky: I'm flexible. If something looks nice, I'll wear it, whether it's jeans or leather pants, sweaters or sweat shirts.

[Q] Playboy: Do you like loose- or tight-fitting clothes?

[A] Gretzky: Very loose stuff. When I travel, I like to feel comfortable.

[Q] Playboy: Do you notice what other guys wear?

[A] Gretzky: Oh, yeah. I used to watch Tony Geary in General Hospital. He's the same height and has the same kind of build and has blond hair, like me. I had never worn green before I watched that show. I used to hate green.

[Q] Playboy: Since we're talking about light topics, here's a light exercise: How do you think your hockey skills would translate to other fields? With your skills, what sort of statesman--or soldier or lover--do you think Wayne Gretzky would make?

[A] Gretzky: I think that as a statesman, I'd be offensive. As a soldier, I'd be more defensive; I'd be worried about my life and I'd be watching every minute. And as a lover ... I'd probably be defensive. I'm a very defensive person as far as letting people into my life.

[Q] Playboy: Are the women who are able to break through your defenses the ones you end up with?

[A] Gretzky: No, definitely not. I like to be the one who opens the conversation. I'm defensive when girls come up and get too pushy with me.

[Q] Playboy: Is that what happens when you go to parties?

[A] Gretzky: One of the things that enable me to live the way that I have is that I'm not a very private person. Privacy is not a big thing on my list. If I went to a party with 40 people and I knew ten or 12 people there, I'd get right into the middle. The only time I like to be alone is in the afternoon before a game. That's when I watch the soaps.

[Q] Playboy: So no ambitions toward being a sex symbol in the Joe Namath tradition?

[A] Gretzky: That's not a void I need to fill. There are a lot of guys around who would do better at being a sex symbol than Wayne Gretzky.

[Q] Playboy: How many women have been in your life?

[A] Gretzky: Vickie Moss was my first girlfriend. I never dated anyone else.

[Q] Playboy: How did you meet?

[A] Gretzky: [Teammate] Kevin Lowe and I were at a night club in Edmonton, and she was singing. I was 18 years old. A friend of mine whom she knew introduced us between one of her sets. I asked her if she'd like to have a drink. She sat down and hasn't left since. The thing about her that clicked in my mind was that she knew nothing about hockey. My defenses went right down. She does, however, have nine brothers who are big sports fans. She told them she was dating some hockey player. Then, one day, I showed up on their doorstep and they all panicked. [Laughs] So we weren't exactly high school sweethearts but the closest thing to it.

[Q] Playboy: Wouldn't it be difficult being Mrs. Wayne Gretzky?

[A] Gretzky: It would be harder than being Wayne Gretzky. It's tougher for her to get her own identity. She does have her own identity with the people who know her, but most people are asking her, "How's Wayne's shoulder?" "Isn't it great that he set a record?" "That was a great goal he got last night!" Being Mrs. Wayne Gretzky is a lot tougher.

[Q] Playboy: Will you be getting married?

[A] Gretzky: I don't know. I've thought about it. If I get married, I'm going to start a family. She's just starting her career, traveling down South and going to Japan to cut an album, and I wouldn't want to interfere.

[Q] Playboy: Do you live together?

[A] Gretzky: No. She does a lot of traveling in her career, and I'm gone an awful lot, so we don't. We do manage to see a lot of each other. She gives me room for my career and I give her room for her career, and that's why we have a great relationship. It's as simple as that.

[Q] Playboy: All right, out there on the ice: Besides career goals and assists, what records are left for you to break that aren't your own?

[A] Gretzky: Mike Bossy can say, "This year I want to get 50 goals in 50 games"--and do it. I can't. I have doubts about myself, and if I don't accomplish the feat I set for myself, it might really disappoint me. Bossy is a strong enough person that he said it and did it and that was it. I admire him for that. I admire guys like Trottier, Potvin, Bossy, guys who've played six, seven years and maintain the same level each year. That's the only goal I set for myself, to be a consistent athlete. That separates the superstars from the stars.

"I got a head start by playing at the age of two. By the time I was five, I was playing against 11-year-olds."

"It's no secret that if Barry Beck hit me, he would kill me. He's a big, strong man, and if I got into a position where I got hit by him, forget it."

"It's tough, but no different from football when players are kicking and stepping on guys' fingers. It's all part of winning."

"I make tremendous money. I guess you don't know how much you make unless you spend the time counting it. Basically, it goes into the bank."

"I don't think there's any hockey player doing drugs while he plays. I can't imagine how a guy could skate when he's doing drugs."