The NHL likes to call Willie O’Ree the Jackie Robinson of hockey. And no one can deny how significant it was when he became the first Black player on the ice in an NHL game in 1958.
But what the league doesn’t like to talk about is what happened next.
Because after O’Ree, the NHL didn’t admit another black player for sixteen years. So did the NHL resegregate? And why don’t we talk about the experiences of the players who broke hockey’s second colour line?
Featured in this episode: Bob Dawson, Bill Riley
To learn more:
“Mike Marson on challenges he faced as NHL’s second black player” by Wayne Scanlan in SportsNet
“Life of Riley; Career of N.S. hockey trailblazer Bill Riley remembered during Black History Month” by Paul Hollingsworth and Allan April in CTV News
Willie: The Game-Changing Story of the NHL’s First Black Player by Willie O’Ree with Michael McKinley
“How Conn Smythe’s racism kept Herb Carnegie from achieving his NHL dream” by Ian Kennedy in Yahoo Sports
“The dark history of the NFL’s original sins” by Chelsea Stark-Jones and Lex Pryor in The Ringer
Credits: Arshy Mann (Host and Producer), Jordan Cornish (Producer), Noor Azrieh (Producer), Annette Ejiofor (Managing Editor)
Additional music from Audio Network
Sponsors: Oxio, Better Help, Ecojustice
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