text: what year did wayne gretzky start wearing #99?   1977 at age 16(sault ste. marie greyhounds was the oha team). he wanted number 9 because it was his idol gordie howe's number, but a teammate(brian gualazzi) already had it. it was actually his coach(murray "muzz" macpherson) at the time who had suggested the number 99.  gretzky went on to net 70 goals, 112 assists, 182 points in 64 games that season.