Willie O'Ree

 

So I have heard all the talk about Willie O'Ree, the first black player in the NHL, but I really hadn't even heard of him before his recent accolades.  That's on me, so I decided to look it up.

Willie played a couple of uneventful games in 1957-8, but his season in the NHL limelight was 1960-61, when he became a regular on the Bruins, logging 43 games.  He would be the only black player in the NHL for 13 years.  Let me tell you what I found.

This is not by way of a bio, just chasing stats.  The 1960-61 Boston Bruins season started with a goal by a Fort Wayne Komet legend, Len Ronson.  But it started slow for Willie- and the Bruins.  The B's were a bad team, and it was three days before Christmas that Willie first reached the score sheet, logging 2 assists in a 4-2 win over the team that would be his nemesis, the Chicago Black Hawks.  I don't know where in the timeline this story pops in, but...

O'Ree claims he was called racist names by several of the Blackhawks players.  During the game, Eric Nesterenko butt-ended O'Ree, knocking out his two front teeth and breaking his nose.  O'Ree responded by hitting Nesterenko over the head with his stick, which O'Ree claims "almost created a riot". O'Ree claims the fans called him racist names and that the Blackhawks players were threatening to kill him, and that he was "lucky to get out of the arena alive".

 

Hang on though, because he does get a measure of revenge.  His first goal came on New Years Day 1961 in a 3-2 win over the rampaging Montreal Canadiens- and I do mean rampaging, as surrounding his tally against the leagues best goalie, Charlie Hodge, there were 92 minutes in penalties, mostly instigated by Habs enforcer Ralph Backstrom.  At this point any win was a good one for the B's, mired in last at 8-20-9.

On a line with Don McKenney and Gary Oullette, Willie got a couple more assists before his next tally, a score 47 seconds into the second period against another top goalie, Detroit's Hank Bassen, to give his guys a 3-0 lead en route to a 4-2 win.

Once again with Chicago on Ground Hogs Day, he got into a shoving match with Hawks' star Stan Mikita, resulting in a pair of roughing minors in a 2-2 tie.  After grabbing another assist on the 5th, he came his closest to an all-out fight on the 9th in a 5-1 loss at home to Montreal.  Backstrom slashed him, and when he tried to retaliate, his team's tough guy, Dallas Smith, stepped in and fought Backstrom.  Willie got a rough, and Backstrom got a 2 and a 5, with Smith getting the other 5 for fighting.

Down the stretch, the team got worse and Willie got better, picking up 4 more assists over the month, but Willie saved the best for last.

The second to last game of the season was a 6-2 loss in Toronto to rookie goalie (and future star) Cesare Maniago.  But Willie put the B's on the board with his 3rd- unfortunately, they were already down 3-0 at the time.

The last game, and wouldn't you know it, the Black Hawks came to the Boston Garden.  Trailing 2-1 in the 2nd, Willie beat Hall of Famer Glenn Hall to tie the game, and the home team capped the season with a 4-3 win.  That left them at 15-42-13, last place, 11 points behind the 5th place Rangers and 49 behind Montreal.  (Side note here:  The Blackhawks would upset the Habs in round one of the playoffs and go on to win the Cup, breaking a 5-year hold by Montreal on Lord Stanley's silverware.

And that would be Willie's NHL career- 4 goals and 10 assists over 45 games.  He would be traded to Montreal that next year- and while Willie considered their snubbing him "racist"- and it may well have been- two things to remember here are that the Canadiens pushed French-Canadian players, and they were so deep that their second level minor league team had just come off a six-year cup streak of their own.

Willie found stardom later in the old Western League, scoring 30+ goals 5 times and winning 2 scoring championships, eventually getting his number retired by the San Diego Gulls.  And now we all know a little more about a brave man who just wanted to play the game.