Best of Jack Nicklaus and Wayne Gretzky - - Golf With Jay Delsing

Jay Delsing spent 25 years on the PGA Tour and is a lifetime member of the PGA Tour and PGA of America. Now he provides his unique perspective as a golfer and network broadcaster. It's time to go On The Range with Jay Delsing. On The Range is brought to you by the Gateway section of the PGA.

Hey, welcome back. This is Golf with Jay Delsing. Pearly's here and we're on the range. Pearly, welcome to On The Range segment, Golf with Jay Delsing. Glad to be on the range with you, Jay. Let's let it rip.

Yeah, let's go. Man, I'm so excited about this show. We've got the goats. We've got Jack, Nicholas and Wayne Gretzky.

Man, I'm excited about this. So, we formatted the show like a round of golf and the On The Range segment is our first segment and it's brought to you by the Gateway section of the PGA. Just appreciate those guys helping us grow the game, doing the things they did, men and women all across the Midwest, all over the place in different sections.

Our Gateway section is just here in the Midwest, but they do great things for us and we really appreciate their help. Pearly, we're skipping the social media because personally, we don't care and we've got Jack, Nicholas to talk about. Love it, love it. So, hey, on these interviews, we're doing the best of the best of, right? So, we're doing the best of the goat interviews.

Is that how this is working or the whole interview? No, we're going to do the best of. We're taking snippets of their interviews and then we're going to kind of break it down a little bit and then we're also going to have, Meat's going to hook us up and on our podcasting, they'll say, hey, look, if you want to get the whole interview, you can click here and get the Jack Nicholas interview, get the whole Wayne Gretzky interview.

So, yeah, that's what we're doing. Okay, a couple of things. A couple of things before we get to Jack. I got some questions for you. Oh, boy. Here we go.

Here we go. Are these serious questions? Oh, it's my show.

Of course they are. Okay, that's what I thought. All right. Of the top 125, of the top 125 players that were exempt this year, 2021, how many made a million dollars or more? So, your last year, no, your first year on tour, how many guys made a million or more? None. Okay, so it's more than none. That's my hint.

That's a hell of a hint, Jay. More than none. On 125, I'm going to say 86. 124.

Whoo, baby. The better answer was who didn't make a million. One guy, number 125 didn't make a million.

I've got a better, here's a better question for you, because I know you are always interested in this. How many players have made $10 million or more without a win? Oh, man. 10 million. You didn't make 10. You didn't make 10. No, I spent 10, though. You're like the government.

I am the government. I'm going to say how many guys have made 10 million in their career total in the history of the game without a win. I'm going to say, wow, that number is probably skyrocketing these days. I'm going to say 62.

Wow, Pearl, you're not good at this, are you? No. Early, 10 people, 10 have made a million dollars or more. Who leads that pack? 10 players have made $10 million or more without a win.

Who do you think leads that pack by a good almost 4 million bucks? Oh, my gosh. We mentioned him about two months ago. Who hasn't won? Oh, yeah, now you're calling on my recall.

Cameron Tringali. Over 15 million bucks with no win. Are you kidding me?

Oh, my. He shows up and disappears, shows up and disappears. That's amazing. How much do you think he spent? Do you think he spent 20 like you?

He's not calling me for any advice, so he probably is on the good program where he's made 15 and he's probably only spent about three. And invested the rest of some startup from Silicon Valley and made another 250 bones. He's in good shape.

Alright, anyway, I just had to throw that in there. I've got some... What a change, huh? What a change. As we transition to this Nicholas interview, Pearl, I'm blown away at his record. All I did was focus on the majors and I'm absolutely just blown away at what he did and how he did it.

It's just absolutely fantastic. The 18 major speaks for himself, but 19 second place runner-up finishes. So that's always my question. When people lose track a little bit about what it takes to win out there, does that mean he chokes more times than he won? Yeah, I mean, that's up for conjecture, isn't it?

No, not for me it is. That means he's in the hunt because how many times was he in there for third? So he's got another, what is that, six, nine thirds. He's got a whole bunch of others.

He was just there all the time. I think the only way you win a bunch is you've got to be there a lot. A hundred percent.

A hundred percent. Let's go straight into this interview with the greatest of all time, Jack Nicklaus. Jack Nicklaus is brought to you by Golden Tee. Jack, living in the Midwest like we do, you know, the weather turned cold and you put the golf clubs away, didn't you? And then out come football or basketball, whatever. Yeah, I always put my golf clubs away right after the U.S. amateur, which is generally about the middle of September.

And I didn't really even look at them until spring started to break around, you know, in the February, March. And I played football for a while, but football interfered with going to play in the national juniors and the national amateur. So I gave up football and then basketball was my sport in the wintertime and didn't have anything to interfere with.

So I really enjoy it. So those are the two main sports that I played. Jack, and I saw, you know, I wanted to talk a little bit about your dad and his football career and his athletic career as well.

But I also saw your senior year of high school. You got some Allstate mentions and some offers to play college basketball as a shooting guard. I got recruited in Ohio State.

I think they, I think they were probably misguided a little bit. I was, I scored a lot of points and, but I figured out I wasn't tall enough, quick enough. And, you know, the guys that came in when I did was Jerry Lucas and John Havlicek and Bobby Knight and that group.

And they all, they won the national championship and were runner up the other two years. So I would have played a little bit. I've been ninth or tenth man probably. And, but then I decided that's not what I want to do to run my, you know, run myself all over the place to be, you know, the team to test our champions.

No, that doesn't suit your personality, I don't think. Well, one of the things I thought was interesting, Jack, is the way we see families and parents doing with their children in sports now. It's nothing like the way we did it when I grew up.

I did it just like you did it. When the weather changed, we brought out the football and the basketball. And we're seeing these kids dedicate themselves to one sport from such an early age.

I think that's a horrible mistake for the kid. And I think it's really brought on by the coaches who I think, I think it's very selfish on their part. And, of course, the seasons in most all sports have extended. So they overlap more than they used to. I mean, we used to have a very definite end to football, to basketball, to baseball, and so forth.

But they don't have that anymore. But I think that, you know, I was not a gym rat. I imagine you weren't either. I got my conditioning from playing sports. And when I did that, I mean, I played in a rec basketball league until I was 40 years old.

And I enjoyed it. I enjoyed doing those things. And I was always outdoors doing something. Golf was a sport that, I mean, how I got to Golf J was basically, you know, baseball was probably my best sport.

But I was just sitting around waiting for a dozen or so kids to come out on a hot, dusty day in Ohio. When I could be at the golf course, play at 18 holes in the morning, play at 18 holes in the afternoon, that didn't appeal to me after a while. Football, my dad really, he played professional football.

He played for the old Portsmouth Spartans, which are now the Detroit Lions in the NFL. And he, you know, it broke his heart, but he understood that I wasn't tall enough. My hands weren't big enough. I was a quarterback.

But it just didn't make sense in the end. Actually, Woody Hayes was the one that told my dad. He says, I've seen your kid play both sports. He says, you can't keep him as far away from my sport as you can. It was a wise move for him, and the basketball fit in fine. But, you know, all those other sports, I never had a what-if J, because, you know, I was pretty good at all the other sports.

But I knew what my limitations were, and I didn't have any limitations in golf. So that's obviously where I gravitated. Oh, my gosh. Jack, when I think about how many times we were playing a pickup baseball game and the shortstop on the other team got called home for dinner and the game broke up, I was the most, I was so disappointed, and that really led me to golf as well. I love that story. Can we talk just a little bit about meeting Barbara and what a rock she's been? I've got to tell folks, I have four daughters, and you and your family have sent me christening gifts for the birth of each one of my daughters. I'll never forget it. And you guys are the first family of golf, and your wife is such a rock.

Yes, she is, Jay, and she's fantastic. We met our first week in college. I was walking, it was orientation week, and I went down to say hello to the gal that I had been dating, but we'd already agreed to date around. And Barbara walked up, and the gal's name was Mary, and she knew Barbara. So she introduced me to Barbara.

I walked her to class, called her for a date, and, you know, that's it. We were done. We were on our way for the next 60, well, actually, you can add about three years to that.

So that's about 64 years, I guess. Oh, my gosh, and I don't know how you were able, you guys were able to manage what you did. All the success, 117 professional wins, the 18 majors, double, triple career grand slams. But, Jack, your family is so important. The Christmas card you send out, you know, I got the pleasure of knowing Jackie from college golf and things like that. How did that, how were you guys able to do that?

I can't imagine with your success any of that was easy. Well, you know, Jay, my focus was on priorities, and family was my number one priority. You know, we got four boys, four boys and a girl, five kids, 22 grandkids. And, you know, that's where we were brought up that way. Barb's parents were brought up that way. Barb's father was a high school math teacher. As a matter of fact, he taught my father in high school. And my dad obviously was a pharmacist.

That's what I went to college to be. He taught me out of that. But we're still in the family values.

The family comes first. And then, you know, golf is a game. It happened to be a game that I love. It happened to be a game that provided me the opportunity to do so many other things in life. If it hadn't been for golf, you know, what would I be doing now? I mean, I'd probably be a club pro someplace or a baseball coach somewhere.

I don't know where I'd be. It's so true. I think that the fact that I'm sitting here talking to you, Jack, it's just such a pleasure and it's all because of the game. And what the game can do for people, for other people, for the underprivileged. Let's talk a little bit about, you know, the foundation, the Nicklaus Children's Healthcare Foundation you guys set up in 2004. You guys have raised over $100 million since then. And I know that number's low because of the Memorial event that you founded for, oh my gosh, over 30 years.

How about that sort of stuff that you guys have done and that the game is right in the middle of? Well, you know, Jay, as you know, you played when I played. And the charity was part of our tournaments, but it wasn't a big part of our tournaments. And then as the tour grew, they found golf to be a vehicle for charity. And as a result, charity became more emphasis in golf tournaments and charities. So when we started the Memorial Tournament, and I won't go through the long thing, but we felt like the Michigan Children's Hospital saved Nan's life when she was one year old. And we always said that if we were ever in a position to help others, we wanted it to be children. Well, we started the Memorial Tournament, so that hospital's been the beneficiary since day one. The Honda Tournament came in about 17 years ago in the Palm Beach area, and we either had to send our children to Orlando or Miami if they were sick. And I looked at Barbara and I said, they said they wanted to help challenge charities.

Do you know any? I said, well, we do now because we just started our foundation with that. And so the Honda Tournament, we've been the main beneficiary of that tournament since day one. It's been here.

It's grown. We made a relationship with Miami Children's Hospital, and they wanted to change the name because they wanted to be more global. And the changes to Nicklaus Children's obviously came with a donation, which our foundation was able to raise. And we now, in the last year or so, we've seen kids from every state in the union and 119 other countries. So it's been very rewarding.

We've got the main hospital in Miami and 20 outpatient clinics up and down the east and west coast of Florida. And to see these kids and see what's happened to the funds that have been raised and the results they get, it's turned my life around. I used to, you know, not look at it that way because I was in the middle of it.

Now I'm in the middle of it. And I say, wow, you know, the effort that we're making and the things that we're doing and what it's doing for these kids, you know, that's far more important. And I've used the phrase before, far more important than any four foot putt I ever made. However, had I not made those four foot putts.

All right, Pearl. I just love the portion of Jack where he talks about growing up, where he talks about doing his thing, where he, you know, man, it was so much more normal the way he grew up than most people would recognize. Absolutely. And I love when you made your kind of comparisons to growing up and playing the different sports, still the favorite part for me of the whole interview. And obviously I've listened to it many times, but when he talks about it, it's a horrible mistake for the kids to play one sport in those extended seasons. And he's tough on the coaches. That's where he blames.

I think there's more to it than that, but of course the coaches is responsible. But I think that's a big deal. All right, so Pearl, we're going to break on this On The Range segment. This is our best of shows, obviously a little bit of different format. We're going to break here on the On The Range segment.

We'll be coming back for the front nine, but we're still going to talk a little bit of Jack. This is golf with Jay Delsing. This is Paul Leisinger and you're listening to golf with Jay Delsing. Hi, Jay Delsing here for SSM Health Physical Therapy. Our golf program has the same screening techniques and technology as the pros on the PGA Tour use.

That's right. SSM Health Physical Therapy has TPI, Titleist Performance Institute, trained physical therapists that can perform the TPI screen on you as well as use the KVEST 3D motion capture system. It is awesome.

Proper posture and alignment can help you keep it right down the middle. There's 80 locations in the St. Louis area. Call them at 800-518-1626 or visit them on the web at SSMPhysicalTherapy.com. Your therapy, our passion. Thank you, St. Louis, for making the first annual Ascension Charity Classic presented by Emerson a record-breaking success. The golf was incredible, your enthusiasm unmatched, and the only thing that will last longer than the memories is the impact you've made on North St. Louis County charities. To our sponsors, volunteers, and fans, thank you for welcoming golf's greatest legends and bringing professional golf back to St. Louis with record attendance.

See you next year at the Ascension Charity Classic. I want to give a shout out to my friend Colin Berndt over at the Dean team of Kirkwood. Folks, if you're looking for any sort of vehicle, I know it says Volkswagen of Kirkwood. Colin has a parking lot full of new and used cars.

I was just over there the other day. I bought a used VW Passat for my daughter, Jo, who just totaled it in an accident. She texted me, by the way, and said, Dad, I tapped a car in front of me. She tapped it so well that the car is totaled. Anyway, I talked to Colin, and he is working out a new vehicle for us.

But we went over and looked. There is a huge selection of cars over there. My buddy, Pearly, that does a show with me had bought a used Toyota truck from Colin and just loved the service and loved the vehicle.

314-966-0303. This is like dealing with family over there. These are great people.

Colin is there. His right-hand person, Brandy, is there to do anything they can to get you in the vehicle you want. Give them a call today. St. Louis Insurance is a family-owned agency here in St. Louis that specializes in robust insurance policies designed to provide coverage that's tailored to your personal needs. Hey, I know you've heard a lot about club fitting, but I need you to go visit my friends at Pro-Am Golf. They're a family-owned and operated golf discount shop in St. Louis that's been operating for over 40 years. They have a top-quality fitter in CJ over there and a very qualified staff with the most up-to-date, state-of-the-art technology in the industry at all. They've got a really cool ball program coming that will help you fit your swing speed to the right ball. But most importantly, they have the lowest prices in town on this fitting. And you know what's really special? They take the price of the fitting and roll it into the new clubs that you purchased over there.

So basically, the fitting costs you nothing. Visit Tom DeGrant. He's been in the business for over 40 years and a great guy. And they'll watch you hit balls in their simulator. So stop by and ask for the delsing discount, and they'll give you even more money off their already low price. That's Pro-Am Golf, a family-owned business here in St. Louis. Grab your clubs. We're headed to the front nine on Golf with Jay Delsing. The front nine is brought to you by the Ascension Charity Classic. Hey, welcome back. I'm Jay.

I got Pearly with me. This is Golf with Jay Delsing. We're headed to the front nine that's brought to you by the Ascension Charity Classic. September 5th through 11th, 2022.

Norwood Hills, boys and girls and sports fans, ladies and gentlemen. It is going to be awesome. Year one in the books. Over $800,000 raised for charities.

And there are plenty of tricks up the sleeves of the Ascension folks that are going to make the year two bigger and better. So stay tuned and get your tickets. All right, Pearl. I'm going to do a tip of the cap very quickly, and then we're going to go back to the Nicklaus interview. The tip of the cap is brought to you by my friend Colin Berndt at the Dean team of Kirkwood.

314-966-0303. Tip of the cap this week is to my buddy and great broadcaster, Danny Mac. His right-hand girl, Lauren, and their team at Scoops with Danny Mac. Our show is going to move over to the Scoops with Danny Mac website. You're going to be able to download it. You're going to be able to listen to it. Danny and I are going to get to collaborate and do some things together. I'm so honored and can't wait for it.

He's got a TV show on Sunday nights on channel two. It's a tireless effort to bringing sports to us up to the minute reports in the world of the Cardinals, the Blues, anything from around the country. So we are really appreciating getting a shout out to Danny Mac and his website, Scoops with Danny Mac. And that's the tip of the cap from Dean team of Kirkwood and Colin and Brandy.

314-966-0303. Pearl, getting back to Jack Nicklaus before we go over to the Wayne Gretzky interview. One of the things that I loved was when I asked him if he wanted to take any shots back.

Would you like to have a mulligan? And he said the Tom Watson chip-in and the chip-in to lead Trevino. Tom Watson's chip-in on 17 at Pebble Beach in 1982 and I think Trevino's chip-in, I think it was on 18. I think it was at either Trune or Royal Trune and there was something about the way that he approaches the questions. The way that he answers them. The way that when I got to talk to him when he was here last year for the Ascension Charity Classic, this guy has got this contentment, this humility and this matter-of-factness about him that is so welcoming.

Yeah, I loved it. I loved that answer. Just so many things about your questions and the interaction you guys had. It made it easy on you too, didn't it Jay? Here you are interviewing a guy that you highly respect across the board for everything. And you seemed at ease as well. It's just nice to see a guy like that be that, I don't know, that classy.

Yeah, no, absolutely. Just, oh my gosh, couldn't be better. And you think about some of the other interviews you've heard Jack talk about in and about the robustness of the charity, you know, and how he talks about how much he's caddying now for Barbara and doing this work for Children's Hospitals for involvement in the Honda Classic.

And on and on and on. And when you hear about this story that we had with Randy Sims on a couple weeks ago, and he had cystic fibrosis and needed some help from certain doctors and he goes up to Jack and Jack says, doesn't say, oh great, walk away. He engages in them and talks about this other story and they relate to one another. I mean, really? The greatest of all time? And that's how he's relating to a guy that he's never met before? I mean, just fantastic.

You know, it's fun about that, that maybe next time when you talk to him you can get some information too. There was a time, Jay, when he was dethroning Arnold Palmer. Jack was berated, beat up, I don't mean physically per se, but in the news, I think it was Fat Jack, he was this. He was vilified, you're right, Pearl, he absolutely was. But he didn't get, at least now, I mean I don't know about at the time, but I think he just played through it, did what he needed to do, and that's fantastic. I think the little bit I have heard him talk about that, I think Arnold Palmer was pretty cool about that situation through that and was sensitive to Jack that way. It wasn't necessarily piling on.

But I think there's probably some great stories within that story. And you know, Pearl, it reminds me so much of what Jordan Spieth did at the Ryder Cup this past year up at Kohler, when he got into the face of an American fan and said, we don't need that. When they were getting after Sergio and getting after Rahm, it's like, cool, dude, we don't need that. And I think they're carrying that torch that was set up, like you said, by AP and Mr. Palmer and then Jack and on and on down the line. And that's the beauty of the game. And there needs to be standard barriers, and we've got some.

You're right about that, Jay. We need to have some more and keep it going. All right, so that's going to wrap up the front nine, but guess what's coming up? Brody, why don't you take us to the back nine? Tell us who's coming up on the back nine.

The GOAT, the great one, Wayne Gretzky. It's golf with Jay Delsing. Hey, everybody, it's Vince Gill. You're listening to Golf with Jay Delsing.

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Rapsodo.com. Marcon Appliance Parts Company needs to recognize the sponsors, staff and volunteers who made the inaugural Ascension Charity Classic in St. Louis a huge success. Without the tireless effort of hundreds of dedicated people this past year, this PGA Champions Tour event could not have achieved the success it did.

The winner in golf is the person with the lowest score. But the big winner of this event is the people and communities of need in the St. Louis area and the tremendous boost to the St. Louis economy as a whole. Well played by everyone who put in the time to make this a wonderful event. It's great to live in your community.

Marcon Appliance Parts Company is based in St. Louis, Missouri and is the largest distributor of major appliance parts in North America and a proud distributor of General Electric parts. I want to thank the Gateway section of the PGA of America for supporting the Golf with Jay Delsing show. There are over 300 men and women, PGA professionals and over 100 golf facilities in the greater St. Louis area supporting us. They're experts in the game. They know the business of golf. And at this point in time, this pandemic, the golf courses are jammed.

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We're halfway there. It's time for the Back 9 on Golf with Jay Delsing. The Back 9 is brought to you by Pro-Am Golf. All right, welcome back to Golf with Jay Delsing. I'm your host, Jay.

I've got Pearly with me. Brad Barnes-Mead is taking great care of us here, and we are headed to the Back 9. And it's brought to you by Pro-Am Golf, 314-647-8054. This is a family-owned company for over 40 years in the golf business.

The DeGrants are incredible people. And folks, please, please, please get fitted this year. Put it on your list of things to do. Get fitted. Call CJ. He is the best in town.

ProAmGolfUSA.com. Ask them about the Delsing discount. I'm doing it. Pearly's going to do it.

Please go over there and get it done. It is going to be fun. They'll roll the price. They'll give you a discount. If you mention my name, they'll also roll whatever the price of that already inexpensive fitting into whatever you buy. Hey, Michelle. Hey, Jay. Jay, why is the fitting so important?

Seriously, I know that you just did the commercial. Why is it so important? There's so much specification in the game now between shafts, between lie angles, between just the little idiosyncrasies and the differences in our body shapes, our arm lengths, our leg lengths. They can make a huge, huge difference. And it can really, really add to the enjoyment of the game.

There's no doubt about it. There is so many people out there with just the wrong equipment, horrible equipment. Sometimes while I just bought this, it must be good.

It's not. If it's not fitted to you, and I see it too many times, and unfortunately I see it with some younger kids that are trying to learn the game and enjoy the game. And I'll tell you what, if you've got the wrong equipment, it's dang near impossible to go out there and truly learn the game.

I have a cousin who's got a daughter, and like you, I get roped into getting lessons once in a while, which I love. Don't get me wrong. But all of a sudden I see these people come up with this equipment. I'm like, I don't care if I'm a good teacher or not. Nobody can hit it with that stuff you're swinging right there.

This isn't going to work. And I'm not saying that everybody needs to buy new equipment. They can take your equipment and make it fit you better. It's just about getting in front of the professionals. That's it.

But yeah, absolutely. All right, Pearl, we got to talk about the great one. Number 99, Wayne Gretzky. I got to tell you, when I was at the old, oh gosh, it wasn't the old arena. It was at the new place when he came out. It wasn't a meet when Gretz came to St. Louis.

And the first time that he stepped on the ice, I thought the place was going to fall down. I thought it was. I'm not sure if it was the old, but it was loud. Was it the Kiel Center at that point? I don't know, but wherever it was. I know it was in, I think it was in either 98 or 98.

Yeah, I don't know. It was back then. It was a while ago.

But anyway, when he stepped on the ice, the place erupted. And I think he only played for, you know, 20 games or less for the Blues and ran into Mike Keenan and headed elsewhere. 95-96. It was 18 total games.

18 total games. So I got, you know, we were close. That's where we are.

We hang around. That's terrible. That's terrible. I didn't even know he played for the Blues. Absolutely. Yeah, and we were so disappointed when he went on to New York and then he won a cup with the Rangers.

But anyway, so John, how about some of this, how about teeing this interview up this way? Here's a guy that, when he left the NHL, owned 61 records. Wow. Here's a guy that's got more, so in the NHL, you get a point for a goal, you get a point for an assist, and you wind up accumulating your scoring totals by those two factors. If you just take his assists alone, he has more assists than anybody that's ever played has goals and assists. So he's the leading scorer just on the assists that he has.

He's also the only guy in the history of the game to ever post 200 points, 200 plus points in a season, and he's only done that four times. He's won four Stanley Cups, he's won nine MVP, the Hart trophies, he's won 10 Ross trophies for leading the league in scoring. Man, I just, I'm so, as I look back, I'm just kind of blown away and honored that I got to even chat with him, and the way that he handled himself, the humility that he showed were just, I mean, there's so many similarities to Wayne Gretzky and Jack Nicklaus, John.

Yeah, there sure is. Hey, when's the first time he hit your radar screen? When's the first time you heard the name Wayne Gretzky? You're a hockey fan, so I'm interested to hear this. I'm a hockey fan, and I remember him going, getting kind of drafted, traded to Edmonton. He was a Toronto kid, but he played some games. He played a full year almost in the WHA, the World Hockey Association, and then one of the owners sold his rights to Peter Pocklington, who was the owner of the Edmonton Oilers at the time, and when he really came onto the forefront, Pearl, is when we were in LA, and he came down for the LA Kings, changed the entire game of hockey for Los Angeles and Southern California, and actually for the United States, because he rose everyone's water level with his salaries and what he did for the game, and his presence in the game is just, he did what Tiger Woods is doing right now while we're watching it on the PGA Tour.

Yeah, absolutely. Well, it's interesting you say his humility, Jack's humility, we get to brag about the number of goats that you've interviewed on your show, and you know what, that's one common denominator between all of them so far, is how humble they were, how appreciative they talked about things, how much they appreciated other people, just very few of them just started boasting, I don't think any of them have ever suggested anything about any record or trophy or anything like that that they want, they just don't go there for whatever reason, it's just not who they are. All right, so let's just jump right in right now to our little snippet from our Wayne Gretzky interview.

Here comes a great one. Gretzky looking, Gary Curry, McSorley, to Gretzky! The greatest goal scorer in National Hockey League history is Wayne Gretzky! Wayne Gretzky, The Great One, is brought to you by Golden Tee. Gretzky, would you ever look back at what you've accomplished and just kind of shake your head? That's nice of you to say, but no, I more look back and think how lucky I was to play in the NHL. I look back and feel how fortunate I was to meet the people I got to meet, have the memories that I got collected throughout my career. You know, I was telling my kids the other day that when I grew up, the world was such a big place. There was no internet. We used to look at maps and we had globes, and the world seemed to be such a big place. Today it seems to be such a small place. So for me, I knew that through the game of hockey, I was going to get the opportunity to travel and see some cities that I would never get to see.

And I'm not talking worldwide, I'm just talking going from Ontario to British Columbia or going east to Newfoundland, being able to go to the province of Quebec. Just so many great memories, and it all came because of the game of hockey. So I pinch myself more on the fact that I feel so fortunate that the game of hockey opened so many doors for not just myself, but for my entire family.

So I feel very lucky, actually. Oh my gosh, and you know, Wayne, speaking of family, I know you just lost your dad just not long ago, and from another person that's lost their dad, it's such a difficult time. The way you grew up in Brantford and your family was such an important part of all this, wasn't it?

Your humility comes through, Wayne, in all these interviews you do. Well, I was lucky. You know, the most important people in your life, obviously your mom and dad, but it's an extension from your grandparents. And then, you know, you have kids, and you know, for me, I'm so fortunate. My parents were just truly wonderful people. We weren't rich as far as financially the world goes, but we were rich in love and compassion and closeness, and you know, it's always tough when someone passes.

We all go through it. But the good news was, you know, we had a great life. We had some wonderful memories together with some wonderful times, and those things don't go away.

Those are things that last forever, and you know, I always tell people when I meet them, the one thing in life that we all know is that we have one dad and we have one mom, and that's the bottom line, and I was lucky my parents were wonderful people. You know, Wayne, I love the tribute that they showed. I think it was on TSN with your dad in the hearse rolling down the street and all of these people lining the street. It's almost emotional for me, and they all had hockey sticks and were tapping the pavement in honor of your dad.

Yeah, it was pretty unique. You know, COVID has been such a hard thing for everyone. The pandemic has been awful. There's no way around it.

It's just been horrible for the entire world, and Canada and the U.S., it's been bad. The one thing that we got to do because of it was we pretty much had sort of a private ceremony. I was teasing my brothers that, you know, if there wasn't a pandemic, I don't know where we could have held the funeral because dad had so many friends and so many people that he spent time with and he helped and he loved. So from a family point of view, from a selfish point of view, it was, you know, pretty private. But when we left the church, we didn't anticipate seeing what we saw.

It was pretty emotional. And I was saying in the car right through the cemetery, dad would be smiling right now because, you know, he did so many good things for so many people that, you know, that went under the radar. He had this little blind boy that he took to church for 25 years every Sunday. And to see him at my dad's service and see the people, how they kind of honored my dad, it was truly only fitting because, you know, that's the kind of man that my dad was. And Wayne, those stories are just incredible and it's too bad we're in a, our world, you know, doesn't put those on the news like they should. Not that your dad did it for any sort of recognition, but there are so many good things that go on unnoticed because we'd much rather hear about, you know, lousy things that are happening than something like that.

Yeah, you know, that's life right now, you know, by the end of the day, the bottom line is there's so many good people out there and so many people that have done so much for people that are less fortunate and not as lucky as we all are. And my dad was definitely one of those people that just truly loved helping people and he would serve dinners to the homeless twice a week and we went to church every Sunday and had such strong faith. I would tell my kids a couple of weeks ago that, you know, his faith was so strong and yet he didn't eat or have anything to drink for over 20 days. He didn't want to pass. He loved life and wanted to be around his family.

But on the other side of it, his faith is so strong that I know he's in a good place right now. Yeah, yeah, that's terrific. Let's talk a little bit about the modern game, the modern game in the NHL compared to when you played. I was looking at some videos the other day when you guys played and even a little bit when you first came into the league. The one thing that stands out to me besides, you know, you guys basically played in a wrestling and a boxing league that was on skates compared to what they're doing now, but the goalies in the NHL are these monster men with massive pads.

It just stood out like a sore thumb. Well, the game has changed. You're so right about that. You know, first of all, the equipment and the technology itself is so much better than when I played. You know, the size of the athlete has changed tremendously. Athletes of today's era in every sport are so strong and so dedicated. My goodness, just the off-season training and the nutrition that they go through compared to what we made back in the 70s and 80s. So you know, the athlete of today's era is just a better athlete, and that's okay. That's the way it should be because I really believe 20 years from now the athletes will be better then than they are now.

So it's progression. I'm not saying that the goalies weren't good back when I played, but today's goalies are great athletes. Grant Fier was one of the first goal tenders that really was more than just a goal tender. He was an athlete.

He was probably the best athlete on that team that I was with with Edmonton all those years. So the goal tenders of today are good athletes. The equipment is lighter for them.

It's bigger. And that's when you see guys like Ovechkin doing what he's doing at Crosby and Connor McDavid. It's truly remarkable because they are playing in a tougher sort of scenario than when I played and Brett Hall played and Gordie Howe played. But that's okay. You know, that's a positive for the sport. And it's hard to compare eras because things change all the time. But that's what makes sports fun. People sit around and they debate who is the best team ever, who are the best players ever. And that's what makes sports so entertaining that we have these conversations. But I'm the first guy to tell you the athletes of today in hockey are better than when I played. It's as simple as that. And that's no knock on anyone because at the time we were the best athletes that they could find in those days. And today they happen to be bigger, stronger, and faster.

And that's a good thing. You know, Wayne, that's really well said. When you played the game, it was obvious you saw the game differently. It almost was like the way that you played revolutionized, it certainly revolutionized the game. Posting up behind the net like you like to do, the Gretzky office, those sort of things. How much of that influence was what your dad used to tell you and how did this evolution come from you, this ability to see the ice, read the ice, avoid getting your head taken off every night?

How did you do that? Yeah. Partly because of fear.

Survival, right? Yeah, it's a matter of being safe, but no, you know, I tried out for my first hockey team when I was five. And in those days, the first league that started was 10-year-olds.

There was no seven-year-old league, there was no six-year-old training sessions. It was like, all right, there's a 10-year-old travel team and anybody who's 10 or under come and try out. And so I made the team as a five-year-old and the coach came to our house to get my birth certificate to sign me up for the league and when my dad handed him the birth certificate, the coach kind of laughed.

He goes, he can't play, he's only five, he can't be on the team. I remember the coach left and I couldn't play. So I didn't play on the team and the next year when I was six, I made that team. And of course, being six with 10-year-olds, I was the smallest player in the team and smallest player in the league. So right from a young age, at the age of six, I had to learn how to utilize my skills, which were my hockey sense, my knowledge of the game, my belief in what I did, skating, shooting and passing. At the age of 14, I signed the team that was basically 18, 19 and 20. So the point of the story was my game really didn't have to change throughout my whole life because I was always playing against bigger players and stronger and faster. So I had to come up with ideas and ways to compete against those athletes. And I had a junior coach when I was 14 that told me, you know, watch Bobby Clark play, Bobby Clark plays behind the net, in the corner, he's changing the game.

So I studied Bobby Clark a great deal and I practiced it from a young age of 14. I think it was something new that defensemen and defense and team defense had never seen before. And so for a few years, I was able to, you know, sort of surprise opponents. And so I just sort of mastered and utilized my knowledge of playing behind the net, using the net as sort of a decoy and as a defense mechanism and, you know, it just, I carried it throughout my career. So it wasn't like when I turned pro and said, okay, I got to play behind the net and how do I do this? I'd kind of been working on that for years before I got to the NHL and never really ever changed. I wasn't the size of the Los Mizzitos so I couldn't stand in the middle of the ice and I would have gotten knocked over and been on my butt more times than not.

So I just sort of perfected playing behind the net and I just continued that throughout my whole career. All right, so Pearl, that's going to wrap up the back nine. Don't go anywhere because you and I get to chat, oh gosh, we got more time to kill. We got more time to talk about the great one, Wayne Gretzky on Golf with Jay Delsing. Hi, this is Bob Costas and you're listening to Golf with Jay Delsing. I'm with my buddy, Joe Scissor from USA Mortgage. Hi Jay, how are you?

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Go grab a cold one. Grab your favorite Michelob Ultra product, anything from AB and jump into this 19th hole with Jon and I. We've got, we just had the Wayne Gretzky interview, we had a little 10-12 minute snippet from our interview that we had with him this past year. This is our best of shows and okay so Jon, here's the thing that just leapt off the page at me when I was listening, re-listening to those interviews. Both Jack and Wayne talked so much about their families, talked about what Jack talked about what Barbara's parents were like, Jack talked about what his parents were like, Wayne talked about you only have one mom and dad. And when I watched this tribute that they might as well have represented the entire country of Canada in Branford, when they gave to Walter Gretzky as his hearse rolled down the streets of Branford, Ontario, when they all went out to the sidewalk and tapped the sidewalk in respect with their hockey sticks, it was emotional for me. And we talked to Wayne about that and he said, you know, what was really cool was how COVID really helped this situation out because they actually got some sort of semblance of privacy in this time where they both said because their dad was such a cool dude, it was so loved by so many people, that they said how many churches would we have needed to fill for all the people that wanted to pay their respects.

Yeah, yeah. I love the way he talks about his father, parents in general, again how appreciative it was of his opportunity given his family situation. And it's just fantastic. I've been kind of blown away on how open he was with some of those private stories. To me, that's private thoughts and private stories amongst his brothers.

And him sharing that with your audience, I think is a pretty special opportunity for us to get a view inside of what matters to him. Do you remember when we were sitting in LA watching Gresk play for the Kings and how hockey had suddenly caught fire in Southern California? We used to be able to go to games when we were in college and wait till they dropped the puck and sit three rows off the glass and not have to pay for a ticket.

I mean, there were three or four thousand fans over there. I can remember sitting at the Forum and Marty McSorley was a big fighter and everybody loved the fights and everything. And I can remember there was a, you know, if anybody looked at Wayne sideways, Marty was on him and everybody was the enforcer for Wayne and nobody was taking shots at Wayne. And I can remember a brawl broke out and there were a couple of different guys paired off going at each other.

And the guy behind us stands up and says, hit him with your purse, Wayne, because Wayne wouldn't fight. Do you remember that? Yeah.

Oh my. I can remember them talking to people about when he's out in the ice, why don't you just check him hard? Why don't you just hit him hard?

And they would say, you ever try to hit a wet rope hard? He says the guy, he's just never in a position that you can hit him hard. Yeah. He never made himself vulnerable like that.

Yeah. Part of his longevity. You can't do what he did, not play for a long time and not play for the most part uninjured.

I'm sure they had plenty of dangs and bruises and challenges, but overall that's the other brilliance of what he accomplished is played all those years and stayed relatively healthy. And by the way, now he gets to live the rest of his life relatively healthy, playing golf, walking the golf course. And so he's doing, it seems like he's doing all right. That's going to wrap up another show, Pearl. But you know what? Let's drop a little tease for next week. We're going to continue with best of shows and we've got the great Bob Costas and the great Jim Nance. Got to go back to back on our show next week on Golf with Jay Delsing. How about that, Pearl? I love it. I love it.

Go to the different fields. Fantastic. All right. Well, that's going to wrap it up, but don't miss our show next week. We got Bob Costas and we've got Jim Nance. This is Golf with Jay Delsing. Head up straight to St. Louis.