March 17, 2021

By Bob Elliott

Canadian Baseball Network

The late Wally Gretzky was a man of many qualities.

Besides being Canada’s Hockey Dad, he was a benevolent man. He’d hand out Wayne Gretzky autographs and his own to parents and children. When passers by stopped in front of his house, he’d invite them in to try on No. 99 jerseys.

“Wally’s mission was to make everyone in the whole world happy,” said Tom Bitove, who co-owned Wayne Gretzky’s restaurant with No. 99 on Blue Jays Way, where Wally was a regular.

More than anything though he had an eye for a young hockey fan ... one who wouldn’t mind an upgrade.

Some nights at ScotiaBank Arena, Wally would accept Bitove’s invite to sit in his box. Rather than going the easy way -- taking the elevator -- they’d go to the 100 level in search for an adult with a daughter or son between the age of five and nine.

“I’d say ‘sir can you come over here for a second,’” Tom was remembering Saturday afternoon. “The adult would follow me, he’d recognize Wally and Wally would say ‘would you like to sit in my seats tonight?’ To watch it unfold ... the look of surprise and appreciation on the father’s face was unforgettable. I’m sure that the child said ‘Who is Walter Gretzky?’”

And we’re sure the father had three periods worth of stories to explain to his child and to tell at work the next day.

Wally would sit down with parents and children in town for a hockey tournament or bulking up before the Maple Leafs game at Wayne Gretzky’s. Wally would walk around the restaurant with a whole pad of his pre-written “Your friend, Walter Gretzky,” autographs with a blank “To ...” on it.

“He’d ask the person his or her name, fill it in,” Bitove said. “Then, he’d say ‘do you have a friend? ... What’s his name?, Do you have a brother? ... A cousin?’ Think I saw him hand out 12 autographs at one time one night.”

Speaking of good blood lines … that’s Wally Gretzky, part-owner of the Brantford Red Sox along with the father and son team on Dan Mendham (Dorchester, Ont.) and his son David Mendham (Dorchester, Ont.).

And he’d pose for pictures for every single guest, Bitove recalled. Wally posed for so many he acquired an artistic sense saying telling the person holding the camera: “No, no, aim a little bit higher,” or “a little to the left please”

Bitove said he would often tell Wayne, “Your father is my best employee.” Wayne would reply, “And he’s not even paid.”

Wally would be in the restaurant for a couple of hours and “every customer would walk away happy” and with a story to tell:

“The Leafs lost, ... but guess who we met?”

A homeless man named Frosty was often outside the restaurant. Wally would always give him a $20 bill and say, “Take care of yourself.”

Wally raised so much money for charity he was named a Member of the Order of Canada in 2007, for his dedication to helping a myriad of local, provincial, and national charities.

* * *

Remember how gatherings at house parties used to unfold?

The men would be in the kitchen talking to the men. The wives and girlfriends would be in the living room talking.

It was similar one night in 2007 in Arizona. Canadian Basketball officials were in town to attend a fundraiser for the Steve Nash Foundation. Tom Bitove was also there with his brother Jordan Bitove.

The next night former NBA first rounder Leo Rautins, coach of Canada’s national team, another Canadian Basketball official and others were in Gretkzy’s box at the Glendale Area. They were watching coach Gretzky’s Phoenix Coyotes play the Minnesota Wild.

At the back of the booth, the wife of a Canada Basketball official listened to Wally tell a story of burying his wife, Phyllis, in December of 2005 in Brantford. Still grieving he told the woman a story about that day.

He explained that before the service, the funeral director told Wally he would leave alone in the room with Phyllis’ coffin. What was Wally supposed to do now he asked the man?

The man from the funeral home explained that it was up to him ... but he would be back in 15 minutes to take Wally into the service.

“What did you do?” asked the woman.

“Well, I didn’t know what to say ...” explained the Great Father. “So, I sang.”

“You sang? What did you sing?” asked the woman.

“I sang ...

“Have I told you lately that I love you

Have I told you there’s no one else above you

You fill my heart with gladness

Take away my sadness

Ease my troubles, that’s what you do.”

The men at the front noticed something at the back ... both Wally and the woman were crying. The woman had massacre and eye shadow running down stream as they held each other’s hands.

That was Walter Gretzky’s love for his late wife Phyllis.

Van Morrison and Rod Stewart may have sung the song better in their prime, but neither batted 1.000 touching the hearts of the audience.

Wally sang her off her final mile. Bitove had heard Wally sing the song before.

“I wouldn’t say he was a great singer,” Bitove said, “(but) he was a good singer. And he knew all the words. He’d sing the whole song if you let him. If people made a fuss after the second stanza he’d stop. The thing was -- he had timing.”

Imagine that? A Gretzky with timing.

There were many emotional moments watching Wally’s funeral on TV for Bitove. One was Serita Perkins and Brandon Corke singing Amazing Grace.

“Wally used to sing that song all the time and he’d own the room,” Bitove recalled. “Some times he’d hook up with (famed Canadian tenor) John McDermott ... they were special nights.”

Wally’s favourite meal at the restaurant his son and Bitove partnered on for 26 years, the one where everyone knew his name -- and in a cheery fashion -- were perogies. From the restaurant’s opening in 1993 until it closed in October of 2020, that and grandma Gretzky’s meat loaf were the only items that stayed on the menu from the beginning to the very end.

Through a mutual friend Gretzky and Tom Bitove were connected in 1992 when Gretzky missed the first half of the season due to a back injury and began to think about life after hockey. Gretzky had had tons of offers to get into the restaurant business before.

“We flew to Los Angeles, met with Wayne and Mike Barnett,” Bitove, who took with him his late father John. The deal was done in 2 1/2 hours. A decade later when the 10-year contract ran out Gretzky and Bitove re-upped on a handshake – and continued that way for the next 17 years.

Bitove first met Wally when No. 99 came to look at possible locations with Barnett. Wally wound up in the front seat of the car Bitove was driving.

Wally Gretzky, given the honorary title of Brantford's Lord Mayor on Brantford’s Canada Day in 2014. Photo: Brian Thompson, Brantford Expositor.

“Wally asked ‘Where’s Wayne? Where’s Wayne?” Bitove said. “Wayne leaned forward from the back seat and said ‘Dad you are fine ... Tom’s our new partner.”

That was the start of a beautiful friendship as Wally never ran out of ways to impress his son’s partner.

“I’ve never seen Wayne say no to an autograph either,” Bitove said, “Oh maybe when he trying to catch a plane.”

Wally was constantly teasing Bitove.

Once Bitove asked, “Why do you always cut me up? You are the nicest guy in the world.

“And Wally said ‘Because I like you.’”

Wally liked everyone.

And everyone loved Canada’s Hockey Dad.

* * *

The phone rang constantly at the Kingston Whig-Standard from 7 p.m. until 1 a.m. People called with results and requests for advances looking to pump up their upcoming events.

This night Ken Linseman, father of the eventual NHLer by the same name, was on the line. He was running a Young Nats novice tournament at the Constantine Arena on the Royal Military College campus. It was April of 1972.

“We have a player trying for his 700th career goal,” Linseman said.

How many does he need, “four or five?”

Linseman answered: “17.”

The player’s name? Wayne Gretzky.

You said it was only a three-game tournament?

“Yes,” replied Linsemen, “it’s possible.”

The Great One scored three times for the Brantford Nadrofsky Steelers in the opener, a 6-2 win over Kingston, eight times in a 13-2 win against Leaside and six in a 7-0 win over Peterborough in the final. Seventeen goals – exactly – in three games; 700 in his career to that point.

I was not experienced covering hockey and even less interviewing 11 year-olds. So, the first time I ever met Wally Gretzky - he was a better quote than Wayne.

I wouldn’t say I was on a first-name basis with Walter (“Call me Wally) in fact I have no idea if he even knew my name. Yet in the 15 times the team I was helping coach would visit Brantford for a game he was always around the Baker Bowl at Cockshutt Park. The few times he was not, there he was when we entered Arnold Anderson Stadium.

If I knew 20 people in the sold-out rink that night, 18 said “good player, but wait until he gets to peewee ... the older kids will run him into the boards.”

The 4-foot-9, soaking-wet 80-pounder left Kingston at tournament’s end with 372 goals on the season. He finished the 1971-72 season 378 goals in a mere 85 contests.

His dad saw most of them – that season and every other.