Detroit Red Wings star Gordie Howe holds the stick and puck he used to score his 500th regular-season NHL goal. It came March 14, 1962 at Madison Square Garden against New York Rangers goalie Gump Worsley in a 3-2 Rangers win.

Howe would make his professional debut at the age of 18 as a member of the Detroit Red Wings on October 16, 1946 playing right wing.

As Gordie found his way through the rigors of life in the National Hockey League, scoring 7, 16, and 12 goals in his first three seasons, his prowess around the net began to emerge during his fourth year in the league. In that 1949-50 season, Gordie and his linemates, Sid Abel and Ted Lindsay, also known asThe Production Line, led the league in scoring. By season’s end, his name would be engraved on the Stanley Cup for the first time in his career. He would add three more to his trophy case by the end of the 1955 season (1952, 1954 and 1955). Gordie’s star shone the brightest in the 1950’s. He scored 376 goals and added 430 assists during that time.

Throughout the 1960’s, Gordie’s goal scoring abilities showed little sign of diminishing, as he added 317 more goals and 780 points to his career totals. In fact, in the 1968-69 season, he set a career high in the NHL for assists (59) and points (103) at the age of forty.