Gretzky Loved His Soaps

Hockey players work in the morning and at night. Besides napping, what do they do with their afternoons off?

Some, including a young Wayne Gretzky, became addicted to soap operas. So much so that The Great One actually made a guest appearance on one.

On the November 12th, 1981 episode of The Young And The Restless, Gretzky made a guest appearance as a mafia goon. Yes, the feather-weight hockey player who looked like a 14 year old string-bean more so than a typical hockey thug, was cast as a thug. Obviously whoever wrote the script had no idea who Gretzky really was!

The script writer did give Gretzky one line to speak. Gretzky's theatrical debut consist of six words. "I'm Wayne from the Edmonton operation."

Somehow, this cameo appearance has escaped the digital archives known as YouTube. But I did find this interview with Tommy Banks where he does talk about soap operas (at about the 5 minute mark). The interview is about 10 months before his guest appearance on The Young And The Restless.