Willie O'Ree
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Willie O'Ree (born October 15, 1935, in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada) is a retired professional ice hockey player, known best as the first black player in the National Hockey League. He played as a winger for the Boston Bruins.
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[edit] Playing career
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 an injured player. O'Ree was 95% blind in his right eye due to being hit there by an errant puck two years earlier,[citation needed] which normally would have precluded him from playing in the NHL. However, O'Ree managed to keep it secret, and made his NHL debut with the Bruins on January 18, 1958, against the Montreal Canadiens, becoming the first black player in league history. He played in only two games that year, and came back in 1961 to play 43 games. He scored four goals and 10 assists in his NHL career, all in 1961.
Willie O'Ree 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, that was their problem, not mine."[citation needed]
In the minor leagues, O'Ree won two scoring titles in the Western Hockey League (WHL) between 1961 and 1974, scoring thirty or more goals four times, with a high of 38 in both 1964-65 and 1968-69. 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, now hanging from the rafters at the San Diego Sports Arena. O'Ree continued to play in the minors until age 43.
After O'Ree, there wasn't another black player in the NHL until Mike Marson was drafted by the Washington Capitals in 1974. There are 17 black players in the NHL as of the mid-2000s, the most prominent including Canadians Jarome Iginla and Anson Carter and American Mike Grier. NHL players are now required to enroll in a diversity training seminar before each season, and racially-based verbal abuse is punished through suspensions and fines by today's NHL.
O'Ree was inducted into the New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame in 1984. He later became the Director of Youth Development for the NHL/USA Hockey Diversity Task Force, a non-profit program for minority youth that encourages them to learn and play hockey. As of the mid-2000s, O'Ree lives in La Mesa, California, just east of San Diego.
[edit] Awards
- WHL Second All-Star Team (1969)
- Order of New Brunswick (2005)
- Lester Patrick Award (2000)
[edit] Records
[edit] Career statistics
| Regular Season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||
| 1951-52 | Fredericton | City (Sr.) | 6 | 10 | 4 | 14 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 5 | 15 | 18 | ||
| 1951-52 | Fredericton | NBJHL | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1952-53 | Fredericton | NBJHL | 12 | 15 | 3 | 18 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 2 | ||
| 1952-53 | Fredericton | NBSHL | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1953-54 | Fredericton | NBSHL | 23 | 7 | 11 | 18 | 15 | 25 | 15 | 10 | 25 | 10 | ||
| 1954-55 | Quebec | QJHL | 43 | 27 | 17 | 44 | 41 | 17 | 7 | 6 | 13 | 10 | ||
| 1955-56 | Kitchener | OHA | 41 | 30 | 28 | 58 | 38 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 6 | ||
| 1956-57 | Quebec | QHL | 68 | 22 | 12 | 34 | 80 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 10 | ||
| 1957-58 | Boston | NHL | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1957-58 | Springfield | AHL | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1957-58 | Quebec | QHL | 57 | 13 | 19 | 32 | 43 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 8 | ||
| 1958-59 | Quebec | QHL | 56 | 9 | 21 | 30 | 74 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1959-60 | Kingston | EPHL | 50 | 21 | 25 | 46 | 41 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1960-61 | Boston | NHL | 43 | 4 | 10 | 14 | 26 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1960-61 | Hull-Ottawa | EPHL | 16 | 10 | 9 | 19 | 21 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1961-62 | Hull-Ottawa | EPHL | 12 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 18 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1961-62 | Los Angeles | WHL | 54 | 28 | 26 | 54 | 57 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1962-63 | Los Angeles | WHL | 64 | 25 | 26 | 51 | 41 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 2 | ||
| 1963-64 | Los Angeles | WHL | 60 | 17 | 18 | 35 | 45 | 12 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 10 | ||
| 1964-65 | Los Angeles | WHL | 70 | 38 | 21 | 59 | 75 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1965-66 | Los Angeles | WHL | 62 | 33 | 33 | 66 | 30 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1966-67 | Los Angeles | WHL | 68 | 34 | 26 | 60 | 58 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1967-68 | San Diego | WHL | 66 | 21 | 33 | 54 | 54 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | ||
| 1968-69 | San Diego | WHL | 70 | 38 | 41 | 79 | 63 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 12 | ||
| 1969-70 | San Diego | WHL | 66 | 24 | 22 | 46 | 50 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 9 | 4 | ||
| 1970-71 | San Diego | WHL | 66 | 18 | 15 | 33 | 47 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 14 | ||
| 1971-72 | San Diego | WHL | 48 | 16 | 17 | 33 | 42 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 1972-73 | New Haven | AHL | 50 | 21 | 24 | 45 | 41 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1972-73 | San Diego | WHL | 18 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 18 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 2 | ||
| 1973-74 | San Diego | WHL | 73 | 30 | 28 | 58 | 89 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 0 | ||
| 1974-75 | San Diego | Cali. Sr. | ?? | ?? | ?? | ?? | ?? | ?? | ?? | ?? | ?? | ?? | ||
| 1975-76 | San Diego | Cali. Sr. | ?? | ?? | ?? | ?? | ?? | ?? | ?? | ?? | ?? | ?? | ||
| 1978-79 | San Diego | PHL | 60 | 30 | 24 | 54 | 37 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| NHL Totals | 45 | 4 | 10 | 14 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
