For Willie O’Ree, it was love at first sight with the state of California.
It began, of all places, on a chilly Ottawa morning in November 1961, when the 26-year-old O’Ree was summoned by Hull-Ottawa Canadiens general manager Sam Pollock.
“I came into practice one morning, about ten after eight,” O’Ree recalled. “Sam Pollock handed me an envelope, said, ‘We traded you to the Los Angeles Blades. Here’s your plane ticket and expenses. Your plane leaves at 12:50.’”
Going from the Montreal Canadiens’ minor league affiliate to an unaffiliated professional outfit in the Western Hockey League, this felt like a step down for O’Ree, who had shattered the NHL’s color barrier with Boston in 1958 and played 43 games with the Bruins just the season before.