Wayne Gretzky smiles during Hall of Fame induction ceremonies while seated with his father Walter, right, wife Janet, left, daughter, Paulina, front, and son Ty.

Gretzky insisted that Morrison take the center seat at the interview table and called the honor of joining his co-inductees in the Hall "pretty special."

Later, at a gala attended by family, friends and the National Hockey League hierarchy, Gretzky insisted the day belonged to Morrison and Van Hellemond as much it did to him.

But the loudest and longest cheers were for the player considered the best of all time, and Gretzky used his speech to thank all who made it possible.

"I felt so fortunate to be part of this game," he said. "I felt like a kid every day."

Such gestures have made Gretzky a national hero in Canada, honored and loved as the greatest to ever play the game.

When asked what made him the most dominant player of all time, Gretzky credited his teammates and a passion that drove him to always want more from himself.

"Maybe that's why I was able to have the records that I did eventually get," said the holder of 61 NHL records whose trademark No. 99 was retired after his final game.

The 38-year-old master left an extraordinary mark on the game, with four Stanley Cup championships, almost every conceivable scoring record and winning every major NHL award multiple times.

He longs for the camaraderie and competition left behind by retirement, but said his decision to stop playing is final.

"Nothing can replace hockey," he said. "I wish I could still play and I miss it tremendously because it's a great game.

His legacy is evident, on and off the ice. The NHL now features increasing numbers of swift-skating, highly skilled European players who prospered under the flowing, puck-control style played by Gretzky and his Edmonton Oiler teams of the 1980s that won four championships in five seasons.

Eight NHL teams play in southern U.S. cities formerly considered unsuitable for a winter game such as hockey, due in part to Gretzky's seven-plus years in Los Angeles and the popularity he helped spread.

In conjunction with Gretzky's induction, the Hall of Fame opened its largest single exhibit, a 2,300-square-foot collection of Gretzky memorabilia that includes the skates he wore in his final game on April 18, the net into which he scored his league-record 802nd goal and even his picture as a smiling youngster with idol Gordie Howe.

Van Hellemond, who worked 19 straight Stanley Cup finals, and Morrison, credited with building the Hall of Fame into one of Canada's leading tourist attractions, joked they were now the answer to the trivia question of who was inducted with No. 99 in 1999.

Morrison acknowledged Gretzky's humble approach, telling how Gretzky rejected a plan to move the ceremony to a bigger venue because he wanted the same ceremony in the same place as those before him. That came as no surprise to one of the onlookers, Wayne's father, Walter.

"It's just nice to know that Wayne has turned out to be such a great individual," Walter Gretzky said. "His hockey achievements are one thing, but he's also a very fine person."

When asked if the NHL should name a trophy for him, Gretzky deferred to his elders, as usual.

"Before anything needs to be done about Wayne Gretzky, we need to address people like Gordie Howe and Bobby Orr," he said. "I'm way down the totem pole on that one."

He called his first Stanley Cup win, with Edmonton in 1984, his greatest memory, and losing in the finals as a Los Angeles King to Montreal in 1993 as the greatest regret. Traded to St. Louis in 1996, he signed as a free-agent with the New York Rangers the next season, and his career ended on April 18 with a team that failed to make the playoffs.