William Eldon O'ReeCMONB (born October 15, 1935) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player from Fredericton, New Brunswick. He is widely recognized for being the first black player in the National Hockey League (NHL), playing as a winger for the Boston Bruins. His accomplishment of breaking the black colour barrier in the NHL has led him to sometimes being referred to as the "Jackie Robinson of hockey," whom he had the chance to meet when he was younger. In 2018, O'Ree was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, and starting that year the NHL has introduced the annual Willie O'Ree Community Hero Award in his honor.
William Eldon O'Ree was born on October 15, 1935, in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. As the youngest among 13 siblings, O'Ree was raised by his parents, Rosebud and Harry. His grandparents were escapees of slavery in the United States, moving to Canada through the Underground Railroad. Fredericton had a small black population during O'Ree's early years, with only two families living in the city at the time. Harry, O'Ree's father, was a civil engineer, serving as a city road maintenance worker.[1][2][3]
O'Ree developed an early interest in hockey at the age of three, when he began skating and playing the game. As a five-year-old, he organized the game and joined a hockey league.[4][3] O'Ree regularly used the family's backyard rink to play the game, and when the weather allowed, he would skate to school. In the early rinks, skin colour was never a problem, as O'Ree wrote in his autobiography, The Willie O’Ree Story: Hockey’s Black Pioneer.[1]
O'Ree played junior hockey for several teams in Quebec and Ontario before being signed by the Quebec Aces of the Quebec Hockey League (QHL) in 1955. Midway through his second minor-league season with the Quebec Aces, O'Ree was called up to the Boston Bruins of the NHL to replace Leo Labine, who was unable to play due to an illness.[7] Two years earlier, O'Ree had been blinded when he was hit in his right eye by an errant puck;[8] which would have precluded him from playing in the NHL if the Bruins had known. However, O'Ree managed to keep it secret, and made his NHL debut with the Bruins on January 18, 1958,[8][9] against the Montreal Canadiens, becoming the first black player in league history. He played two games that year, with centre man Don McKenney and right wing Jerry Toppazzini as his line mates.[9] O'Ree played 43 games for the Bruins during the 1960–61 NHL season. An incident occurred during a game from that season against the Chicago Blackhawks in Chicago Stadium. According to O'Ree, he was called racist names by several of the Blackhawks players.[10] During the game, Eric Nesterenko butt-ended O'Ree, knocking out his two front teeth and breaking his nose.[10] O'Ree responded by hitting Nesterenko over the head with his stick, which O'Ree said "almost created a riot".[10] O'Ree remembered that fans called him racist names and that the Blackhawks players were threatening to kill him, and he stated that he was "lucky to get out of the arena alive".[10] After playing the 43 games for the Bruins during that season, O'Ree was then traded to the Montreal Canadiens. O'Ree described the Canadiens were run by racists and that he wasn't invited to try out for the team, but was sent to a minor league team in Hull, Quebec.[10] O'Ree scored 4 goals and 10 assists in his NHL career, all in 1961.[11]
O'Ree faced racial taunts throughout his hockey career, including in the NHL, especially in the United States. [12] He noted that racist remarks were much worse in the U.S. cities than in Toronto and Montreal, the two Canadian cities hosting NHL teams at the time, and that "Fans would yell, 'Go back to the South' and 'How come you're not picking cotton?' Things like that. It didn't bother me. I just wanted to be a hockey player, and if they couldn't accept that fact, then that was their problem, not mine."[13]
In the minor leagues, O'Ree won two scoring titles in the Western Hockey League (WHL) between 1961 and 1974, scoring 30 or more goals 4 times, with a high of 38 in 1964–65 and 1968–69. O'Ree played 50 games for the American Hockey League's New Haven Nighthawks in 1972–73. Most of O'Ree's playing time was with the WHL's Los Angeles Blades and San Diego Gulls. The latter team retired his number, which now hangs from the rafters at Pechanga Arena, formerly known as the San Diego Sports Arena. O'Ree continued to play in the minors until the age of 43.[11]
Willie O'Ree of the Boston Bruins and Detroit Red Wings trainer Len "Johny" Fletcher, 1961
Impact on hockey
After O'Ree's stint in the NHL, there were no other black players in the NHL until another Canadian player, Mike Marson, was drafted by the Washington Capitals in 1974. There were 23 black players in the NHL as of the mid-2010s. Art Dorrington was the first black player to sign an NHL contract, in 1950 with the New York Rangers organisation, but never played beyond the minor league level. NHL players are now required to enroll in a preseason diversity training seminar,[14] and racially based verbal abuse is punished through suspensions and fines.[15] O'Ree is sometimes referred to as the "Jackie Robinson of hockey" for breaking the color barrier in hockey.[16][17][18]
Since 1998, O'Ree has been the NHL's Diversity Ambassador,[19] traveling across North America to schools and hockey programs to promote messages of inclusion, dedication, and confidence.
Starting in the 2017–18 season, the NHL has instituted the annual Willie O'Ree Community Hero Award to recognize "an individual who - through the game of hockey - has positively impacted his or her community, culture or society". It is awarded through public voting.[20][21]
Honours
O'Ree was inducted into the New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame in 1984. In 1998, O'Ree was working at the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego, California when the National Hockey League approached him to be the director of youth development for its diversity task force.[22] The NHL/USA Hockey Diversity Task Force is a non-profit program for minority youth that encourages them to learn and play hockey. As of the mid-2000s, O'Ree lives in Berkeley, California.[23] O'Ree and Kevin Weekes appeared in the Everybody Hates Chris episode "Everybody Hates Gretzky" in 2008.[24][25]
On the afternoon of January 19, 2008, the Bruins and NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly honoured O'Ree at TD Garden in Boston to mark the 50th anniversary of his NHL debut. In addition, The Sports Museum of New England located in the TD Garden, established a special exhibit on O'Ree's career, comprising many items on loan from his personal collection.[26] Those in attendance included a busload of friends from O'Ree's hometown of Fredericton. Two days earlier, the City of Fredericton honoured him by naming a new sports complex on the North side after him.[27] Around the time of the 60th anniversary of O'Ree's contribution to ice hockey in early 2008, he was once again honoured by the Bruins and the NHL, with a new street hockey rink in Boston named in his honour, one of many accolades with which the Bruins and NHL legend are involved.[28] On January 27, 2008, the NHL also honoured O'Ree during the 56th National Hockey League All-Star Game in Atlanta, Georgia. On February 5, 2008, ESPN did a special on him in honour of Black History Month.[29] On October 29, 2008, San Diego State University presented O'Ree with an Award for Outstanding Commitment to Diversity and Cross Cultural Understanding.[30] In 2008, O'Ree was also inducted by the San Diego Hall of Champions into the Breitbard Hall of Fame honouring San Diego's finest athletes both on and off the playing surface.[31]
The same year, O'Ree received the Order of Canada, the highest civilian award for a Canadian citizen. He was honoured as a pioneer of hockey and dedicated youth mentor in Canada along with the U.S.[32] On June 28, 2011, The Sports Museum at TD Garden in Boston honoured O'Ree with the Hockey Legacy Award at the 10th Annual "The Tradition." Other honourees that evening included Larry Bird, Mike Lowell, and Ty Law.[33] The Buffalo Sabres hosted a Willie O'Ree skills weekend in March 2012.[34] His jersey was retired by the San Diego Gulls on October 16, 2015.[35]
As the 2016 Stanley Cup Finals were about to start, the San Jose Sharks' Barbadian Canadian star right winger Joel Ward was preparing to play against the Pittsburgh Penguins, and told ESPN that O'Ree was one of his inspirations to play pro hockey, and should have his player number 22 retired by the NHL league-wide, just as Jackie Robinson, the first player of color in Major League Baseball has been honoured. Ward himself honoured Robinson's legacy through his last season in NHL play by wearing jersey number 42 in NHL play; Robinson's own player number 42 has been retired league-wide in pro baseball.[36]
A more personal honour for O'Ree was arranged by John Grzelcyk, father of current Bruins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk. A long-time member of the Boston Garden and TD Garden "bull-gang" team of arena personnel that assists with "changeovers" for different events at each facility, the senior Grzelcyk had saved an original number 22 Bruins uniform jersey worn by O'Ree from the 1960–61 Boston Bruins season, when O'Ree last played in the NHL as a Bruin. Both Grzelcyks personally presented the jersey to O'Ree, to honour him for his time with the Bruins and the NHL.[38] At about the same time as O'Ree received his vintage Bruins game-sweater, it became known that Madison Bowey, a then-Washington Capitals rookie of bi-racial ethnicity, had been taught by his Black Canadian father about O'Ree's importance in NHL history, and selected 22 as his number with the Capitals to honour O'Ree's achievement.[39]
On June 26, 2018, it was announced that O'Ree would be inducted as a builder into the Hockey Hall of Fame later that year.[40][41][42]
Almost ten months after receiving his original Bruins sweater from the Grzelcyks, on November 1, 2018, O'Ree attended the ceremonial dedication of a street hockey rink named in his honour in the Boston neighbourhood of Allston, as part of the continuing legacy of O'Ree's time with the Bruins.[43]
By early May 2019, following O'Ree's builder honour with the Hockey Hall of Fame the previous year, a bill in the 116th U.S. Congress is authorising the award of the United States Congressional Gold Medal for O'Ree's achievements "in recognition of his contributions and commitment to hockey, inclusion, and recreational opportunity."[44]
O'Ree was named to Canada's Sports Hall of Fame on May 27, 2020, in the Builder category.[45] The formal induction ceremony was postponed to October 3, 2021, due to concerns over COVID-19.[46]
On January 12, 2021, the Boston Bruins announced that they would retire O'Ree's number 22 on February 18.[47] However, the jersey retirement ceremony was moved to January 18, 2022, by the NHL.[48][49]
In 2021, as a celebration of Black History Month, all NHL players wore a commemorative helmet decal honouring O'Ree from January 16 to February 28.[50]
In 2022, US President Joe Biden signed the Willie O'Ree Congressional Gold Medal act. The bill awarded O'Ree a Congressional Gold Medal, the U.S. Congress' highest honour, for his contributions to "hockey, inclusion and recreational opportunity." O'Ree is the first player in NHL history to receive the honour.[51]
Canada Post released a commemorative postage stamp on October 30, 2023 honouring Willie O'Ree.[52]
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Lawrence Kwong was a Canadian professional ice hockey right winger who was the first player of Asian descent in the National Hockey League (NHL), playing a short shift at the end of the third period. He was the NHL's first player who was neither white, nor Aboriginal North American, debuting ten years before Willie O'Ree. Although denied much playing time in the NHL, Kwong was a top player in senior hockey leagues outside the NHL throughout his entire career and battled the likes of Jean Beliveau for the scoring race in Quebec.
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The 1957–58 Montreal Canadiens season was the club's 49th season of play. The Canadiens won their third-straight Stanley Cup and the tenth in club history.
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↑ Sports Illustrated, July 14–21, purple, p. 78, vol 109, No. 2, Time Inc.
↑ Fiztherbert, Corinne (February 9, 2011). "Willie O'Ree to preside over 2011 World Pond Hockey Championships". The Victoria Star. Grand Falls, N.B. ProQuest851206293.
↑ Russo, Eric (January 17, 2018). "O'Ree A Vital Part of Hockey History". nhl.com/bruins. National Hockey League. Retrieved February 2, 2018. On Wednesday, [January 17th] during a press conference dedicating a new street hockey rink in his honor, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said O'Ree deserves to be in the same historical category as Robinson and President Barack Obama..."Willie means a great deal to our city," said Walsh. "This is history in the living right here…it's an incredible message to our young people. When I talked to the young people in the front row [of the press conference] – everyone knows Jackie Robinson, everyone knows Barack Obama, everyone in Boston knows Willie O'Ree, but I think his story needs to be told around the country... "It's a great honor to be here, an honor to hear him speak about what he's done."
↑ Douglas, William (May 30, 2016). "Joel Ward thinks the NHL should honor Willie O'Ree by retiring his number". colorofhockey.com. The Color of Hockey. Retrieved May 31, 2016. Joel Ward has an idea for the National Hockey League to honor the history and growing impact of black players in the sport: Retire the number 22 Willie O'Ree wore with the Boston Bruins when he became the league's first black player in 1958."I definitely think Willie should be recognized for sure," Ward told ESPN Sunday, the media day before his San Jose Sharks face the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final. "It's a no-brainer. Without Willie, it would be tough for me to be sitting here today. I definitely think Willie should be a big part of this."
↑ Benjamin, Amalie (January 25, 2018). "O'Ree warmed by gift of old sweater from Bruins' Grzelcyk". nhl.com. National Hockey League. Retrieved February 6, 2018. The sweater had been hanging in the Grzelcyk house for years, just another jersey from the Boston Bruins, a castoff. It had been found abandoned by a trainer, John Grzelcyk believed, perhaps 35 years ago, long after its useful life, and given to him...At some point, Matt Grzelcyk, John's son and a Boston Bruins defenseman, had started to suspect the history of the small-ish black jersey from the early 1960s, No. 22, that hung in the back of a closet...On Jan. 17 [2018], the sweater finally made its way back to its rightful owner, 60 years after Willie O'Ree made his barrier-shattering debut in the National Hockey League, as the first black player to play in the League.
↑ Dougherty, Jesse (January 18, 2018). "Capitals rookie Madison Bowey honors NHL pioneer Willie O'Ree by wearing No. 22". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 10, 2018. Madison Bowey always wore No. 22 on the baseball field growing up, but it was taken whenever he joined a hockey team...That was the case as the defenseman turned himself into an NHL prospect and joined the Capitals' system as a second-round pick in 2013. The number was taken again as he proved himself in the American Hockey League. But No. 22 was available when he was called up to the Capitals at the start of this season..."It's pretty special to be in the NHL and playing my first NHL year on the 60th anniversary of Willie O'Ree," Bowey said Thursday. "There's a lot of significance behind that, and obviously he's a very special person."
↑ "Bruins Legend Willie O'Ree To Be Inducted into Hockey Hall of Fame". nhl.com/bruins. Boston Bruins. June 26, 2018. Retrieved June 26, 2018. The Hockey Hall of Fame announced today, June 26, that they will induct Bruins legend Willie O'Ree into the Hockey Hall of Fame Class of 2018. O'Ree was selected as part of the "Builder" category, which is defined by "coaching, managerial or executive ability, or ability in another significant off-ice role, sportsmanship, character and contributions to his or her organization or organizations and to the game of hockey in general." He is the seventh member of the Boston Bruins to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as part of the "builder" category.
↑ Russo, Eric (November 1, 2018). "Willie O'Ree Community Rink Dedicated in Allston". nhl.com/bruins. BostonBruins.com. Retrieved November 2, 2018. While snow banks and trash barrels can make for some fun props, the children of Allston won't have to worry anymore about building a makeshift street hockey rink or clearing the road for passing cars...That's because on Thursday the Bruins helped to unveil the brand new Willie O'Ree Community Street Hockey Rink at Smith Playground. O'Ree was joined by Chara, Bergeron, Bruins president Cam Neely, Boston Bruins Foundation Executive Director Bob Sweeney, and NHL Director of Social Impact, Growth, and Fan Development and former Bruin Andrew Ference for the dedication.
↑ "H.R.2504 – Willie O'Ree Congressional Gold Medal Act". congress.gov. United States Congress. May 2, 2019. Retrieved August 19, 2019. This bill directs the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate to arrange for the award of a Congressional Gold Medal to Willie O'Ree, in recognition of his contributions and commitment to hockey, inclusion, and recreational opportunity.
↑ Spencer, Donna (May 27, 2020). "Impact beyond hockey ushers Willie O'Ree, Sheldon Kennedy into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame". The Star. The Canadian Press.
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