Willie O’Ree was similar to many other Canadian children who dreamed of one day playing in the National Hockey League. However, two aspects of his life seriously threatened his ability to achieve that dream. He could keep one of those a secret, but the other was impossible to hide. O’Ree would eventually become the first black player in the history of the NHL when he suited up as a left wing for the Boston Bruins on Jan. 18, 1958. However, unlike Jackie Robinson’s breaking of the color barrier in baseball with the Brooklyn Dodgers 11 years earlier, which justifiably received tremendous media attention, O’Ree’s feat was largely ignored. It wasn’t until the last few years that his 45-game NHL career during the 1958 and 1960-61 seasons garnered its proper attention, as his feat drew proper comparison to other pioneers in sports. O’Ree’s retina had been completely shattered, causing 97 percent blindness in the eye. “The media gave the name ‘The Jackie Robinson of Hockey,’ I never said that I was,” says O’Ree. “Even when I broke in, in 1958, I only played two games. It wasn’t until I came back in 1961 that the media said ‘Oh, Willie O’Ree, The Jackie Robinson of Hockey.’ The name just stuck with me all of these years. Now I’m getting the recognition and it’s great.” Although O’Ree readily admits he didn’t face as much adversity as Robinson, his ascension to the NHL wasn’t without obstacles. The first was a serious eye injury he suffered in 1956 during his final year of junior hockey. The 18-year old was standing in front of the net when a deflected shot hit him flat in the face, injuring his right eye and breaking his nose and cheek. “I remember dropping down to the ice and being conscious and the next thing I know I was being put in an ambulance and taken to the hospital,” O’Ree recalled. While recovering from surgery, a doctor informed the promising teenager that he would never play hockey again. O’Ree’s retina had been completely shattered, causing 97 percent blindness in the eye. “It was as devastating as if someone just hit me in the head with a hockey stick,” says O’Ree.Once he got out of the hospital, O’Ree decided against returning to his small coal-mining hometown of Fredericton, New Brunswick and started skating again within eight weeks. He completed his comeback in time for the following season, when he turned pro and played with the Quebec Aces, the minor league affiliate of the Boston Bruins. O’Ree still displayed his trademark blazing speed and hard checking ability, but kept his injury a secret with the exception of his brother and longtime teammate Stan Maxwell. “Back then if they knew about my injury they would have never let me play,” says O’Ree. “They didn’t do eye exams back then and I didn’t tell anyone. I just played. No one asked me about it, so I didn’t disclose anything.” O’Ree successfully kept his injury a secret, but constantly faced another obstacle that he couldn’t keep to himself-his race. Despite his skills, O’Ree was black, and no other black man had played in the NHL since its inception in 1917. Even if O’Ree was able to keep his injury from the Bruins management, there were still racial hurdles to clear. The historic call came in the winter of 1958. Boston’s lineup was ravaged by injury, especially at the wing position, so O’Ree was summoned to join the club. He did so on Jan. 18 in Montreal, ironically the same city Robinson played minor league baseball before joining the Dodgers, officially breaking the NHL’s color barrier. O’Ree only played two games and didn’t score a goal, but would return for another 43 games during the 1960-61 season and score four goals. Not only had he made his mark by reaching the NHL, but he did it in an era when the league was composed of only six teams and 130 players. Only 1/10th of a percent of Canada was black at the time. He was accepted by his teammates, but often had racial slurs hurled his way by opponents and fans. However, like Robinson before him, O’Ree didn’t let the scathing remarks affect him. “As far as the personal racial remarks go, that never bothered me because I didn’t let it bother me. It went in one ear and out of the other.” Says O’Ree. After a promising season with Boston, O’Ree assumed he would return to Beantown the following year-but it wasn’t meant to be. His rights were traded to the Montreal Canadians who were so talented that O’Ree couldn’t crack their deep lineup. His injury is believed to have played a role in the trade because while he still possessed deadly speed, the blindness caused him to often miss on the scoring chances that came about because of his exceptional skating. O’Ree would never play in the NHL again, but his legacy had been established. He continued playing in the minor leagues in a career that lasted 21 years. During one stop with the Los Angeles Blades, his coach, Alf Pike caught wind of O’Ree’s injury and moved him to right wing. The change let O’Ree utilize his good eye, instead of taking passes on his right side, which forced him to turn his head to see the puck. The result was 30-plus goals in four of the next five seasons, including two 38-goal seasons, which led the Western Hockey League both times. “I figured if I was able to do that with one eye, what could I have done if I still could use my other eye.” O’Ree wondered. O’Ree concluded his playing days in 1978 following a brief 53-game comeback as a 43-year old. Today, he serves as the Director of Youth Development for the NHL, which brings hockey to communities that can’t afford it, but want it. After the obstacles O’Ree had to clear to break the racial barrier in the NHL, who better to bring hockey to underprivileged neighborhoods than the man that made it possible for minorities to realize their dream of playing the game.
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