Create a list ». Member of the Order of Canada. See all related lists ». Share this page:. Clear your history. October 15 , in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. 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. In the minor leagues, O'Ree won two scoring titles in the Western Hockey League WHL between and , scoring thirty or more goals four times, with a high of 38 in —65 and — O'Ree continued to play in the minors until the age of There were 23 black players in the NHL as of the mids, the most prominent being P.
Art Dorrington was the first Black player to sign an NHL contract, in with the New York Rangers organization, but never played beyond the minor league level.
He spent that winter doing rehab in private. As he skated, he began to get a feel for the ice as a one-eyed player and knew he could adapt. As winter gave way to spring, he resumed playing baseball and discovered that his skills on the field had not been affected by a blind right eye.
He was such a good shortstop and second baseman that he drew interest from scouts for the Milwaukee Braves, who in invited him to a tryout camp in Waycross, Ga. That night, he stayed in a Blacks-only hotel and the next day took a four-hour bus ride to Waycross, during which he was forced to sit at the rear.
He slept in a dorm with other players of colour, segregated from whites, and during exhibition games was race-baited by some of them. He could not wait to get back to Canada.
A year earlier, Hank Aaron had attended a similar tryout camp. In Waycross, he was shot at. During the five-day bus ride back to New Brunswick, he realized his only option to play a professional sport was hockey because that was where he was most skilled. Willie O'Ree, left, with his brother Richard. In early summer, he was visiting one of his sisters in Fredericton when Punch Imlach knocked on the door to recruit him to play for the Quebec Aces, a professional team in Quebec City.
Imlach, who went on to fame as the coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, once played for them, too. He returned to play for the Aces for a second season and was briefly called up to Springfield, which was then coached by Imlach. Shortly thereafter, the Aces got a call from the Bruins, who needed someone to replace an injured forward for back-to-back games against the Montreal Canadiens.
He was honoured as a pioneer of hockey and dedicated youth mentor in Canada along with the U. His jersey was retired by the San Diego Gulls on October 16, Ward himself honored Robinson's legacy through his last season in NHL play by wearing jersey number 42 in NHL play; Robinson's own player number 42 has been retired league-wide in pro baseball.
On November 3, , O'Ree was honoured with a banner by the Springfield Thunderbirds during a pregame ceremony to commemorate his time with the Springfield Indians. A long-time member of the Boston Garden and TD Garden "bull-gang" team of arena personnel that assists with "changeovers" for different events at each facility, the senior Grzelcyk had saved an original number 22 Bruins uniform jersey worn by O'Ree from the Boston Bruins season, when O'Ree last played in the NHL as a Bruin.
At about the same time as O'Ree received his vintage Bruins game-sweater, it became known that Madison Bowey, a then- Washington Capitals rookie of bi-racial ethnicity, had been taught by his Black Canadian father about O'Ree's importance in NHL history, and selected 22 as his number with the Capitals to honor O'Ree's achievement. On June 26, it was announced that O'Ree would be inducted as a builder into the Hockey Hall of Fame later that year. Almost ten months after receiving his original Bruins sweater from the Grzelcyks, on November 1, O'Ree attended the ceremonial dedication of a street hockey rink named in his honour in the Boston neighbourhood of Allston , as part of the continuing legacy of O'Ree's time with the Bruins.
Congress is authorizing the award of the United States Congressional Gold Medal for O'Ree's achievements "in recognition of his contributions and commitment to hockey, inclusion, and recreational opportunity. The formal induction ceremony has been postponed to a yet to be determined date in due to concerns over COVID
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