FOR 99, NOW COME REAL ACHES AND PAINS.

Byline: Karen Crouse

Wayne Gretzky always said his hero growing up was a ``a man with constant headaches, ulcers and ringing in his ears.'' The newly retired hockey superstar was speaking of his father, Walter, whose decades of service with Bell Canada took a toll on his health.

Unlike his telephone pole-climbing dad, the only thing remotely blue collar about the younger Gretzky's job were the turtlenecks he wore under his Edmonton Oilers, St. Louis Blues and New York Rangers jerseys. And yet for all the NHL player accomplished in his superlative 20-year career, his professional success, like that of his father, came at some cost to his health.

Ten-year-old Paulina, 8-year-old Ty and 6-year-old Trevor - the Gretzky children - look up to a man with constant aches, inflammation and stiffness in his joints.

It turns out carrying hockey on his back as Gretzky has for more than half his life apparently was a terrible strain on his shoulders. The cartilage that covers the ends of the bones in his joints there has deteriorated, resulting in pain and diminished range of motion.

It's a sobering thought - the man who raised four Stanley Cups being unable to lift his youngest child.

After everything Gretzky has done for hockey, that's how hockey chooses to repay him, with a gift-wrapped case of rheumatism?

The one-time King revolutionized the game, and all he's asking in return, he said, is ``to be able to play golf with my friends, pick-up hockey with my boys, things like that.''

Let's hope Gretzky isn't asking too much. Those 1,016 NHL goals he scored in the regular season and playoffs brought him fame and fortune, but if he's physically unable to enjoy such simple pleasures, life's hat trick will have eluded him.

It should be obvious by now, what with Maurice ``Rocket'' Richard fighting cancer and Mario Lemieux having conquered Hodgkin's disease, that immortality is not to be confused with immunity.

There is a price for everything and the cost of success can get steep.

As a player, Gretzky had everybody convinced he was too crafty to take a hit. He has taken a couple since his retirement in April; his wife Janet recently miscarried and now he finds himself in the early stages of osteoarthritis.

Gretzky gets arthritis and we feel as if our own illusions have been worn from the bone, just like his cartilage.

Silly us. We should have known not even a body as marvelously equipped as Gretzky's could withstand years of body checks, wrist shots and cramped airline seats. It simply never occurred to us that somebody who brought so much pleasure to so many could be in any pain.

The Agoura Hills resident, who hung up his skates after a fond farewell in April, has signed on as a point man for the education of North Americans on the degenerative joint disease more often associated with people twice his age.

``I didn't think people my age had arthritis,'' Gretzky said during a Canadian television interview earlier in the week. ``Now I want to help others realize arthritis pain is not restricted to the elderly and that effective treatment is available.''

In this new arena, Gretzky is not a singular sensation. Osteoarthritis is the leading cause of disability in the U.S., striking more than 21 million Americans. One in three Americans over 60 are afflicted with the disease. But like sweet-talking con men on the telephone, the disease can prey on younger people, too.

Lack of exercise and excessive weight can be contributing factors. Neither one conjures up images of Gretzky, eh?

Other contributing factors, we can't so easily dismiss. Strain from one's occupation? Poor posture? Joint injuries that never heal properly? Check. Check. Check.

An image starts to form like a Polaroid shot when we picture how Gretzky attracted so much attention every shift, the ice seemed to tilt in his direction. Off the ice, we remember how he couldn't sigh without people holding up fingers to gauge how much air he exhaled.

Then there was the way he skated, all hunched over as if he had a red licorice rope for a spine. Any finishing-school matron would have taken one look at Gretzky and ordered him to skate while balancing books on his head.

As for injuries, well, Gretzky, had a few. Remember the career-threatening back injury in 1992? Kings fans surely do.

Southern Californians will forever see Gretsky in black-and-white, his colors as a King. No matter what the future holds, we'll remember him with his arms raised in celebration of another goal, an image etched in time.

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PHOTO(color) Wayne Gretzky, shown at his retirement ceremony in April, is in the early stages of osteoarthritis.

Associated Press File Photo