Willie O’Ree will go down in the history books as the first black hockey player in NHL history. Hockey’s version of Jackie Robinson if you will (O’Ree met the Dodgers Hall-of-Famer when he was 14). His induction to the Hockey Hall of Fame on that basis alone should have happened years ago.
I could write a book about O’Ree breaking the NHL’s color barrier. It would be one of many. The racism he faced back then (and still today) never defined him. He was happy to be a professional hockey player and did his best to avoid those who wanted to put a premature end to his career.