BOB DAWSON
At his home in Kanata, Aug. 17.
“While I played baseball at an early age, I was a late bloomer getting into hockey. I think that I was 11 or 12. In the neighbourhood where I lived in Dartmouth, N.S., there were kids playing ground hockey and I played that and as I got older, I started going up on nearby lakes and ponds and spending hours there playing shinny with the rest of the kids. From there, I got interested in playing minor hockey and then high school hockey. I really took a liking to the game.
“In 1967, I went to St. Mary’s University in Halifax, which for a number of years didn’t have a hockey program and was just getting back into it. They hired former semi-pro hockey player Bob Boucher from Ottawa to coach the team. Sam Pollock, the GM for the Montreal Canadiens, had recommended Boucher for the job.
“So I was one of about 40 players who tried out for the team. I was the only black and ultimately I made the team. It was a rather congenial group; I know some of the players because I had played against them in baseball. The first couple of years were a bit rough for me. I had no problems with my own teammates, but I’ll never forget the time that I went to Prince Edward Island and played against the UPEI Panthers. Prior to the game, of course, you’d go out for warmups and I’m out there and I hear
the N-word followed by ‘coon,’ ‘snowball’ and ‘spook’ coming from different people in the stands, fans of the Panthers. Then the game started and I had encounters with different players who used the N-word and also got very physical with me, slashing and slew-footing me from behind. All dirty stuff. And the refs turned a blind eye. And when I played against St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, I was subjected to verbal and physical abuse from the players.
“At that time, I was the first and only black to play in what was the Atlantic Intercollegiate Hockey League. Darrell Maxwell joined the team in 1969 followed by Percy Paris in 1970. Saint Mary’s was the only team in Canadian university hockey history to have three blacks on the same team at the same time. In 1970, we were playing a game against Mount Allison University in Sackville, N.B. And during the course of the game, we were up by a few goals and so our coach Bob Boucher says, ‘Bob, Darrell and Percy, you’re going out. And Bob, I want you to play forward.’ I was a defenceman.
“So we went out. Surprisingly, there was no reaction from the crowd and the media didn’t realize the significance, but that was the first time in university hockey history that there had been three black players on the same line.
“I wouldn’t say it was a wakeup call for me, because I had experienced racial slurs all my life. But the ironic thing is that in playing baseball, I never encountered that kind of stuff, probably because of the Negro leagues and some sort of awareness of blacks in baseball. So even though my brother and I were the only two blacks in the Dartmouth area playing baseball, that seemed to be fine. I’d also never encountered that sort of thing in minor hockey or high school. It was only when I hit university and players had different ambitions about playing pro hockey, the drive and ambition they brought to the game was different and the racism was part of that competition. The sport itself didn’t induce racism, but the emotional environment did. The darker side would come out in these moments of intense competition, both with players and fans. And that wasn’t the only incident.
“Even after I left St. Mary’s, I had some encounters with racism. Playing adult recreational hockey here in Ottawa in the 1990s, a couple of guys who didn’t like that they couldn’t get around me would use the N-word. And about two years ago, I was playing in a summer hockey league and in the course of a game I scored a goal. And as we were skating back to the bench, one of my own teammates said to me, ‘Black man scores goal.’ So I held my glove up to him and said, ‘You know, Chris, years ago I would have kicked your ass for this.’ He apologized shortly after and that was that.
“I don’t let these things play on my mind, because I’m somewhat preconditioned with my experiences growing up. I know who I am and I know my roots and I’m proud of who I am, so these things people say don’t resonate with me or interfere with my playing.
“One would like to think that things have changed, but they really haven’t. You have more black doctors and lawyers, more blacks sitting on boards and the appearance is that all is well and progress is being made. And some progress is being made, but underneath all that you still have the prejudicial views and behaviours. It’s mind-boggling and upsetting when you think things are getting better and they aren’t.”