The fact that I was Black never came up when we played as kids. You could have been purple with a green stripe down the middle of your forehead, and it wouldn’t have mattered. It was only later, when I became older, that I learned what ‘colour barrier’ meant.(Willie O’Ree, 2016)
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| New Brunswick Filmmakers’ Co-operative |
Born and raised in Fredericton, New Brunswick in 1935, Willie O’Ree was the first black player in the National Hockey League (NHL) when he debuted in 1958 while playing for the Boston Bruins. He had a decorated professional career, spanning over twenty years, and across several teams. Willie O’Ree was inducted into the New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame in 1984, and received the Order of Canada in 2008. In 2018, he was honoured in the Hockey Hall of Fame, and recognized as a ‘Builder’ within the sport. The same year, the NHL instituted the annual Willie O’Ree Hero Award in his name, to “recognize the individual who has worked to make a positive impact on his or her community, culture or society to make people better through hockey.” In 2019, a bill in the 116th United States Congress was authorized to award Willie O’Ree with the Congressional Gold Medal: “in recognition of his contributions and commitment to hockey, inclusion, and recreational opportunity.” Reflecting on his experience with racism in his sport, O’Ree stated, “[I]t 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.”