Editing Wayne Gretzky (section)

==Early life==
Wayne Douglas Gretzky was born on January 26, 1961, in [[Brantford]], Ontario, the son of Phyllis Leone (Hockin) and [[Walter Gretzky]].<ref name="Young"/><ref>{{cite news |title=Phyllis Gretzky dies at age 64 |publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |date=December 20, 2005 |url=http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/phyllis-gretzky-dies-at-age-64-1.534997 |access-date=January 29, 2015 |archive-date=February 10, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150210230329/http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/phyllis-gretzky-dies-at-age-64-1.534997 |url-status=live }}</ref> The couple married in 1960, and lived in an apartment in Brantford, where Walter worked for [[Bell Canada|Bell Telephone Canada]].{{sfn|Redmond|1993|p=11}} The family moved into a house on Varadi Avenue in Brantford seven months after Wayne was born, chosen partly because its yard was flat enough to make an ice rink.{{sfn|Gretzky|2001|p=33}} Wayne had a sister, Kim (born 1963), and brothers [[Keith Gretzky|Keith]], Glen and [[Brent Gretzky|Brent]]. The family regularly visited the farm of Wayne's grandparents, Tony and Mary, and watched ''[[Hockey Night in Canada]]'' together. By age two, Wayne was trying to score [[goal (ice hockey)|goals]] against Mary using a souvenir stick.{{sfn|Redmond|1993|p=12}} The farm was where Wayne skated on ice for the first time, aged two years, 10 months.{{sfn|Redmond|1993|p=12}}

[[File:Wayne Gretzky first skates.png|thumb|Gretzky's first pair of skates at the [[Hockey Hall of Fame]], worn when he was three years old|alt=A small pair of ice skates, meant for a small child. The boot is leather and is missing its laces, while the blade is deteriorating and showing significant wear due to age.]]
Walter taught Wayne, Keith, Brent, Glen, and their friends hockey on a rink he made in the backyard of the family home, nicknamed the "Wally Coliseum".{{sfn|MacGregor|1999|pp=19–20}} Drills included skating around bleach bottles and tin cans and flipping pucks over scattered hockey sticks to be able to pick up the puck again in full flight.{{sfn|MacGregor|1999|p=19}} Walter gave the advice to "skate where the puck's going, not where it's been".{{sfn|MacGregor|1999|p=19}} Wayne was a classic [[child prodigy|prodigy]] whose extraordinary skills made him the target of other children's jealous parents.<ref name="CBCten">{{cite news |url=http://www.cbc.ca/greatest/top_ten/nominee/gretzky-wayne.html |title=Top Ten Greatest Canadians&nbsp;– Wayne Gretzky |publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |access-date=February 19, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061118073910/http://www.cbc.ca/greatest/top_ten/nominee/gretzky-wayne.html |archive-date=November 18, 2006}}</ref>

The team Gretzky played on at age six was otherwise composed of ten-year-olds.<ref name="Young"/> His first coach, Dick Martin, remarked that he handled the puck better than the ten-year-olds.{{sfn|Gretzky|Reilly|1990|p=15}} According to Martin, "Wayne was so good that you could have a boy of your own who was a tremendous hockey player, and he'd get overlooked because of what the Gretzky kid was doing."{{sfn|Gretzky|Reilly|1990|p=17}} The sweaters for ten-year-olds were far too large for Gretzky, who coped by tucking the sweater into his pants on the right side. Gretzky continued doing this throughout his NHL career.{{sfn|Gretzky|Reilly|1990|pp=18–19}}

By age ten, Gretzky had scored an astonishing 378&nbsp;goals and 139&nbsp;[[assist (ice hockey)|assists]] in just one&nbsp;season with the Brantford Nadrofsky Steelers.<ref name="greatness">{{cite book |last=Falla |first=Jack |editor=Dan Diamond |chapter-url=http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=381966 |chapter=Wayne Gretzky: Greatness Ascendant |title=Total Hockey: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Hockey League |publisher=Total Sports |isbn=978-1-892129-85-7 |year=2000 |access-date=September 9, 2010 |archive-date=November 17, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101117111345/http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=381966 |url-status=live }}</ref> His play attracted media attention beyond Brantford, including a profile by John Iaboni in the ''[[Toronto Telegram]]'' in October 1971.<ref>{{cite news |last=Iaboni |first=John |url=http://www.canoe.ca/GretzkyHall/nov22_hkygen.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120722211352/http://www.canoe.ca/GretzkyHall/nov22_hkygen.html |url-status=usurped |archive-date=July 22, 2012 |title=No. 9 with big No. 9 aspirations |work=[[Toronto Telegram]] |date=October 18, 1971 |access-date=April 14, 2008 }}</ref> In the 1974 [[Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament]], Gretzky scored 26 points playing for Brantford.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2017/02/11/tournoi-pee-wee-de-quebec-plusieurs-legendes-ont-joue-a-quebec |title=Tournoi pee-wee de Québec: plusieurs légendes ont joué à Québec |last=Dubé |first=Kevin |date=February 11, 2017 |language=fr |work=Le Journal de Montréal |access-date=December 29, 2018 |archive-date=January 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190101051719/https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2017/02/11/tournoi-pee-wee-de-quebec-plusieurs-legendes-ont-joue-a-quebec |url-status=live }}</ref> By age 13, he had scored over {{formatnum:1000}}&nbsp;goals.{{sfn|Redmond|1993|p=16}}

His play attracted considerable negative attention from other players' parents, including those of his teammates, and he was often booed.{{sfn|Redmond|1993|p=15}} According to Walter, the "capper" was being booed on "Brantford Day" at Toronto's [[Maple Leaf Gardens]] in February 1975.{{sfn|Redmond|1993|p=16}} When Gretzky was 14, his family arranged for him to move to and play hockey in [[Toronto]], partly to further his career, and partly to remove him from the uncomfortable pressure. The Gretzkys had to legally challenge the [[Canadian Amateur Hockey Association]] to win Wayne the right to play in a different area, which was disallowed at the time.{{sfn|Redmond|1993|pp=16–18}} The Gretzkys won, and Wayne played Junior B hockey with the [[Toronto Nationals (1970–80)|Toronto Nationals]], in a league that included 20-year-olds. He earned Rookie of the Year honours in the [[Metro Junior A Hockey League|Metro Junior B Hockey League]] in 1975–76, with 60&nbsp;points in 28&nbsp;games. The following year, as a 15–16-year-old, he had 72&nbsp;points in 32&nbsp;games with the same team, renamed the Seneca Nationals.<ref name="hhofstats">{{cite web |url=http://www.legendsofhockey.net/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/LegendsMember.jsp?mem=p199901&type=Player&page=statsawards&list=ByName |title=Wayne Gretzky Career Statistics |website=legendsofhockey.net |publisher=[[Hockey Hall of Fame]] |access-date=September 9, 2010 |archive-date=November 28, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111128190024/http://www.legendsofhockey.net/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/LegendsMember.jsp?mem=p199901&type=Player&page=statsawards&list=ByName |url-status=live }}</ref>
Despite his offensive statistics—scoring 132 points in 60 games in Junior B<ref name="hhofstats"/>—two teams bypassed him in the 1977 [[Ontario Hockey League|Ontario Major Junior Hockey League]] draft of 16-year-olds. The [[Oshawa Generals]] picked [[Tom McCarthy (ice hockey, born 1960)|Tom McCarthy]] first, and the [[Niagara Falls Flyers]] picked [[Steve Peters (ice hockey)|Steve Peters]] second overall.<ref>{{cite news |title=Soo remembers Gretz |work=Medicine Hat News |agency=The Canadian Press |date=April 17, 1999 |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/medicine-hat-news-apr-17-1999-p-10/ |url-access=subscription |access-date=November 1, 2018 |archive-date=January 28, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190128082713/https://newspaperarchive.com/medicine-hat-news-apr-17-1999-p-10/ |url-status=live }}</ref> With the third pick, the [[Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds]] selected Gretzky, even though Walter Gretzky had told the team Wayne would not move to [[Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario|Sault Ste. Marie]], a [[northern Ontario]] city that inflicts a heavy travelling schedule on its junior team. The Gretzkys made an arrangement with a local family they knew and Wayne played for the Greyhounds, at age 16.<ref name="Orr">{{cite news |last=Orr |first=Frank |url=http://www.sportingnews.com/ca/nhl/news/118553-gretzky-only-16-carries-gold-orr-label |title=Gretzky, only 16, carries a 'Gold-Orr' label |work=[[The Sporting News]] |date=January 17, 1978 |access-date=October 1, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180123131629/http://www.sportingnews.com/ca/nhl/news/118553-gretzky-only-16-carries-gold-orr-label|archive-date=January 23, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> It was with the Greyhounds that Gretzky first wore the number&nbsp;99 on his jersey. He originally wanted to wear number&nbsp;9—for his hockey hero [[Gordie Howe]]—but it was already being worn by teammate Brian Gualazzi. At coach [[Murray MacPherson|Muzz MacPherson]]'s suggestion, Gretzky settled on 99.<ref>{{cite news |title=Why Gretzky Wore No. 99 |work=Associated Press |date=April 16, 1999 |url=https://apnews.com/article/5bf0d21954af9b2f936297ccfef4bd27 |access-date=December 6, 2020 |archive-date=April 23, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210423135212/https://apnews.com/article/5bf0d21954af9b2f936297ccfef4bd27 |url-status=dead}}</ref>