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The big players made a big difference with Willie O'Ree's skin color, but opening the door for black players was not the only remarkable feat of this gentleman.
O 'Ree was able to continue playing with the miners to earn his shot in the NHL although he was blinded with one eye to his debut in Fredericton, NB, then making his NHL trip – and his induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame next week – all the more incredible.
He had been hit by a shot from the future Leaf Kent Douglas, but had not been injured by the Boston Bruins, his NHL rights holders. His condition was not fully revealed until the last years of his career in the Western Hockey League.
We mention this because when Leafs defenseman Bryan Berard was badly injured in the eye by a stray stick and had to undergo a delicate surgery, O'Ree was among those who called him.
"I told him that if you knew in your heart that you will overcome your handicap, you will do it," O'Ree said at the time.
Berard finally returned to the league, playing two full seasons and four more games.
By the time O'Ree's state of health was known, he had made history by calling Boston to play two games mid-way between 1957-58 and 43 games in 1960-1961. Having spent most of his career in eastern Canada at that time, he was certainly not immune from abuse, but he was never subjected to blatant racist taunts. he had heard when he arrived in some US NHL cities.
"The fans would shout," Go back to the south "and" How come you do not pick cotton? "" O'Ree remembers. "It did not bother me. I just wanted to be a hockey player, and if they could not accept that fact, it was their problem, not mine. "
At the time of his recall, Punch Imlach scored 20 goals with 20 goals. He played for Toronto's future boss, Punch Imlach. The Bruins play in Montreal and need a replacement. The date was January 18, 1958, and even though the Saturday night game was televised, no record of it was kept.
Nearly fifty years later, in a happy coincidence, hockey film archivist Paul Patskou was watching CBC reports that day, when Laos Prime Minister Prince Souvanna Phouma was visiting. of the state in Canada and that he was the guest of Game.
An O'Ree clip is part of the TV series Hockey: A popular story.
It had been 10 years since Jackie Robinson broke through the color barrier in baseball, but O'Ree did not think much about it at the time. He did not realize he had made the history of the NHL before reading it in the newspaper the next day.
"He's not black, he's a Bruin," was the usual response from Boston coach Milt Schmidt when the media asked him questions about O'Ree's legacy.
The late Schmidt told Postmedia the story of a night spent at Madison Square Garden in New York, when dishonest fans gathered in front of the heavy window of the Bruins room, uttering racist epithets to O ' Ree and menacingly threatening to pbad the hand.
"One of our guys closed the window with their fingers," laughed Schmidt. "It was the end of that."
O 'Ree has only played 45 games in the NHL, but his career as a professional has lasted 25 seasons. He plunged into the 1970s, before hanging up the blades at 43. He won two titles in the Western League. Mike Marson, another black player in the league. O'Ree says nearly 30 people have joined the NHL.
"I do not know why it took (so long after his first match), but now there are 31 teams in the league and you can see black players and colored players," O'Ree said. "They are there because they have the skills and abilities and not just because of their color."
Black players in Canada were present in the late 19th century when the Maritime Colored Hockey League was created in and around Nova Scotia. This original idea was to ensure that young men remain involved in local Baptist churches. The league would have allowed its goalies to make a backup before the rest of the hockey rule.
Other Blacks had been considered for the NHL before O'Ree. Art Dorrington was signed to a contract with the Rangers in 1950, but has never been higher than miners. Herb Carnegie, born in Toronto, was older than O'Ree and had a high score at his peak, but was facing more racial blockades, even in the war years when good players were rare.
Now 83 years old, O'Ree continues his role in the NHL Diversity Program, from schools to juvenile offenders.
"My dad said," Willie, find a job you love and you will never work one day in your life "and when I started working with this program, I fell in love with it.
"I can see the current influx of these programs, and there are more boys and girls playing hockey than ever before. It's just because they watched TV on TV and new rinks were built to give these boys and girls a chance to get on the ice. Those who can not play roller hockey and street hockey. So the game is growing. "
Joel Ward, Wayne Simmonds and Anson Carter, retired, have been campaigning for the name of O'Ree to be nominated. Ward wore 42 years in honor of O'Ree's 22 and Robinson with the Dodgers.
THE WILLIE OREE FILE
Born: October 15, 1935, Fredericton, NB
The lean: He has participated in more than 1,000 NHL games for minors … He was named the 2007 NHL Lester Patrick Trophy winner for helping to develop hockey in the United States and received the Order of Canada in 2008 … He was working at a hotel in San Diego contacted in 1998 by the NHL Diversity Committee to lead his efforts to spread the message of inclusion in the game … O & # 39 # 22 Sweater Ree dating back to his time in Boston appeared earlier this year at TD Garden, thanks to a worker from the Garden Arena and was introduced to him.
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