Talk:Larry Aurie

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I would dispute the statement that Aurie's number 6 was not officially retired. In those days, it was as official as it could have been. There were no banner raising night spectacles then as there are now. The number was not given to anyone else, except for Aurie's nephew.

There was an area in Olympia Stadium dedicated to Aurie which declared his number 6 to be retired. When Gordie Howe had his number retired in the 1970s, his banner went up, but no one thought to put a banner up there for Aurie. This continues even to the present day.

Just because there is no banner, you cannot assume that a number hasn't been retired. The Aurie family continues to petition Red Wings owner Mike Illitch, who for some strange reason has not corrected this situation, and has taken the position that only Hockey Hall of Fame members will have their numbers retired (with the exception of Yzerman, who is getting his retired while waiting the mandatory period before he can go on the HHOF ballot).

Aurie's situation is a different than Vladimir Konstantinov, whose number 16 was taken out of circulation due to his career-ending accident. Aurie retired, just like most players, and lived many years after his retirement. His number was retired when he retired. It was not retired due to any incident, or accident, or unfortunate circumstance. It was, like Yzerman and all other Red Wings who have had their numbers retired, due to his performance.