Race And Ethnicity In Sports

Willie O'Ree

As we know the NHL is not known for African Americans to be the dominant race in the sport. Just like the other professional sports there was that one athlete who broke the color barrier for African Americans and for the NHL it happened to be Willie O'Ree. On January 18, 1958 O'Ree became the first African American to play in the NHL as he played for the Boston Bruins. O'Ree experienced the same treatment as other athletes such as Jackie Robinson for baseball. He is also known to be the "Jackie Robinson of Hockey". Willie and Jackie was being threatened to not participate in the games and to not even be in their respective leagues. Willie was able to score four goals in 45 games in two NHL seasons. Even though Willie was treated in such a way, he works for the NHL today as the league's diversity task force to help promote hockey to black youngsters or players from other ethnic backgrounds. O'Ree still received threats a few years back while he was working for the NHL, this being said it shows that he really wants to help the kids who are trying to be apart of the sport. A lot of people might say that his role in the league is bigger today than it was more than 50 years ago. With the short number of black players in the league today and how it seems that other sports have inherited the fact African Americans play the sport, will the dominant race in whites in the NHL ever be satisfied with the blacks playing the sport?


http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/hockey/nhl/2008-01-14-cover-oree_N.htm