Willie O'Ree - First Black NHL Player

[josaldinho1883]

one of my idols and heroes.

[TheBreezyBright]

...black..



[tom3999]

im white, and personally i think all colours should be able to compete in any sport they choose, alot of black people athletically exceed well and have good drive. I find it bizarre for an Negro to become soo involed in such a white european strong sport, plus most black people I know hate the cold and dont have much interested in winter sports like iceskating or skiing or anything like that. But i have soo much respect for this guy, imagine being the ONLY black guy in the freekin NHL, SCARY!

[iancameron402]

FREDICKTON HE SAID IT RIGHT FIRST TIME

I grew up down the block. My bro is black (adopted)

[rassclaat23]

robinson recognized him....... that made me smile

[luridplanet]

I'm white, and would have loved to play hockey when I was a kid, but it was just too expensive. That's one reason why there are so few black players. How much is it just for the gear? $2,000?

[tom3999]

@luridplanet i played one season as a kid because of the price of playin, i agree on that, but you have to remember, blacks prefer the warm to the cold, the whites dont mind because thats there heritage, 2nd they are more interested in other sports e.g basketball for its big black community within the sport. alot of the black people who play are from canada and are bi-racial with a white parent and are brought up with the white culture.

[11918239]

@tom3999 NEGRO??? Are you like 80???

[11918239]

@luridplanet not the reason. there are very few rinks in areas with large numbers of African Americans. even thos who are upper middle class. Also, when your parents don't play a sport you are less likely to play that sport... Hockey is more popular in the north while Most African americans have traditionally lives at the Mason Dixon or below, with the exception of some of the larger cities in the North.

[9ranaldo]

i no willie o'ree

[Wehategod]

Another Great Black Hockey player was Alton White of the WHA he was the first Black Hockey players to score twenty point in one season

[Sergei91]

But clearly O'Ree doesn't have coaching skills lol, to call Crosby the BEST? i mean i could name 10 players off the top of my mind that are better, Datsyuk, Kovalchuk, Malkin, Ovechkin, Kane, Kopitar, Eric Staal, Kovalev, Thoronton, Anisimov.....the list goes on

[chacemonk]

agree

[planbsk8er891]

love the list. most of them are RUSSIAN. haha

[breezwonder]

Good that O'Ree made the NHL of broke the color barrier. That is a great thing for us as black people but Steve Yzerman will always be my favorite athelete period.

[Sergei91]

Yeh, and its getting better and better, Iginla broke the top scorer barrier, Wayne Simmonds is looking good, Laraque, Brashear and Joel Ward are household names in the game, it even reached Sweden, Johnny Oduya is a black Swede

I don't know what happened to Anson Carter, but he scored the winning goal for Canada at the world championships to win gold!

So its been great, lets hope Evander Kane in Atlanta brings something new to the table

[bobcaygeonfrench]

Willie O'Ree = class act. Jarome Iginla, Georges Laraque, Mike Grier, Anson Carter same thing. Georges plays a very rough game because that's what he's paid to do but off the ice he's one of the most polite and classiest guys in the game. Iginla is an amzing guy too.

[ethicomm]

He just got named to the Order of Canada today. The guy still skates and is active in hockey. Cheers Willie!

[inklinkinklink]

Awesome person. What a memory he has, eh?

[BlkHockeyFan]

thats my man well done laraque you've done lots for black fans like me all u white hky fans plzz dont be racial

[christopherguindon]

im a habs fan (white) and i love alot of black players like Grier, laraque and iginla!

[southphillyjim]

i cant wait for emery on the flyers this upcoming season

[danielle1028]

hes from freddy!

[tkeitt43]

He was the first BLACK HOCKEY Player n this Sport.........He got hit n the left eye he lost the eye nose broke from the force of the hockey puck............

[cyberkitty4u]

well tkeitt43 your wrong yes he lost an eye when the puck hit him,but he broke his nose and lost some teeth when some other player hit him

[grapefruitm00n]

He's known as the Jackie Robinson of hockey...unlike baseball there weren't a flood of black hockey players after Willie O'Ree. Good for him, though

[bboyera1989]

he just played with one eye, wow alot of respect for that guy.

[sammysunshine]

He was my dad's neighbor on Charlotte St in Fredericton growing up...

[puckpeoria]

MET HIM AT ALL STAR GAME IN TAMPA 99