“It was rough going. And not when I was playing in Montreal or Toronto, but when I went to the states, in Chicago, in Detroit and in New York, you know, I experienced the racial slurs and remarks that were directed towards me. But, you know, I had geared myself up for that and I told my self, Willie, you’re a black man and be proud of who you are. Just go out and play hockey and try to represent the hockey club to the best of your ability.”
As a Canadian, I am proud that my country is described as a cultural mosaic. We have people with all sorts of different backgrounds from all sorts of different places around the world, each contributing something special to the multicultural fabric of Canada. Outside of Ukraine and Russia, for instance, Canada has the largest population of people of Ukrainian origin at about 1.2 million.
It is important that we acknowledge and celebrate this rich cultural makeup and that’s why we have occasions like Asian Heritage Month in May. And another huge part of what it means to be a Canadian is to love hockey. That’s why I thought it was particularly appropriate to celebrate Black History Month by highlighting one bold individual that all Canadians can be proud of.
His name is Willie O’Ree and he was born in Fredericton, New Brunswick in 1935. He was the first black man to ever play in the National Hockey League and should be held to the same high esteem as Jackie Robinson of Major League Baseball fame. O’Ree may have only played a total of 45 games — two in 1958, followed by 43 in 1961, all for the Boston Bruins — but his significance to the game and to North American society at large cannot be understated. In fact, there were no other black players in the NHL until Mike Marson in 1974.
Willie O’Ree faced the racial slurs with class and dignity, not allowing those remarks to bother him. In his own words, he “just wanted to be a hockey player. And if they couldn’t accept that fact, that was their problem, not mine.”
Interestingly, his right eye was hit by a puck during his last year playing junior hockey, completely shattering his retina. Even though he was practically blind in his right eye (he kept it a secret), he managed to lead a successful 21 year career as a professional hockey career. I can’t decide if that’s courageous or foolish, but it sure is something!
Willie did get traded to the Montreal Canadiens at one point, but spent that time in the minors as the Habs roster was stacked at the time. Over the course of his career, he played for such teams as the QHL’s Quebec Aces, the WHL Los Angeles Blades and the AHL New Haven Nighthawks, among others. He was later honored with the Order of Canada in 2008.
You have to have a lot of respect for a man in his position to put up with what he had to just to play a game. Especially one that he loved enough to play being blind in one eye.
And this relates back to an ongoing theme here on Beyond the Rhetoric: Do what you love. It may not always be pretty, it may not always be easy, but if you truly love what you do, you will find a way to persevere.