The tough club.

The 30 most fearsome players the game has known

A player doesn't have to sharpen his knuckles on sandpaper or punch an opponent into next year to be considered tough. He doesn't have to be a bully or the big man on campus. Real toughness is reserved for a player who strikes fear in opponents both physically and because of his skills. He creates a presence with a combination of grit and talent.

When THE SPORTING NEWS sought help in finding the 30 toughest players ever, we talked to players, coaches and general managers, and the first player everyone mentioned as Mr. Tough was Gordie Howe.

Former Maple Leafs owner Corm Smythe once said of Howe, "He can beat you on the ice or in the alley."

That's toughness personified.

1 Gordie Howe, 1946-47 through '70-71; 1979-80. The resiliency of hockey players has long been marveled at by followers of other sports. Howe provided a prime example of why when he recovered from a fractured skull suffered in 1950--the injury occurred when he was knocked heavily into the boards by Toronto's Teeder Kennedy--and became the NHL's scoring leader the next season.

Once, in an important game in the late 1960s, Howe skated up to Montreal tough guy John Ferguson and tossed ice in his face as a challenge. Knowing his opponent, Ferguson backed down. "Gordie would simply stand there with that grin on his face and psych out opponents," says Ferguson, now the chief scout for the Sharks. "I could have punched him for that ice shower. But no one challenged Gordie Howe. He scared every opponent he faced because he could beat you any way he wanted."