Gretzky tells the real story of how he came to wear #99

It's iconic. Synonymous with one man only. 99. The Great One. Wayne Gretzky.

Gretzky's #99 is retired league-wide and ask any North American sports fan who wore 99 and they'll answer Gretzky. As hockey fans most of us know the story of how Gretzky came to wear #99 or at least we thought we did.

On the latest episode of the Spittin' Chiclets podcast Gretzky tells the real story of how he adopted his now iconic number. The story starts, as we all probably know, with Gordie Howe. Gretzky was a Howe superfan and wore Howe's #9 all through minor/youth hockey. When Gretzky was drafted by the Sault St. Marie Greyhounds of the OHL however though he wore #19 as was given to him by the team. After starting the season with 21 points in just six games Gretzky got some gumption and spoke to his coach about changing his number. The rest is history.

Check it out:

How great is that!? It wasn't Gretz's idea after all!