Wayne Gretzky on Focus & Drive

Transcript

Brett Kelly (52s):
Ladies and gentlemen, it is an honor to introduce a true legend of sport who is considered by many as the greatest athlete of the 20th century, Wayne Gretzky. His extraordinary career redefined the world of hockey with 2,857 career points, four Stanley Cup Championships, and 61 NHL records still standing. Gretzky's skill, vision, and dedication earned him the nickname, from the age of 10, "The Great One." 

Off the ice, his humility, graciousness, and approachable demeanor have made him a beloved figure—inspiring not only through his achievements but also through his character. As a global ambassador for hockey, he continues to uplift generations of athletes and fans. Please join me in welcoming Wayne Gretzky.  

Wayne Gretzky (55s):
Thank you.

Brett Kelly (1m 8s):
It's really very special to have Wayne here today. And for background—at Kelly Partners, our tagline is Be Better Off, which means we're sitting there as accountants, and we shouldn't just help you with your taxes and accounting, but we should make sure that you're better off—healthier, wealthier, and wiser. 

I heard an interview with Wayne and thought this description was so apt when they said, "The best thing about Wayne is that he makes other people better." And so that's our aspiration, and that's why I reached out and tried to get Wayne here today. So we're very honored to have you here, Wayne. I'd love to start with—where did you grow up, and what was the influence of your mom and dad? 

Wayne Gretzky (1m 41s):
Well, first of all, it's a pleasure to be here, and thank you all very much. It's nice that I don't have to fly somewhere—I'm 20 minutes down the road, so this worked out really nice. 

You know what? I was really lucky. I had great family, wonderful support. My mom and dad were always there, my grandparents—I was very close to all four of my grandparents. And we were lucky. We weren't rich in money, but we were rich with support and love. 

People always said to me, "Did your dad push you? Did your mom push you?" And quite the opposite. There was no pushing. I started skating at two years old, and I just had a passion for it and a love for it, and they were tremendously supportive to make sure I got an opportunity to participate. 

My dad was a big believer that whether you're good or bad in sports—or overly talented—that sports was a tremendous way for kids to consume time. It's the kids who have a lot of free time that seem to get into those trouble areas. 

So we were always busy—lacrosse, track and field, baseball, ice hockey. My dad always believed that one thing about sports is: you learn about life. You learn how to work hard, how to make a commitment, how to become dedicated. In a team sport, you learn how to become unselfish and rely on and use your teammates as much as possible. 

You also learn what it's like to be successful—and then there are times where you get knocked down and lose, and you pick your lip off the ground and get better the next day. So, I was very fortunate. I had a really good group around me. 

Brett Kelly (3m 43s):
And there's a story I heard about you—very young, maybe 10 or 14 years of age—and your father said to you after, I think, you lost a game: "Play well for the people that are here. Do your best." Where did that mindset come from, and how did it influence you? 

Wayne Gretzky (4m 5s):
Well, when I was five years old, I made this 10-year-old travel team. And in those days, there was one team that started at 10. I was about this big, and I made the team. 

The coach came over to get my birth certificate and register me to play. When my dad handed it to him, he started laughing and said, "I can't have a five-year-old on the team." So, I didn’t play that year. The coach and my dad decided, "Okay, let's wait a year." 

I made the team the next year and played on it for five years. The first year I got one goal; by the fifth year, I was playing against kids my age, and I scored 400 goals. 

Every arena we went to was packed. When the season ended—and people may not know this, but my real passion was baseball—I’d throw my hockey bag downstairs and grab my glove. 

One week, the coach came over and said a team 45 minutes away wanted an exhibition game, but they wouldn’t play if I didn’t want to. My dad asked, “What do you want to do?” and I said, “Okay, I’ll play.” 

We got to this old arena—jam-packed, 1,500 people. We lost 8–1. I could sense my dad—nobody really knew who he was—was frustrated. Probably by the hundredth comment like, “He’s not that good,” he’d had enough. 

In the car, he said, “How’d it go today?” I said, “Who cares? It’s the end of the year.” 

 He said, “Stop the car.” 

Then he said something I’ll never forget: 

 “I don’t know why, but for whatever reason, people want to pay and come watch you play. You have to play your best every single night.” 

That was an invaluable lesson. Later in my pro career—in the early '80s—we’d play exhibition games in places like San Antonio, Dallas, Miami. No NHL teams there yet, but we sold out. 

And I remembered what I learned at age 10: even if it’s exhibition, those fans may never see me live again. 

My dad always believed you learn so much at a young age—and carry it into your adult life. 

Brett Kelly (7m 4s):
So, you've mentioned that you scored 400 goals in a season. But what really stood out to me was how many assists you had. Could you explain what an assist is—I'm an Australian—and why that mattered to you so much? 

Wayne Gretzky (7m 39s):
Well, listen, at the end of the day, I always said—you're a team. Not everyone is equal. Each person is there for a reason. Especially in team sports, you need to rely on your teammates. 

One of the most important things, to me, as an athlete and teammate, was earning the respect of the guys around me. 

If you don’t have that, you’ve got a problem. It’s a hard game. 

I was fortunate—I played with a lot of Hall of Famers, but more importantly, I played with a lot of great people. I’m still close with most of them. 

There’s a bond, a respect—you’ve been through the blood, the guts, the battles. Being a pro athlete is hard. 

And I probably went the opposite route with my kids. I never pushed them to be athletes. I was there for support if they asked, but I knew how hard that life could be. 

I was grateful for my career, but it’s not easy to become an elite athlete—and even harder to follow in a Hall of Famer’s footsteps. 

So I really respect younger athletes with successful parents. And I always hoped my teammates never thought I wasn’t a good teammate—that mattered to me. 

Brett Kelly (9m 49s):
In the context of business and your post-sport life—you’ve had so many interesting adventures—how did you carry that team mindset forward? How did you build teams after sport? 

Wayne Gretzky (10m 12s):
I think the most important thing for me always was—starting in ’79–’80, when people started to come around and you get asked to endorse products—especially when you're younger, everybody wants to open a restaurant, which, if you don’t know what you’re doing, can be a lot of headaches, as everyone knows. 

But I always felt that my most important quality was that I wanted to be partners for a long time. So, I was with TBank for 18 years. I worked with McDonald’s for close to 10 years. I have a winery now that I’ve had for 12 or 14 years, I guess, in Niagara. I had a restaurant in Toronto for close to 30 years. So, I always felt like I wanted to surround myself with good people—the right people—team players. 

I didn’t tell them how to do business, and they didn’t tell me how to play hockey. And it seemed to work out really well. I’ve been fortunate. People are everything, right? And if you partner with and get around the right people, not only does it become fun, it becomes successful—and it’s great stories to tell forever and ever. 

Brett Kelly (11m 38s):
So it’s very interesting—this idea of long-term partnership. Where did you pick that up? 

Wayne Gretzky (11m 45s):
Well, it was pretty easy for me in a sense. My folks had the same friends their whole life. They were best friends with people I knew from the time I was two years old until the time my parents passed. 

And then I was lucky enough to meet my idol, who was Gordie Howe. And sometimes, when you meet your idol—I met him when I was 10 years old—I’ll never forget, my dad said to me after we met and did this charity dinner that night in my hometown, “How was it meeting Gordie Howe?” And I said, “He was bigger, better, and nicer than I even imagined in my brain.” 

So, he came to my hometown and spoke at the dinner—I think there were seven or eight hundred people there. It was for the Kinsman Club in my hometown. 

Years later—two or three years before Gordie passed—I was going to his hometown to do a dinner. I think there were 3,000 people at that dinner. It was another Kinsman or Lions Club charity dinner. 

I thought it would be really cool to surprise the people in Saskatoon by sneaking Gordie Howe in without telling anyone, except for the emcee. So, I brought him in quietly and when they introduced Gordie, he got a standing ovation. 

And I always tell people—if Gordie hadn’t told them to sit down, I think they’d still be clapping right now. He was so beloved. 

So, I learned through him. He was partners with a lot of good people. In those days, they didn’t make a lot of money playing professional sports—many had second jobs in the offseason, especially in the '40s and '50s. He had long-term partnerships—20, 25 years—and those people were part of his life. I learned from him. 

I was lucky—my idol happened to be the greatest player who ever lived and, without question, one of the nicest athletes who ever lived. 

Brett Kelly (14 m 15s):
You’ve got this hero. It’s so interesting—there’s that saying, “Don’t meet your hero,” because often they can’t live up to your—

Wayne Gretzky (14m 25s):
Live up to it. Yeah. Well, I liked mine so much that the next day I went to the barbershop and asked for a Gordie Howe haircut. And the barber—I remember, his name was Lolly the barber—looked at my dad and said, “I don’t even know what that is.” My dad said, “Just tell him you did it.”

Brett Kelly (14m 42s):
How old were you at that point?

Wayne Gretzky (14m 45s):
Ten. I was 10. That was the year I scored 400 goals. 

The guy who was president of the Kinsman Club in my hometown—his son and I were in the same grade—and he came over to my dad and said, “This would be really cool.” 

When you’re 10 years old—like every other 10-year-old—I couldn’t even speak in front of my classmates, I was so nervous. 

So here I was, 10 years old. They told the emcee I wasn’t going to speak—I was just there—but he forgot and introduced me. I remember sitting beside Gordie, and I couldn’t even think. 

I’d lost all six of my front teeth that year and had caps on, so I could hardly even open my mouth. Gordie said, “Just tell them you’re lost without your hockey skates and your hockey stick.” 

So I’m thinking, “Okay, I’ll say that.” But I got up there and just said, “Thank you,” and started crying—and got a standing ovation. 

I remember sitting down, and Gordie said, “Great speech.” 

It was very unique. But I was like every other 10-year-old who had to stand up in front of classmates to do a book report or speech—and from that age on, I’ve been speaking in front of people. I don’t know—it just became part of my life. 

Brett Kelly (16m 12s):
That big moment—you’re a young 10-year-old, you meet your hero. It gives you that lesson to be admirable. And that’s really carried with you. 

As you went through your career, who were the people in the sports organizations—either on the teams you played for, the coaches, or support staff—who had the most impact on you? And what did you learn from them? 

Wayne Gretzky (16m 41s):
Well, listen—first of all, I’m a big believer, for parents, that your kids should play every sport they can at a young age. 

My dad believed that, so I did track and field, played box lacrosse, baseball—and I think all those sports helped mold me into the hockey player I became. 

Track and field—I ran long distance, so it built my endurance. 
Box lacrosse—probably the most physical sport I ever played—taught me how to roll off body checks. 
Baseball—it’s such a thinking man’s sport. You’ve always got to be mentally focused. You’ve got to know where to throw the ball, what the next play is. 

All those sports combined to make me the hockey player I became. 

I had some really good coaches at a young age—also a couple of bad ones—but all of them meant well, and they were volunteers. 

At 14, I moved away from home. Looking back now, I think, “Oh my gosh, my mom must’ve been sick to her stomach.” 

I moved an hour away, lived with two people and their son—two years older than me—whom none of us had ever met. They became like second parents. I was close with them until they both passed. 

I lived with them at that vulnerable age—14, 15, 16—and they were such a positive influence. 

Then I turned pro. I was lucky—the coach in Edmonton, Glen Sather, had played with Bobby Orr in Boston, Jean Béliveau in Montreal. He knew I was just a kid, and I actually lived with him, his wife, and two sons for eight weeks when I first got to Edmonton. 

The players thought it was kind of unique that I was living with the coach—but I was 17. 

It turned out to be one of the wisest decisions—whether mine or his—because he said, “You’re going to come live with me.” 

So, without question, he was the most influential figure for me in professional hockey. 

He was great to me—and to all the other guys on the team. We became successful and won championships, but he was also very hard on us. 

I think when we traded for players, one thing that surprised them was how tough and demanding he was on the better players. 

But if you look at great coaches—like Pat Riley—he was probably hardest on Magic, James Worthy, and Kareem. That sends a message to the rest of the team. 

Those elite guys have to understand: that’s part of coaching, and it’s part of what makes a team great. 

Yeah, there’s favoritism—no question—but there's also the fact that, “If I can be hard on him, I can be hard on you.” And that goes a long way. 

Brett Kelly (19m 48s):
So those coaches that got you started—did you take that into your family? Did you take that into your businesses? And what were those lessons?

Wayne Gretzky (19m 59s):
I think that the most influential people in your life are your folks and your family around you. So it was always more—once I left the arena—the focus was more on my dad and my mom. And my dad was always a big believer in preparation. He used to say to me all the time that failing to prepare is preparing to fail. And trust me, I did a lot of that in grade school. 

People used to always sit there and say, "Did you think you were going to be a professional hockey player?" And I said, "No. I never thought that—I was a small, tiny young boy." I wasn't very big. My first year pro, I was five foot eleven and 144 pounds, and I was playing and living with men. 

So my dad was just always a big believer: "Listen, you have to utilize your strength—and your strength is your preparation and your brains—and that's what's going to make you successful." 

So coaches were important, but my dad was the most influential on me—no question about it. 

Brett Kelly (21m 8s):
And what was it your dad taught you to prepare? Where did that come from in your dad? 

Wayne Gretzky (21m 17s):
When I started skating, I was two years old. My grandparents came over—gosh, in the twenties. My grandfather came with his brother to Chicago, and I still have relatives actually in Chicago—my dad's brother's kids and grandkids are there. 

But somebody got to him, because they were both about to join the American Army for World War I, and somebody told my grandfather, "If you go up to Winnipeg..." I think it was $5 a month more—or $3 a month more. So my grandfather went up to Winnipeg. That’s where he met my grandmother. He fought in World War I, and then they settled in a little town in Southern Ontario—a farming district. 

And through his backyard, he had a river that went through. So at the age of two, my mom’s brother had an old pair of kids' skates, and those were my first skates. I started skating, and I would skate for hours—even at the age of two and three years old. 

So then my dad started taking me to these parks. My dad got famous because he built a rink in the backyard. People would always say, "Did you build it for your son to become a professional athlete?" And he said, "No, no, no. He’s a kid, he's five years old, and he loved to do it." 

So he built it in the backyard so he could sit in the kitchen and didn’t have to be outside getting cold. 

Ironically, every early December he’d say to my mom, "Now listen, get over to the local store and go get me a sprinkler head." He used to love to put the sprinkler out and go back and forth for two hours—and that’s how he’d make ice about this thick. 

My mom would always look at him and say, "I’m not going over there in a snowstorm to ask for a sprinkler head—they’re going to think I’m a kook." So my dad would go get it. 

And the funny thing was—my dad was the worst gardener. He had no patience for it. And people used to stop at our house and say, "Walter, I want to know—what are you putting on your grass in the backyard?" Because it was this high, and it’d be the thickest, greenest grass you ever saw. 

It was all because he froze the backyard and made it an ice rink. So everybody thought he had a green thumb. 

But he was the most important influence. And he was the same with my three brothers—he gave them all the same opportunity. 

He used to say to me, "I don’t know why the good Lord chose you to have such a passion for the game of hockey, but there are so many great opportunities—and it’s all worthwhile if you put in the commitment, the time, and the work ethic." 

And he was so right. I got a chance to travel the world. I’ve been fortunate enough to meet presidents, prime ministers, Queen Elizabeth, and Pope John Paul. So for a little young hockey player from a little town in Canada, it was all worthwhile. 

Brett Kelly (24m 15s):
So who was the person that you met who made you the most nervous? And who’s the person you played golf with that made you the most nervous? 

Wayne Gretzky (24m 24s):
Well, I still get nervous playing with those guys. I played with President Ford in 1980, and I was really nervous—and he was known to hit people on the course. 

I hit a ball, and all of a sudden we heard a thud. I said, "What was that?" And the President said to me, "That was one of my Secret Service guys in the tree." And I had hit him. 

Playing with presidents—it’s hard. I have so much respect for what they do. And playing with prime ministers. But the most nervous I was—my wife and I were lucky enough to have an audience with Pope John Paul. 

And when we met, I remember I looked at my wife, and she just started crying. She had all these rosaries for him to bless, which he did. But the first question he asked me—they told me he was a sportsman, he grew up playing soccer in Poland—the first question he asked me, believe it or not, was, "Do you speak Polish?" 

I’m like, "Where’s my dad right now?" 

But probably meeting him was when I was the most nervous. 

Although, in 1980, we played the NHL All-Star Game in Washington, D.C., and they brought both teams to the White House for a luncheon with President Reagan. 

I was 19 years old then, and we all walked in. Bill Wirtz—the Wirtz family owned the Chicago Blackhawks—said, "Young man, you’re going to sit with Gordie and me and President Reagan." 

I remember sitting there—there were like five forks, five knives, all these cups and everything. I said to Gordie, "Gordie, what fork do we use?" He goes, "I’ll tell you what—I’ll follow the president, and you follow me." 

We had this line going: we grabbed a fork, we grabbed a knife. 

My dad asked me that day, "How was it?" And I said, "It was amazing." 
He said, "Really? Anything surprising?" 
I said, "Yeah, I heard him swear—to Gordie Howe. I heard the president swear." 

I thought that was really intriguing, because Gordie had said something about the Russians, and President Reagan was like, "Yeah, I don’t effing trust them either." 

I thought that was pretty cool. 

Brett Kelly (24m 46s):
It's incredible. So I must ask you, did your father speak Polish?

Wayne Gretzky (26m 51s):
Yes. So they spoke a slang. My grandfather was from Minsk, Russia at that time, and I think that was the time they were killing—trying to kill... People don't know this, but my grandfather was 50% Jewish. And so a lot of people got out of there. 

And my grandmother—she was actually from Ukraine, the city that she lived in—but after World War II, and I hope I'm not messing this up, they sort of re-divided Poland and Ukraine, and that city became part of Poland. 

So people always say, "Are you Polish or Ukrainian?" I go, well, I'm a combination. My grandfather was from Minsk, Russia, and my grandmother was really from Ukraine, which is now part of Poland. So my dad always thought—he goes, "Your life is mapped out already." 

And so when I was a kid, I used to spend a lot of time at my grandparents' home. In the summertime, almost every weekend, I would stay with my grandmother and grandfather. They lived on a farm, and he had pigs and chickens. My dad would always do his gardening—he had strawberries, potatoes, cherry trees, apple trees. 

But my dad loved to fish, and they had a river that went through the backyard. After he'd do everything all day, he'd go fishing. 

In the fifties, I had an aunt who had Down syndrome. And today, my dad always said to me, "You can't say 'Down syndrome'; it's 'mentally challenged.'" So in the fifties, they would take the kids and put them in asylums, and they would drug them a lot. 

Knowledge is everything—we know way more now today than we did in the forties and fifties. Anyway, so my aunt—my grandmother hid her on the farm, basically. She didn’t go to school. She didn’t want anybody taking her. So she never went to school. She couldn’t read or write. 

As she got older, she was going blinder and blinder. But my dad used to always say, "If you don't believe in the good Lord, you're crazy—look at this." All the grandchildren—we would talk to her in English, my grandfather spoke to her in Russian, and my grandmother spoke to her in Polish. It was the most incredible thing, and she couldn’t count to 10. 

I remember one day, I was like nine years old, and I said to my grandmother, "I don’t believe you guys." And she goes, "Yeah, watch." 

So my grandmother told her something in Polish—I think it was like, "Go put in a piece of toast for Wayne." Then my grandfather told her in Russian, "Put the tea kettle on." And I remember sitting there going, "Oh my God—they’re not lying to me. This is true." 

And so my dad always said, "If you become a professional athlete, there’s more than just being an athlete—you need to give back to the community." 

And like I said, my dad always thought my life was mapped out for me. The Canadian Blind School is in my hometown, so we used to do a charity event every year for the blind kids. 

And then when I went to Edmonton, I met a young boy who had Down syndrome. He was working at a bottle depot for a dollar an hour. He used to get on the bus at 7:00 a.m., and Edmonton's cold in the wintertime—it can be 40 below—and that poor young man would be standing there. 

And so I took him to the locker room one day, and I said to Glen Sather, "Can we find this young man a job in the locker room?" I said, "I'll pay him the $100 a month." And he goes, "No, no, no—we’ll pay him." 

So he folded towels, he did laundry, he vacuumed the locker room, he got the guys sodas. In those days it was Diet Coke—there was no Gatorade. It was water or Diet Coke. 

And we built these homes, because one of the hard things that people don't realize is—when the parents pass on, it's sometimes tough to find homes for these kids. I remember my grandmother saying to my mom and dad, "Promise me that when I pass, she'll live with you guys and you won’t put her in a home." 

So she lived with my folks for 12 or 13 years. And we built these homes for Down syndrome kids—mentally challenged kids. There's somebody that's full-time in the homes, but they have everything from TVs to computers. The only thing they can’t do is turn on the oven. Other than that, they’re self-sufficient. 

And Joey became famous. In Alberta, in Edmonton, they have a statue of him. And I always tell people—it’s not what he did for mentally challenged kids; it’s what he did for those kids’ parents. 

That there is a life for them, that they can get into the community, and they can be part of a city or a town, and they can contribute. And I think that’s what he did for so many kids in Canada—and so many parents. 

And we used to tease about it in the early eighties—we're all going to be gone, we’re all going to be out of here, and Joey’s still going to be working here. And Joey worked there right up until a year before he passed, which would be the year before COVID—about 2021, I guess. 

And he was a fixture in that locker room since 1981. So it was wonderful.

Brett Kelly (32m 7s):
It's an incredible story. So you mentioned earlier you had a 10-year partnership with McDonald's. We've got our McDonald's operator clients here today. They've had Ronald McDonald House for 50-plus years—does incredibly good work. Did you have any involvement with Ronald McDonald House? 

Wayne Gretzky (32m 26s):
Oh yeah, I did a lot of work with Ronald McDonald House. In Canada, the two big corporations that have been incredible for less fortunate people and charities would be Tim Hortons and McDonald’s. 

They’ve gone out of their way to really impact youth and give them opportunities—whether it be campgrounds, covering and donating money to softball teams—really great in the communities. And McDonald's has been a huge part of that in our country. 

But I used to hang out at McDonald's like every other teenager—14, 15. I was a normal teenager. 

One of my favorite, favorite stories about McDonald's: in 1998 or ’97, we came up with this plan—okay, we're going to let professional athletes into the Olympics. So it was 1998—we were in Nagano. And I'm thinking, "Gosh, I'm flying all the way to Japan to play a hockey tournament." 

And we get to Japan. One of the great things about the Olympic Games—there are so many good things—but one of the greatest things is the conversary. 

So they have this room—it’s a massive place. They have Polish food, Scandinavian, Asian, Russian food, North American, Italian—anything you want. And it’s all set up for the athletes, like proper food, proper meals. 

And in the middle of it was a McDonald’s buffet. And so I walked in. There were not a lot of people in there, but I could tell the other athletes were looking at me, watching me. 

And I’m thinking, "Oh gosh, I better make them think I’m a proper eater." But I said, "When am I ever going to see a McDonald's buffet?" 

And I just went up there and grabbed two Big Macs, two Quarter Pounders, two fries, Diet Coke. I turned around—and I could just see their faces. They’re all staring at me like, He's a professional athlete? 

I said, "Who wouldn’t want to take advantage of that?" 

That was a person’s dream. Where was that when I was younger? 

Brett Kelly (34m 47s):
Your sense of humor comes through in so much of the footage that I'd watched of you. And when I was outside before, speaking to your manager, he mentioned to me there was this great story—you went to the Hall of Fame with one of your children, the Hockey Hall of Fame. Can you share that with us? 

Wayne Gretzky (35m 4s):
Well, where I grew up, the Hockey Hall of Fame originated back in the sixties, I guess. And so when I lived in Toronto at Pierre Ockley, I'd get on the subway and go down to the downtown area, and I'd just walk around the Hall of Fame when I was 14 and 15. I think it was 25 cents to get into it, and I would just stare and look at everything. 

And so when I was able to go into the Hall of Fame, it was obviously a great day for me and my family—actually really rewarding. So when I played, I had three children, and I retired in '99, but my wife said, "We need more kids." And at that time, I guess my youngest would be 10. So we had a son in 2000 and a daughter in 2003, who are now, I guess, 22 and 23—or 21 and 23. 

We're actually going to two graduations next week—one at NYU and one at SMU. They're both graduating university, which is really nice. So I said to my son—we were going to Toronto, I had to do a business trip—and I said to my son one day, I said, "Listen," he was eight, "you want to go to the Hockey Hall of Fame and see it?" 

Now, my son grew up with me in Sherwood, in California, in Thousand Oaks—not a lot of hockey there. And I can kind of get around and I'm a normal parent there—fit in nicely and great friends. 

So my son didn’t really know me as Wayne Gretzky, the hockey player. So when we were getting ready to leave the hotel to go to the Hall of Fame, I said to him, "Now listen, I gotta wear this hat and I’m going to have these glasses on, and don’t be saying 'Dad, that’s you.'" I said, "Just be careful what you're saying. I don’t want anybody to know I’m in here." 

So first thing we do—we get in there, and he’s got to buy a jersey. So I said, "Pick out a team jersey—what team you want?" So he was smart enough—he picked out a good player, got a young guy from the Bruins at the time, Phil Kessel. So we put it on, he's walking around, and all these kids are in there. It was a midsummer’s day, so there were a lot of kids in there. 

And one of the great things about the Hockey Hall of Fame is there’s an interactive division of it downstairs. Kids could take these pucks and shoot on a video screen—there was a goalie there—and you would take shots. And so my son said, "Dad, can we try it?" 

And I said, "Yeah, yeah." And I don't think he'd ever picked up a hockey stick. So we get in the line, and we go up through the line and into the middle of this rink. And my son—one for one, he’s two for two, he was three for three, then he’s three for four, and he’s four for five. 

So he says to me, "Dad, you want to try this?" And I said, "Oh, okay, I'll try it." I get out there—and I'm 0 for 1, I'm 0 for 2, I'm 0 for 3 now. And the kid who was standing beside me, monitoring the line, looks at me and says, "Sir, move your hand down the stick a little further." 

I got so pissed off—I took my hat off and glasses, and I said to my son, "Okay, run." We just started running out of there. I think the kid was holding the stick in awe like, "What just happened?" Never made a shot. 

And then a couple of months later, we’re in LA and I wanted to go to a game—Tampa Bay Lightning were playing, and I was friends with the coach of Tampa Bay, and I wanted to see this young player, Steven Stamkos, play. I hadn’t seen him play live. 

So my buddy and I and his friend and my son—we're sitting on the ice. And about after the first period, I think it was, we were getting up to go to the concession stand. Luke Robitaille was the president of the Kings. I said, "Can we come to the game?" But I don't like sitting up top—I like sitting on the ice so I can see the game. It's a better seat, and I wanted my buddies to be able to sit down on the ice and see it. 

So anyway, after the first period, we get up. And now, I don’t know if you've ever been to an NHL game, but it's fast, they're big, it's physical—it can be pretty rough. And we get up, we’re going to go into the concession area, and my son turns to my buddy and says, "Okay, tell me honestly—did my dad really play in this league?" 

And all I kept thinking was, "Oh my God, this kid never thinks I played—I was 0 for 5. Can’t believe I played against all these guys." 

Brett Kelly (39m 48s):
0 for 5 looks a bit rough.

Wayne Gretzky (39m 51s):
I gotta get him home and show him some video.

Brett Kelly (39m 53s):
It's so great. So often fame is so relative, and it's good to hear—even to your own children.

Wayne Gretzky (40m 1s):
Oh, that is funny.

Brett Kelly (40m 2s):
Which is hilarious. So mindset—you're very well known for being so calm. And to do what you did—we had Chelsea Pottenger speak on mindset this morning. Can you share with us what, in your view, if you look at yourself or Jordan or Kobe Bryant or Carl Lewis-type athlete—what’s the mindset, similarities and differences?

Wayne Gretzky (40m 21s):
I would say this: I grew up a huge sports fan. And I say this to people all the time. So in the eighties, when I used to watch McEnroe and Borg play against each other at Wimbledon...

Brett Kelly (40m 35s):
The greatest.

Wayne Gretzky (40m 37s):
And then when you saw Magic and Larry Bird go against each other in the NBA Finals. And then for me—I was a huge baseball guy—to watch George Brett continuously deliver hit after hit after hit. 

And I said to someone, "The one thing they all had in common was they were smiling while they were doing it." They were loving... They wanted that pressure. They wanted to be in that situation. It made them calmer the bigger it was. 

And so that’s why I idolized those athletes. And I think I tried to take what they did and what they had accomplished in a sense that—where else would you rather be? This is the greatest day of my life. I'm playing one-on-one with Larry Bird or Borg and McEnroe. 

They loved that compete feeling and that competitive spirit that they had. And that's what made them better—because you could tell they enjoyed it. And so to me, the greatest athletes—the stars that separate themselves from the good players—are the ones that want to be there when the pressure is most profound. 

Brett Kelly (42m 40s):
That's a great observation. So taking that into your life, how do you think that mindset benefited you in your family and in your business and your whole life?

Wayne Gretzky (41m 52s):
Well, family’s easy in a sense that I think when you come from a good family, it’s easy to prolong that. So my wife had a family of seven kids. Unfortunately, her father died at a young age—when she was only 16. But my mother-in-law is 103 and still lives in my house. I keep saying she's never going to get out. 

And her mindset is so strong. She’s lost two daughters to breast cancer, and yet she gets up every day and she believes in the good Lord and believes in family. 

And my parents were the same way. And they always say—I don’t know if they always say—but a lot of people say when you marry, usually guys marry their mothers. And for my case, I married my father—no question about it. They’re identical. 

But family becomes so imperative in life. And as my mother-in-law says, "The bigger the kids, the bigger the problems" as they get older. 

But I'm lucky—I now have five wonderful kids and five spouses, and about to have seven grandchildren. We already have five and are going to have seven grandchildren. And they all get along and they’re very polite. 

I think the greatest compliment you can get as a parent is when someone says, "Your son is so polite" or "Your daughter is so gracious." I always told them, "It doesn't cost you more money to be nice—and that's how you should live life." 

Brett Kelly (43m 37s):
So as you go forward—now you’ve got grandkids and you're in this phase of your life—what’s the most important thing to you over the next 20 years, 30 years?

Wayne Gretzky (43m 48s):
Oh gosh, I haven’t even thought that far ahead. Like every other person in here, I’ve been lucky enough to go and meet and have some great memories and life-lasting friendships. 

My best friend today still—who never played professional hockey—we’ve been best friends since we were 10 years old. And those kind of things, those relationships and friendships, are imperative in life. 

And then just the health and welfare of your kids and grandchildren—that’s what you worry about. 

I’ve been lucky enough with the things I’ve done and got to accomplish, and now I wish that for my kids and my family. 

My competitive nervous spirit only comes now when I watch them compete—if they’re competing. Whether it’s my kids or my son-in-law playing golf—you pull for them and you want them to reap the benefits of their hard work and their dedication. That’s what brings joy to my wife and me. 

Although I will say—my grandson is going from T-ball to regular pitch, so I’m looking forward to that, because the T-ball is getting a little boring. Every other grandparent out there—you’re like, "Oh my gosh." But as long as they’re having fun. 

And we’re building three ice rinks here in Palm Beach, and that’s exciting. Hockey is growing here, and I’m really proud to be around this community and it’s been fun. 

And hockey is my life, and everything I have in my life is because of hockey. So I just still feel a part of it—except I don’t have to worry about wins and losses, the stress of winning or losing Game 7, the Stanley Cup Final—that’s kind of behind me now. 

Brett Kelly (45m 53s):
So if you look back to when you were 10 and you met your hero, could you have imagined the life that you've had?

Wayne Gretzky (46m 1s):
Oh, not at all. My father used to borrow $20 from my grandmother every September to buy me a pair of new skates. Like I said, we had four boys in one bedroom, but that didn’t even faze us. I couldn’t even have imagined thinking that I’d be able to travel and go to the places and cities and meet the people I’ve met—even our family. I wouldn’t have met my wife had I not moved on in life and become a professional athlete and gone to Edmonton and then LA. I would’ve been in a small hometown like everyone else. But fortunately for me, the good Lord gave me a passion and gave me some skill and talent to go with it. And I feel very blessed.

Brett Kelly (46m 57s):
On the role of your wife—in the research that I was undertaking, it was your wife that said, "Come to LA."

Wayne Gretzky (47m 6s):
No. Your research is wrong.

Brett Kelly (47m 8s):
It’s wrong?

Wayne Gretzky (47m 14s):
I’m kidding. She got blamed for me going to LA. So I was going to get traded because I wouldn’t re-sign a contract. I said, basically, "No," I had a year to go on it, and I could become an unrestricted free agent. And I was sort of a salary cap for the league at that time. So they didn’t want me to become an unrestricted free agent, and that would’ve set the bar for other guys to get paid more. And so they basically sat me down and said, "Tell us where you want to go." And I said, "Okay," and I gave them a list of Philadelphia, LA, and Detroit—because of Gordie Howe. 

At the last moment, I think the deal was going to be done—I was going to go to Detroit—and my dad called me and he said, "Listen, there’s only one Gordie Howe. Detroit is Detroit. Why don’t you do something unique and go to LA? Why don’t you stand up and do something really brave?" 

I got to LA—there were four high school teams, and I think now there are over 125 high school teams. There were like four sheets of ice in the LA area, and now I think they have over 50 ice sheets. So hockey's come a long way in California, and I’m proud to be a small part of it. But I’m glad I made the decision I made. It really was my dad who was the one—the driving force—that said, "Hey." 

And selfishly, I thought, "Maybe I should go to Detroit because my dad could come to more games. It’s only a two-and-a-half-hour drive from my hometown." 

LA’s tough to get to from Brantford, but as it turned out, it was the right thing. I became partners in a Canadian football team with John Candy, which was a lot of fun—Uncle Buck—and we had a wonderful time. We won a championship in the CFL, and that was pretty special. 

Brett Kelly (49m 20s):
My research was wrong, and that’s— 

Wayne Gretzky (49m 22s):
Well, kind of right.

Brett Kelly (49m 23s):
Because it was a tabloid or something?

Wayne Gretzky (49m 24s):
She got blamed. 

Brett Kelly (49m 25s):
She got blamed for it. Okay. 

Wayne Gretzky (49m 29s):
She was 100% behind wherever we were going to go. But it was my dad who stood up and said, "Listen, why don’t you go to LA?" Which turned out to be wonderful. My kids were all raised out there. They all went to high school there, and you know the community very well. It’s a great city. There are so many big parts of LA, but where we are on the outskirts—Thousand Oaks—was just a tremendous family area and a great place to raise kids. 

Brett Kelly (50m 1s):
And then what prompted the move to Florida? 

Wayne Gretzky (50m 5s):
It was kind of a combination of things. My daughter and son-in-law were here with the grandboys. My other son was dating a girl from this area and moved here. Then my daughter was off to SMU that year, and my son was off to NYU that year. And we thought, "You know what? Why not move down to where the grandchildren are and where the kids are?" 

We moved here, and in the midst of all that, ESPN and TNT had reached out to do some TV work for them, and it just wouldn’t have been possible to fly from LA to Bristol, Connecticut or LA to Atlanta every week. Being here in Florida, working with TNT, I’m an hour flight from Palm Beach up to Atlanta once a week. And it’s turned out to be not only a good venture as far as the business of TNT goes, but also that we’re closer to our family. 

Brett Kelly (51m 4s):
Fantastic. Now, I always like to finish by asking people a motto, quote, or thought that best summarizes your approach to life.

Wayne Gretzky (51m 11s): 

Oh, my gosh. 

Brett Kelly (51m 13s): 
Favorite motto? 

Wayne Gretzky (51m 17s): 
Favorite motto? You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. 

Brett Kelly (51m 19s): 
Very famous for it. I want to thank you, Wayne, for your time today. I think it was tremendously generous for you to do that for us. 

Wayne Gretzky (51m 28s): 
My pleasure. And does anybody have a question? 

Brett Kelly (51m 30s): 
And take questions now. I think we’ve got a little QR code working and you can put your question in there. 

Speaker 3: (51m 40s) 
Good morning. I have a question for you. So, my wife and I—we have a son who is playing professional sports, and he’s beginning his journey. What advice would you care to share that we could pass on to him? 

Wayne Gretzky (51m 54s): 
What sport? 

Speaker 3 (51m 55s): 
Basketball. 

Wayne Gretzky (51m 56s): 
Wow, good for him. I always say this to kids—that the commitment and the work ethic is worth it. I remember at 13, 14, 15 years old, I’d have friends that said, "Hey, we’re going to go to a movie tonight," or "We’re going to do this," and I’d be like, "No, it’s okay. I’m going to stay in the backyard and skate," or "I’m going to play baseball." Your commitment is so worth it. 

And my dad was a big believer that the harder you work as a kid, the more fun you’re going to have as an adult. And the more fun you have as a kid, the harder you’re going to work as an adult. And it’s so true. The commitment and the passion for what he’s doing is so worth it at the end of the day. Just believe each and every day—it’s really, really worth it. I wouldn’t trade my life in for anything in the world. I’ve been so blessed. 

Speaker 4 (53m 02s): 
Wayne, thank you so much. This has been outstanding. So, you were raised in a different socio-economic upbringing to your own children—four kids in one bedroom. So how did you raise your kids to be empowered and not entitled? 

Wayne Gretzky (53m 17s): 
Well, it’s a fine line, isn’t it? I remember one time my wife said she got frustrated at one of the kids, and she goes, "You know, my dad would’ve had me up against the wall." And I said, "Well, lucky you—my dad would’ve had me through the wall." 

Brett Kelly (53m 35s): 
I’ve had this discussion. 

Wayne Gretzky (53m 40s): 
And as a professional athlete, we travel so much—it becomes so imperative that the kids have respect for their mother because they’re there all the time. And my wife was a wonderful mother—would do anything for her kids. You’ve got to be on the same page as parents, and it’s so important. 

But in talking to the kids, it’s respect. You respect your friends, you respect your school teachers, you respect the people around you. And that goes so far in life. And it’s a fine line because we’ve seen kids that really feel like they’re owed things. If we could figure it out, we could make a lot of money selling a book. It’s a fine line. But I would say that your parents have to both be on the same page. 

Speaker 5 (54m 30s): 
Wayne, thank you so much for being here today and for sharing some wisdom. I’m curious—when you were in a stressful or pressured situation on the ice, what did you tell yourself to help you perform and really not succumb to the pressure? 

Wayne Gretzky (54m 42s): 
Right. I think it starts before you get out there. The kids or the athletes that feel like, "Oh my gosh, this is so overwhelming, I’m a little bit unsure"—and what I was saying about Larry Bird and John McEnroe and those guys—that’s where you want to be. You can’t go out there thinking, "Oh my God, I’m overwhelmed," or "Wow, this is stressful." 

At the end of the day, you’re playing a game. We’re getting paid to have fun. We’re getting paid to win, but there’s more to life—what doctors do with heart surgeries and those things are far more stressful than just being an athlete. And that’s the way I looked at it: This is fun. Where else would I rather be? And I never worried about it. 

Speaker 6 (55m 35s): 
Thank you so much for being here. A couple of times, you referenced the good Lord in your discussion today, and I just didn’t know if you could share a little bit about your faith and how much it meant to you as far as your success and your journey. 

Wayne Gretzky (55m 50s): 
So when I was a kid, our grandmother was Catholic and my mom's side was Roman Anglican. And so at the time, when I was five years old, every Sunday I had to go to church. I got confirmed when I was 14 years old, but my parents would get me up every Sunday morning and I'd walk across the street. This lady would drive me to the church around the corner, and I'd go every Sunday. 

And actually, the minister actually did our wedding in Edmonton for Janet and me. I remember I said to my dad one time, "Dad, you got to start going to church." And so my dad started going to church. Gosh, I’d be 15 years old, and he never missed a Sunday the rest of his life. He used to tell my kids he was so mad that he tried out for the church choir and they wouldn’t let him in. They said his voice was not good enough for the choir. So my kids always thought that was funny. 

And then we just had a big faith in it. I don't preach to people, but we're very big believers in the Lord. And like I said, the day I met Pope John Paul, I thought was one of the greatest days of my life. And to go to the Vatican and be able to do something like that—I remember my dad; that was the one time he was really, I think, extremely proud that because of his heritage I got to meet Pope John Paul. So yeah, we all do—we’re believers in the good Lord. There's no question about that. 

And everything happens for a reason. And like I said, my mother-in-law is still alive, and my father-in-law passed when he was 55 years old, and two of my wife's sisters were taken. But there's always a reason for what happens in life. 

Speaker 7 (57m 54s): 
Wayne, thanks for being with us. I coach a lot of youth baseball, so they’re like 10 years old. One of the biggest things for me with baseball is you can hit three out of 10 times and you'll be one of the best players that's ever lived. Do you have any advice for how to teach kids to deal with failure in sports? 

Wayne Gretzky (58m 15s): 
First of all, be one of the kids that’s three for 10. Don't be one of the kids that’s one for 10. It’s funny, I was telling you how much I love baseball. My son was a really good baseball player, and they actually have a Golden Glove, Rawlings Golden Glove, for high school students across the country—one position player. So it was the first baseman, second baseman, and on and on. Throughout the whole country, they picked nine of them. 

And so one day we were going into the school for something—I can’t remember what it was—and as we were walking by, they had this trophy case and they had the Rawlings Gold Glove there, and it said, "Presented to Trevor Gretzky." And I remember I looked at my wife and I said, "Did you know he won this?" He didn’t even tell us he won it. He won the Golden Glove for the United States of America in high school, which is pretty special. 

And my dad always said, "You’re going to have failure in sports. That’s going to be part of it, right? You’re not always going to win. You’re not always going to dominate. You’re not always going to be successful." But he always believed it’s the ones who get over their mistakes or their miscomings that end up ultimately—it's like business. Not every day flows, right? There’s some days you go, "Oh my gosh, what are we going to do today?" And sports is no different. 

Speaker 8 (59m 44s): 
Hi Wayne, thanks for being here. Admitted fanboy. Remember going to the Boston Garden in the early eighties to see you play, and I think you got knocked out in the first 20 seconds of the first shift—you were out of the game. So I think I saw about 20 seconds of the game there, but— 

Wayne Gretzky (59m 59s): 
Well, let me tell you something. One time I was so lucky—I got on the cover of Time Magazine, Larry Bird and I. And we happened to be playing in Boston on a Friday or Saturday. We got there the day before and my roommate and I, Kevin Lowe, I said, "Hey, do you want to go to the Celtic game?" I said, "This would be cool." And he goes, "Yeah." So the Celtics, we called and they said, "Okay, we’ll get you two seats on the floor." It was cool. Larry and I were there and when we got there, I said to my buddy, "Let’s get a hot dog and a beer." So we got a hot dog and a beer in Old Boston Garden. It was old, right? 

So we finally get to our seats. As we got to our seats, the referee was going like this, and Larry Bird got thrown out of the game, okay? 20 seconds in, and I went, "What just happened?" You get two technicals in basketball, you’re out of the game. And Larry Bird said after the game, it was the only time he ever got two technicals in his whole career. And he said after the game, if he’d known I was there, he wouldn’t have got thrown out. I’m thinking, "Thanks." Anyway, go ahead. 

Speaker 8 (1h 1m 8s): 
No, that’s good timing, right? But you mentioned Gordie Howe was your idol growing up, and for me it was Bobby Orr. But did you ever skate with Bobby Orr or play against him at all? 

Wayne Gretzky (1h 1m 19s): 
Yeah, so I agree with you. Bobby Orr was sensational. And I always say to people, "The two greatest players are Gordie Howe and Bobby Orr." If you’re a forward, you thought Gordie Howe was it; if you were a defenseman, you slam-dunked Bobby Orr, no question. 

I played one time with Bobby Orr, and he actually lives 10 minutes from where I live. He lives here and I see him quite a bit. He was friends with a gentleman that he played with somewhere—I can’t remember where. And this gentleman unfortunately ended up in a wheelchair, so they were doing a charity benefit hockey game for him in Winnipeg actually. It was the end of the season, and I’d flown with three buddies to Hawaii. 

Now, I’d never been to Hawaii. And when you’re 18 years old, you think you know everything, right? And the first day we all put oil on us and we couldn’t move for three days, right? We’d never been in the sun like that. Anyway, halfway through my trip, I got a phone call from the coach, Glenn Sather, and he said, "Bobby Orr is playing this charity hockey game in Winnipeg. I really think you should go." And I remember thinking, "Well, I’m here with all my buddies, we’ve got another 10 days in Hawaii, we’re in Honolulu." 

And he goes, "No, I think you should go." So I got on the plane, flew from Honolulu to Vancouver to Winnipeg, and I played one game with Bobby Orr. I think it was the last game he ever played. It was a charity hockey game in Winnipeg, and they raised all this money for his friend. I was showing a guy a picture the other day of Bobby Orr and me sitting on the bench, and somebody said, "I didn’t even know you ever played with Bobby Orr," but I played with him one time. 

Speaker 8 (1h 2m 58s): 
I don't know. Hi. Don’t know if it is a sensitive question, but you’ve been in the news lately with Alex Ovechkin breaking your record. What’s it like when you set a record? Because all the athletes say, "Oh, I don’t think about it," or "It hasn’t sunk in yet." When does that sink in, and what’s it like watching somebody else go through something you went through? 

Wayne Gretzky (1h 3m 18s): 
I want to block the net. Kidding. When I broke Gordie Howe’s record, I remember saying to my dad one night, "I feel bad. I broke Gordie’s record," because I idolized him so much and he’s so nice. And I remember saying, "The game is different and I just don’t feel great about this." And my dad looked at me and he said, "You need to remember one thing." And I said, "What?" "That you have the same dignity and gracefulness as Gordie Howe has when you broke his record as when the guy breaks your record." And I remember I looked at my dad and I said, "Well, can I just enjoy it for a little bit before we start talking about breaking it?" 

You know what? I did what I did and I’m proud of it. Good for him. It’s been great for hockey. It was front-page news for a long time for the NHL. He’s a wonderful young man. Washington has become a great hockey city because of him. So it’s all positive. I was really happy. Actually, we went in Friday morning because he was playing Friday night and he needed three goals. 

And I remember they were playing a young Chicago Blackhawk team and I said to my wife, "We better go tomorrow. He’s liable to get two or three." And sure enough, he got two. So on Saturday morning, we drove from Washington into Manhattan and stayed in the city because we could see my son. Then I drove out to the island Sunday morning for the game. It was a 12:30 game and I’m sitting there going, "I kind of hope he doesn’t score tonight." Because he was playing Thursday back in Washington. I said, "We can go to another game. It’s kind of getting fun." 

Anyway, he scored quickly halfway through the second period. So we ended up staying in Manhattan for four days, which was nice—seeing my son—but it was all positive for hockey. It was really good. 

Brett Kelly (1h 5m 15s): 
Fantastic. Great questions. Thank you so much. 

Wayne Gretzky (1h 5m 18s): 
Thank you all so much. 

Brett Kelly (1h 5m 20s): 
I want to thank you, Wayne, so much for making the time.  

--End of transcript--