Early life Meeker was born in
Kitchener, Ontario, the son of Kathleen Wharnsby and Charles Howard Meeker, He played his junior hockey with the
Kitchener Greenshirts in the
Ontario Hockey Association. In 1941–42, Meeker joined the
Stratford Kist. In only 13 games, he scored 29 goals and had 45 points, helping the Kist win the
OHA Junior-B title.
Professional career Meeker was a
right winger. In
1946–47, he joined the
Toronto Maple Leafs in the
National Hockey League. He scored 27 goals and 45 points during his debut NHL season and was awarded the
Calder Memorial Trophy. Meeker also played in the
1947 NHL All-Star Game, and tied an NHL record for most goals by a rookie in one game with five goals against the
Chicago Black Hawks. He won his first
Stanley Cup with the Leafs that season, the first of three consecutive Stanley Cups. Meeker's rookie season was his best one as a pro, and he never approached that level of scoring again.
Next season, Meeker sustained a collarbone injury that limited him to 30 games; he did not play in the playoffs as the Leafs took their third consecutive Stanley Cup. In
1950–51, Meeker won his fourth Stanley Cup with the Leafs as they beat the
Montreal Canadiens in five games. He played three more seasons with the Leafs before retiring from the NHL. He continued to play hockey sporadically for 15 more years with different senior clubs, and retired from playing in 1969.
Coaching and general management He also coached the Maple Leafs, replacing
King Clancy on April 11, 1956, leading the Leafs to a 21–34–15 record. He was promoted to general manager in 1957 but was fired before the start of the
1957–58 season.
Hockey camps Meeker later ran hockey schools as
summer camps in Canada and the United States. His book ''Howie Meeker's Hockey Basics
, published in 1973, and his weekly telecasts based on these camps, Howie Meeker's Hockey School'', which ran from 1973 to 1977 on
CBC Television, cemented his reputation in the coaching trade. The TV show was produced in
St. John's,
Newfoundland. It featured boys learning the basic skills of the game: skating, puck control, and passing. Meeker's encouragement and delivery were all based on his premise that the game was suffering from poor instruction at the junior levels. He felt the game was not being taught properly so his message was directed at coaches across Canada. He also made vocal and detailed complaints about poor quality hockey equipment for child players, especially concerning protective gear. The television series had 107 fifteen-minute episodes. It was produced and directed by Ron Harrison and/or John Spaulding and aired weekly during the hockey season.
Broadcasting career In the 1970s and 1980s, Meeker became known to a new generation of hockey fans as an excitable, dynamic studio analyst-
colour commentator on
Hockey Night in Canada. During the telestrator segments, his favourite directive was, "stop it right here", to freeze the screen in order to analyze specifics in the replay. When
TSN gained NHL cable TV broadcast rights in 1987, Meeker joined their team, where he stayed until retiring in 1998. Meeker often used the phrase, "Keep your stick on the ice" (later popularized as a slogan of comedian
Red Green) during his educational segments on
Hockey Night in Canada.
Philanthropic work Meeker was involved with Special Olympics for over 40 years. He helped launch Special Olympics Canada after being invited to participate by former NHL referee Harry "Red" Foster shortly after the Special Olympics movement was created by Eunice Kennedy Shriver in the United States. In 2004, Meeker was invited to headline a golf tournament fundraiser to benefit BC Guide Dog Services. Originally intended as a one-off event, it was such a success that the Howie Meeker Golf for Guide Dogs tournament ran on
Vancouver Island for four years and is now held annually in the
Metro Vancouver area. From this beginning, Meeker and his wife, Leah, became the patrons for BC Guide Dog Services, and through their involvement had helped raise over $350,000 as of July 2011. ==Personal life==