Next step is more minorities coaching, officiating
NHL has only one black coach, one black official
Shandor Alphonso never envisioned his hockey career taking him to officiating. He didn’t have to look far to see it was possible.
All Alphonso had to do was watch Hockey Night in Canada or the Stanley Cup final and he saw fellow minority Jay Sharrers working as a linesman.
“To be able to see someone who kind of looked like me working at the biggest stage of his job, it was unreal,” Alphonso said.
The 34-year-old Alphonso is the NHL’s only AfricanAmerican official, and Calgary Flames assistant Paul Jerrard is the league’s only black coach.
With the sport’s expansion to some non-traditional markets across the U.S., there are almost two dozen black players in the NHL but Sharrers, Alphonso and Jerrard serve as inspiration for more to follow into positions of authority.
“I think it’s an evolutionary process,” said Sharrers, who recently retired. “It’s definitely moved slowly, but I think when you just look at the amount of black players that are now in the league and the fact that that has increased, it would stand to reason that hopefully the opportunity for officials would present itself.”
Sixty years after Willie O’Ree of the Boston Bruins broke the colour barrier as the NHL’s first black player, the league is still taking steps to increase its diversity. Alphonso is an ambassador for the Hockey is for Everyone campaign during Black History Month.
Sharrers acknowledged the expense of playing hockey has been a hurdle for minority children for years, but said he is optimistic more will not only lace up their skates but move into other roles.
“It just stands to reason that would be a natural progression, that there would be more officials of colour,” Sharrers said. “The league has been very proactive since they partnered with Willie and created the diversity task force almost 20 years ago to expose and to present to people of colour that hockey is a great game and it’s a viable opportunity.”
Jerrard played five games in the NHL and then went into coaching, where he’s a visible role model — even if that’s not a role he was looking for.
“I’m just another coach who’s trying to do a good job in the league and stay in the league,” said Jerrard, 52, who has been an assistant with Colorado, Dallas and the Flames along with several American Hockey League teams. “I guess I am now in a little bit of a position of a role model, but my drive to be a role model isn’t due to the colour of my skin. It’s just the way I wanted to carry myself as a human being, the way I want to be looked at: doing the right thing and working hard.”
Jerrard hopes kids seeing minorities playing, officiating or coaching shows “if they’re skilled, driven and passionate, there’s an opportunity for them.”