O’Ree hopes Hall calls this week
Supporters mounted campaign to induct NHL’s first black player as a builder
It has been a big year so far for Willie O’Ree — full of accolades as he marked 60 years since becoming the first black player in the NHL — but there’s one more honour O’Ree, his friends and fans are hoping for.
The league will announce Tuesday if he’ll be among this year’s inductees into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder.
The New Brunswick-born O’Ree said he plans to stay close to the phone, hoping to get a call from Hockey Hall of Fame board chairman Lanny MacDonald.
“I’m just leaving Tuesday open,” he said, but added he’ll have his fingers crossed.
O’Ree played just 45 games in the NHL, but his supporters say his true legacy will be the work he continues to do as diversity ambassador and with the Hockey is for Everyone program to encourage children of colour to play the game. “He is just like a pied piper. He has influenced tens of thousands of children to have a dream and to chase that dream,” said David Sansom, a close friend in O’Ree’s hometown of Fredericton, N.B., and one of the people responsible for a 76-page submission to the Hockey Hall of Fame. “Getting into the Hall of Fame — it’s long overdue.”
O’Ree’s first game with the Boston Bruins was in a 3-0 win over the Canadiens in Montreal on Jan. 18, 1958, but he didn’t know the significance until reading a newspaper the next day that said he had broken the NHL’s colour barrier. “It was a nice feeling. I just happened to be playing and just happened to be black,” he said. He would play just one more game with the Bruins that season. O’Ree would return to the Bruins for the 1960-61 season, playing a total of 45 games in the NHL — scoring four goals and 10 assists — all while keeping a secret that would have kept him out of the league. He was blind in one eye. O’Ree left Fredericton at the age of 17 to play junior hockey with the Quebec Frontenacs and the next year he moved to Kitchener, Ont. It was during that second year in junior that he had an unfortunate accident.
“There was a slapshot and I’m on the ice in front of the net. A ricochet came up and the puck struck me in the eye. I lost 97 per cent vision in my right eye. I was out of action for about six weeks,” he said. Following his stint with the Bruins, O’Ree played in other leagues for teams in Ottawa, Los Angeles and San Diego, where he continues to live.
O’Ree, 82, now serves as the NHL’s diversity ambassador and for the last 20 years he has been speaking to young people as part of the Hockey is for Everyone initiative. O’Ree said it’s overwhelming to know there’s a chance he could get into the Hall of Fame.
“It would mean a lot. Being selected to the Hall of Fame is like the top of the cake. I don’t think you can go any farther than that,” he said. “I’m just very pleased with my work and the things I’ve accomplished working with the National Hockey League and the Hockey is for Everyone program.” Sansom said it’s O’Ree’s can-do attitude that has gotten him so many supporters who wrote letters to be included in the Hall of Fame submission. Among them: Karl Subban, whose five kids include sons P.K. (Nashville Predators), Malcolm (Vegas Golden Knights) and Jordan (Ontario Reign of the American Hockey League). “Willie stepped on the ice with the Boston Bruins in 1958, the year when I was born, and made hockey history. He is a pioneer and a trailblazer. Willie achieved in the face of adversity,” Subban wrote.
It was a nice feeling. I just happened to be playing and just happened to be black.