Gordie Howe

       For durability and versatility within his own sport, he's hard to beat and one of the strongest players as well as one of the toughest, he fought his own fights and had the power and  reflexes of a top-notch  boxer (with a combination of power and speed once measured to be comparable if not better than Sugar Ray Robinson), so he should be in the top 10 as he's in the top 3 in most All-Time Hockey Lists and #1 if you value BOTH durability (Orr's problem was probably more that of minimal knee protection as with modern kneepads he would have played at least 20 years but with what was available he still lasted 10) and toughness (perhaps the only knock on Gretzky was his avoidance of pugilism and bashing about in the corners but it's a rare athlete that has extremely high scoring skill AND top-notch fighting/grinding ability even in ice hockey), and he was mean enough to actually use his strength and toughness consistently which made him a formidable athlete, especially in his lengthy prime which was at least 15 years or double the duration of TOP FLIGHT PERFORMANCE of what many other great athletes achieved.

Gordie Howe comment by Darryl 

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