Walter Gretzky

Walter Gretzky, (October 8, 1938 – March 4, 2021) was a Canadian philanthropist who was best known as the father of Canadian ice hockey icon Wayne Gretzky. An avid hockey player as a youth, and a keen analyst of the game, he built a backyard rink for his children, and coached Wayne continually from the age of three, devising creative exercises and drills, and teaching him profound insights into how to play successfully. Wayne credited his father as playing a key role in his success, citing advice such as "skate to where the puck is going, not where it has been". Gretzky contributed to minor hockey in Canada, and helped many local, provincial and national charities, for which he was honoured. Early life The Gretzky family were landowners in the multinational Russian Empire, and supporters of Tsar Nicholas II, originally from Grodno (now in Belarus). Prior to the outbreak of the Russian Revolution, Gretzky's father Anton ("Tony") Gretzky immigrated along with his family to Canada via the United States, landing first in Chicago. Following World War I, Anton, who served in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, married Mary, who immigrated from the town of Pidhaitsi, in what was then eastern Poland and after World War II became western Ukraine due to border shifts.