Ever noticed that no Red Wings player wears No. 6 and yet the number isn't hanging from the rafters?
Here's the reason why.
Larry Aurie was a scrappy little right winger from Sudbury, Ontario who played eleven seasons in the NHL, all of them for Detroit. Nicknamed “Little Dempsey” for his ability to fight, he can be compared today to Theo Fleury with his absolute focus on the game and feisty desire to just play. Another reason to compare him to Fleury: Larry Aurie was just 5 foot 6 inches and about 140 pounds.
Aurie played through those lean years before the Red Wings were called the Red Wings. (Before 1932, the Detroit team was first known as the Cougars, then the Falcons.) A fan, team and owner favourite, Aurie was the Red Wings’ first captain in 1932.
Once Aurie became captain, the team took off. In the 1933-34 season the Red Wings finished first in their division. They then pulled off a huge upset by beating the Maple Leafs to advance to the finals where they lost to the Blackhawks.
That same year Aurie led the league in playoff scoring with ten points in nine games, as well as being a top three scorer in the league and leading his team in scoring. He also was selected to play in an All-Star game that year.
Although the team missed the playoffs the next season, they made some trades and in 1935-36, the trio of Aurie, Marty Barry and Herbie Lewis led the team to their first ever Stanley Cup.
Aurie’s best season was 1936-37, when he led the league in goals (23 in 45 games) and was Detroit’s first All-Star on the First All-Star team (there were only six players total named to the First All-Star team). Despite the fact that Aurie missed the latter part of the season with a broken ankle, the Wings managed a repeat Cup win.
Aurie was never quite the same after the broken ankle. He played one more season and retired in the summer of 1938. He came out of retirement for one last game in 1938-39, and in his typical hard-working fashion scored the game-winning goal.
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All told, he played 513 games, making 153 goals and 138 assists for 291 points. He also racked up 289 penalty minutes. Although those numbers are not impressive by today’s standards, they were fairly remarkable for a time with no forward passing and when the regular season was only 45 games.
Years later teammate Carl Liscombe remembered the diminutive 5-foot-6 winger: "Aurie would fight a tiger to win and was a damn good hockey player. He was very small, only 145 pounds, but very strong. He would stand in front of the net and take on players 50 to 60 pounds heavier and handled it well. Much like (Dino) Ciccarelli, only Larry could fight. He would drop his stick at the drop of a hat." Despite being one of the smallest players ever, he was without a doubt also one of the toughest of the era.
Aurie’s intense end-to-end selfless play probably cost him higher numbers, but he ought to be remembered as Detroit’s first star player. He captained the team to two Stanley Cups and was an All-Star on two different occasions.
Team owner James Norris officially retired Aurie’s No. 6 in 1938. His jersey was even displayed in the Olympia arena until the 1960s. The Official NHL Guide listed Aurie’s number as retired until 2000-01, when current owner Mike Ilitch ordered it removed – without explanation. What reason could Ilitch have for denying him this honour? To date he has refused to give any reason whatsoever.
Aurie’s family attempted to have his number hung from the rafters without success. The Red Wings decided to "keep the number out of circulation to respect the memory of Aurie. It was discussed and determined by the Red Wings that the jersey will not be hung up.”
"Not hanging up Larry's number would be compared to the Yankees' not retiring Lou Gehrig's number, just because he was from the 1930s and now forgotten just because it's all old stuff now," said Cummy Burton. "It's like saying that war heroes don't mean anything, just because they're not around anymore." Burton, a former Detroit Red Wing, was also Aurie's nephew.
He has an excellent point. The pioneers of the game ought to be remembered and honoured. Without them, the game and the teams could easily have faded away into just another footnote. The teams of today are built on the legacy of hard work of men like Larry Aurie. Without them, there would be no records, no milestones for players to aspire to.
Larry Aurie stuck with the Detroit NHL team through the earliest, most miserable years. He could have asked for a trade, to go somewhere more successful. He didn’t. He could have walked away from the team when his contract expired. He didn’t. Unfortunately, the team hasn’t stuck with him.
Let’s not walk away like Ilitch seems to have done. Let’s not walk away from the memories of men like Larry Aurie. Let’s make sure he gets the recognition he deserves.
There’s currently an on-line petition asking the Red Wings to officially raise Larry Aurie’s No. 6 at http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/larry-aurie-to-the-rafters.html. So far, it hasn’t had a lot of success. Add your name and spread the word. Let’s prove that we hockey fans are truly passionate about players from every era of the game and honouring the memory of pioneers.
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5 months ago
Thanks great info...
5 months ago
At least you have several retired numbers hanging in your house. Good job considering Aurie.
Tampa has zilch, nada, none. The leadership led by Jay "Jabba the" Feaster has not even thought about retiring a number. A couple names comes to mind Dave Andreychuk and Tim Taylor. My hats off to the Red Wings. I wish we (in Tampa) had 1/2 the leadership you have in Detroit. Tampa loves our players but hates the club leadership.
from 5 months ago
Lecavalier will be the one from Tampa to be retired, or St Louis if he hangs around. Andreychuk spent a lot more time with the Sabres than the 'Bolts, so it'd be Buffalo if anywhere his number would be retired. Taylor won a Cup in Detroit, but perhaps given time... it can take a bit of time between the player retiring and the sweater. Besides, Tampa is till a young-ish club (no offence meant by that!) and when some of the stars of your team retire or play the bulk of their career there you'll see some colours fluttering in therafters to go along with the 2004 Cup banner.
Great article Jennifer, once agin. Always great to see well written hockey history!
5 months ago
Good article Jennifer,
As a red winds fan, I'm embarrassed to admit that I knew very little about Aurie until I came across your article. It was well researched and written. Yeah, it doesn't make much sense to retire a number if nobody knows who's number it was anyway. Give Aurie his due! Help the fans remember! Hang up the Jersey! The fans would embrace him if only they knew. Good work!
5 months ago
Great research, I hadn't heard about Aurie either and have followed the wings my whole life. His jersey should definetly be hung up in the rafters, you more than proved that with this article. I think if the fans knew about him, he would be a tremendous push to get his number retired. Great article.
5 months ago
I'm now signer #68 on the petition. Man we got some work to do! Thanks again for bringing this to my attention.
5 months ago
Yeah, I was hoping far more people who read this would respond. I was signer #62, I believe. I'm just gonna have to keep the faith more people will eventually sign and we'll get his number retired.
5 months ago
That is an awesome article, what insight you have.
5 months ago
I'm disappointed that the number was retired, and then unretired. That's one of the biggest insults I've ever heard.
Good info though. All us Sudburians love hockey, and those who play it play with heart. Great article!
5 months ago
Love the article, not for the less than stellar case for his number being retired (those scoring numbers do not seem high--if they were for the time, you should add in some comparison base), but that you made a case for a person you certainly never saw play. He sounds like the kind of guy I would want to have on my line, and I am always impressed with anyone who has this much respect for the history of a game.
I think it is ridiculous to UNretire someone's number, especially without explanation. Thus, even though I am a Sharks' fan, I will sign the petition, put you in my line-up, and amke this article my "pick of the day."
5 months ago
For some reason, it doesn't seem to be registering my vote!!!
5 months ago
He deserves to be there, there has to be a reason no one else gets to wear that number. Who was the last player you can remember wearing the #6 jersey for the Wings?
from 5 months ago
The last person to wear #6 was Cummy Burton, I believe.
4 months ago
Cummy Burton was a cousin of Aurie and wore the number with the Aurie family's blessing.
4 months ago
I did some research after reading about Wings players and their jersey number. Many players stated that the wanted to wear no. 6, but it was unofficially retired. I did some research and discovered this terrible story.
If anyone is interested, I started a Facebook group to try and get more people to sign the petition. I'm trying to take advantage of the "networking" fad to get more publicity out there. Feel free to join!
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=16097341775
3 months ago
This is a pretty good run-down of the information available on Aurie on the Internet. Thank you, Jennifer.
I actually asked Ilitch personally about Aurie's number once, shortly after Kukla first wrote about it. He smiled and said he can't talk about it, but there was no malice I could read in him at all.
This is just a guess, but I really think Ilitch just doesn't like the idea of retiring numbers, period. He couldn't avoid it for Yzerman of course. But you'll note that Lou Whitaker's No. 1 and Alan Trammell's No. 3 were not retired by the (Ilitch-owned) Tigers, either.
Another thing: neither Aurie, nor Tram, nor Lou, nor Morris or any other star to possibly merit a number in the rafters from one of Mike's teams, are in their respective Halls of Fame. That could be his reasoning right there.
I guess if they hang your number, it's "retired" and "out of circulation" means just that.
I agree that Aurie's number should hang. It was retired by Norris, and according to my father, who saw plenty of games at the old Olympia, the No. 6 did hang there. But I don't think it's a personal vendetta between the Aurie family and the Ilitches or anything. It's just that, well, in case you didn't know this, Mr. Ilitch is generally a kind bird, but he can be kind of a weird bird too.
He also kind of looks like The Bird.
2 months ago
Hey, Jennifer,
I really appreciate your helping to spread the word about Aurie - impressive and passionate!
I'm Bernie Czarniecki - the writer of the Aurie article on Kukla's Korner in 2007 and and several in the Drtroit Free Press dating back to 1994. When I first wrote about Aurie in the Freep in '95 - after Terry Sawchuk's No. 1 was retired - I received a letter from Dorothy Sleeth, Aurie's sister-in-law who was living in Richmond, Ont. at the time (sadly, she has recently died). She was extremely distraught at learning that Aurie's number was NOT up in the rafters at Joe Louis Arena - their Ontario-based family was totally unaware of the snub until I wrote about it back then.
I have since gotten to know the family personally - meeting several at a funeral of Aurie's niece in suburban Detroit 10 years ago. I promised to carry the torch for them, and have not given up the battle against the unrelenting Ilitch Empire. When I have conferred with people on the subject, the most common responds is "WHY NOT?" and "what harm would it be to just hang the number up and honor the team's past properly". I have spent many hours of my times and $1,500 on "Friends of Larry Aurie" t-shirts that the family really appreciate (I sent them several in the mail). I have tried every angle I have thought of, and am still pondering future efforts. Family members are slowly dying off, and I refuse to give up this quest to get the right thing done.
The link to my 2007 Kukla's Korner story is:
http://www.kuklaskorner.com/index.php/hockey/comments/ilitch_celebrates_yzerman_desecrates_aurie/
Thanks so much, Jennifer, for caring about this most important cause. Don't let the effort to get Aurie's No. 6 die! Thanks for encouraging others to get involved!!!
Sincerely, Bernie
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