Willie O'Ree, the first Black player in the NHL, to be honored by the Bruins and is expected to be honored by Congress CBSVillage
The NHL became the last major professional sports league to add Black players to its ranks when Willie O'Ree, then a 22-year-old forward, skated for the Boston Bruins in the late 1950s. Today, that achievement — and O'Ree's lifetime of promoting the game in minority communities — is being recognized in Boston and on Capitol Hill.
O'Ree was talking about achieving his ultimate goal: playing in the NHL, not making racial history."I didn't recognize that I had broken the color barrier until I read it in the paper the next day," he said. "He really is someone who exemplifies courage and what we want as a role model for our kids," Stabenow said.
And, not only was O'Ree the NHL's first Black player, he also spent his entire professional career blind in his right eye. "As a young, Black male playing hockey in a predominately White sport, you don't see too many Black athletes," Duclair said."Definitely motivated me to make it to the NHL and really pass it on forward to the next generation."
"They sat me down and said, 'Willie, we brought you up because we think you can add a little something to the club. Don't worry about anything else about just going out and playing your game,'" he said. O'Ree played 45 games in the NHL over two seasons, then returned to Minor League Hockey where he flourished, twice surpassing previous scoring records.
"When he went to Chicago Stadium as a Boston Bruin, the fans were the worst in the league and so were the players," Quigley said."It's tough to hear because these were my heroes growing up."
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