Willie O’Ree and Boston’s Race Identity

Willie O’Ree and Boston’s Race Identity

Willie O’Ree and Boston’s Race Identity

Hockey’s Diversity Problem

The NHL of the modern era is more diverse than ever before in its history. Until the 1970s, over 90% of the NHL’s players were Canadian, and almost all of them were white. In today’s NHL, Canadians make up about half the player population, playing alongside players from the US and Europe in increasingly greater numbers. But while the NHL may feature more geographical diversity than many professional sports leagues, the same cannot be said for racial diversity. In the 2013-14 season, there were 44 non-white players on season-opening rosters, meaning the league was still around 95% white. That is better than it was, but certainly not what most people would call truly diverse. While many factors contribute to this situation, the NHL’s lack of color has recently drawn more attention from both fans and the media, especially in cities like Boston, whose relationship with players of color has been complicated throughout its history.

Willie O’Ree Breaks the Color Barrier

Willie O’Ree was the first athlete of color to play significant ice time in the NHL. (Larry Kwong, officially credited with breaking the color barrier in 1948, played only a single game with the New York Rangers.) O’Ree made his NHL debut on January 18, 1958, when the Boston Bruins called him up from the minor league Quebec Aces. O’Ree played two games in the 1957-58 season and 43 games in the 1960-61 season, scoring 14 career points. His minor league career spanned 28 seasons, during which he notched over 400 goals. While the bulk of his stats were accrued in the minor leagues, he is remembered more for his 45 games with the Bruins and is often called “the Jackie Robinson of hockey.” Most Bruins fans are deservedly proud of having been the first team to welcome a black player into the league.

Racist Backlash in the Playoffs

2012: Joel Ward and the Capitals

Fast forward to April 2012, when the Bruins faced the Washington Capitals in the Conference Quarterfinals. After a hard-fought series, Boston lost Game 7 when Washington winger Joel Ward scored in overtime. The Bruins were shocked by the first-round exit, having won the Stanley Cup the previous season. The rest of the world was shocked by the response on Twitter, where Boston fans hurled racist slurs at Ward, a black Canadian of Caribbean descent. While most of what was said does not bear repeating, more than one fan asserted that hockey is “a white sport,” with the implication that it should stay that way.

2014: P.K. Subban and the Canadiens

If this had been a one-time thing, the hockey world might have simply called it poor losing and moved on. Then a similar incident took place in May 2014. This time, the Bruins were facing the Montreal Canadiens in the Conference Semifinals. As in 2012, the series came down to a Game 7 overtime. All-Star Montreal defenseman P.K. Subban, also a black Canadian of Caribbean descent, scored the game-winning goal. Most of Boston’s fans hung their heads in dismayed déjà vu as the city’s racists again took to Twitter to insult Subban, not for the flashiness of his goal or the quality of his play, but for the color of his skin.

A League-Wide Issue

It should be noted that after both of these incidents, far more Bostonians took to social media to call out and refute the insults than initially took part in the name-calling. The Bruins are also not the only team whose fans, and even players, have been guilty of racist chants, comments, and remarks. While these incidents are more common in American markets than Canadian ones, it is a league-wide issue. No one city is at fault, and no team is completely innocent. The truth is, the face of the NHL is changing, and not everyone is happy about it.

Boston’s Path Forward

By this point, Boston at least knows it has a problem. Bruins president Cam Neely released a statement to the media shortly after the Subban incident, calling those responsible for the racist tweets both classless and ignorant. This obviously does not erase the racism, but the public acknowledgment is a good first step. Moving forward from the embarrassing incidents of 2012 and 2014, the Bruins were given the chance to once again lead the league, as they did with Willie O’Ree, toward a more inclusive future. Hockey is still mostly white, but it is gaining more color with each passing season. Though the opponents of this change are vocal and offensive, the trend toward diversity and inclusion is better for the league in the long run.