. - [graham] wayne gretzky, the best hockey player ever and one of the most dominant athletes of allked on my craft from the time i was five years old to the time i retired at 39 and i knew what i had. - as a child prodigy, the ontario native played on organized teams as early as five years old but his talent came with it's share of challenges. explain why it got to a point early on, you just didn't like being wayne gretzky. - yeah, just like anything else, the negative people are always the loudest. - [graham] noticeably smaller and weaker than his opponents the great one dominated with unmatched intuition and intelligence, but he credits much to his hard working father.