A few weeks ago, the city was abuzz with excitement. A somewhat immature Bulls team led by an inexperienced first-time head coach and homegrown rookie phenom Derrick Rose nearly upstaged the defending World Champion Boston Celtics in the first round of the NBA Playoffs. The Celtics is a team with strong Chicago ties in the form of head coach Doc Rivers and former Farragut hoop star Kevin Garnett. The “Baby Bulls” and Celtics clashed in what was arguably the most exciting and hard fought series in playoff history. Sadly, the Bulls fell short and will have to wait until next year to try and make another championship run.
Then there was the resurgence of the Blackhawks. When long-ime chairman Bill Wirtz passed away, his son Rocky stepped in, and the team skated back into the hearts and minds of Chicago hockey fans. For years, the Blackhawks had been upstaged by their IHL/AHL counterparts, the Chicago Wolves, who’ve won four championships since 1998. (IHL Turner Cups won in 1998 and 2000. AHL Calder Cups won in 2002 and 2008). The Blackhawks finally made it back into the post season after being absent since 2002. Like the Bulls, the Hawks were a hungry young team scrapping toward an elusive championship. The TV blackout ended, and hockey fans could once again see their favorite team over regular broadcast airwaves.
Now I’m not a big hockey fan, but I did watch the historic Winter Classic played New Year’s Day in Wrigley Field. It was cool. (No pun intended.) Seeing a game traditionally played indoors, played outside in a baseball stadium—my interest was peaked. I went to my first and only hockey game about five years ago. It was a staff outing for the magazine I was with at the time. It wasn’t at all like I expected. I’m a huge sports fan and I knew it would be exciting, but I thought there would be very few if any other African-Americans in the house. I was wrong. There was a smattering of us peppered throughout the United Center. I haven’t been since but would go back again.
I first became aware of the sport as a child. My dad would tell me stories about how he and his buddies would play hockey when the big pond froze over every winter. He said at one point you could skate on the ice from Robbins, through Blue Island nearly all the way to Chicago.
“We were good!” he’d declare. “If the school had a team back then, some of us would have been all stars, maybe even made it to the league.”
I’d sit back and marvel at his tales of their battles on the ice. The truth is that if there was a team at his high school back then, they most likely wouldn’t have been allowed to play. After all it was the 50s and we were still “colored." By the time I reached the age my dad was when they played, I was more interested in baseball, and even though some of my friends occasionally took to the ice, I never did.
As the season went on, I’d watch a few minutes here and there, but I’d always catch the highlights on the evening news. The reporters would interview the same payers after each game, so I never really paid attention to who they were or what they looked like. I’d usually run to the kitchen for some water or take a quick pit stop before the next piece. Then one day, I didn’t take my normal diversions. I sat and watched. They were interviewing a player named Dustin Byfuglien. I listened carefully to what he had to say, but more importantly, I studied his face. Byfuglien seemed to be a little darker than the rest of his teammates. His hair was a little coarser; his features a bit less European and more, well—ethnic. I began to wonder was Dustin Byfuglien a brotha? If so, how’d he sneak in?
You know what I mean. We all do it. You see someone on TV or about town and they kinda look like they could be, but you never really know. When Vin Diesel appeared in “Saving Private Ryan,” you know you wondered if he was Black. This was one of those moments, so I kept watching. Every time he was interviewed, I’d turn my head sideways examining him as if he was some sort of grifter. I said to myself, “that’s a brotha!” The more I saw him, the more convinced I became. Then my attention turned to why his heritage never came into play. It shouldn’t matter, but it does. Here’s a historic hockey franchise, in a mighty city, named after one of the indigenous tribes of this country, in the playoffs for the first time in seven years and one of their best players is a Black man. It’s important because this is one of the few sports where African-Americans still have not made major impact. My hypothesis was confirmed when I came across an article about Byfuglien in the Suntimes. The Minnesota native is the product of a Norwegian mother and African-American father.
When it comes to the sport of hockey, we’ve always been and will always be in the minority. Black players struggle against indifference in the NHL, and it’s been tough for us to break through the ice. Of course hockey isn’t a sport that kids growing up in the inner city ever really think about. It’s played in the cold—on ice, and until recently, it’s very rarely on regular TV. In addition, there aren’t many Black folks in the countries where hockey is played. It’s an expensive game, costing hundreds of dollars for the gear needed to outfit even the most basic positions. Now, if you want to be a goalie, then you’re really talking some big bucks. Sure you could do like my pals did; buy second-hand skates and make your own stick, but that won’t get you far at all. Nevertheless, Black hockey players are growing in numbers and experiencing measured success.
Our presence in the NHL started when Canadian Wille O’Ree debuted with the Boston Bruins back in 1958. He swiftly made his mark at the junior and minor league levels before reaching the bigs. If being the first Black man to reach the top of the hockey world wasn’t enough, he did it while hiding being legally blind in his right eye. His vision loss was the result of being struck by a wayward puck in 1956.
O’Ree’s stint with the Bruins was short lived, playing in only two games during his breakthrough year. They busted him back to the minors, and it would be three years before he’d make it back to the NHL. He remained with the team for 43 games in ’61, posting meager stats including just four goal and 10 assists. This sounded the horn on his NHL career, but O’Ree moved on playing mostly in the WHL where he managed to win two scoring titles. Willie O’Ree never made it back to the NHL, and there wouldn’t be another Black player in the league until 1974 when Mike Marson took to the ice after being drafted by the Washington Capitals.
Since then, more Black players have entered the NHL with varying degrees of success. Hall of Fame goaltender Grant Fuhr who played with Edmonton Oilers led by hockey great Wayne Gretzky, is considered the most successful Black player in the history of the sport. (He was elected to the hall in 2003.)
More recently, forwards Jarome Iginla from Calgary and Mike Grier in Buffalo have both become offensive leaders on their teams. In 1997, Iginla was the runner-up in Rookie of the Year voting and won the Art Ross Trophy as the league’s leading scorer in 2002. The following season Inginla made history when he became the first Black team captain.
What’s interesting about Black players who make it into the NHL, they are big and they have the reputation for being enforcers. If they played in the NFL they’d be tight-ends, defensive linemen or linebackers. Conversely, on the hardwood they’d be swingmen, bangin’ it up in the post. Most are between 6’-6’5 and well over 200 pounds. Byfuglien has carried up to 280lbs on his 6’3 frame -- with that size he could line up a defensive tackle or be a great pulling guard.
There are nearly 20 Black players that take to the ice in the NHL; some are Canadian with the remainder of them hailing from the States. I don’t think hockey will ever be as big with African-Americans here as it is with our Canadian neighbors to the north. Nevertheless, it is an exciting sport, and the few players we do have representing us in the league are making their presence known. I’m sure Willie O’Ree is a proud man and today’s skaters have him to thank for breaking the ice as the Jackie Robinson of the NHL.
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In photo: Goaltender Ray Emery smiles
while responding to questions during a news conference on Wednesday,
June 10, 2009, in Voorhees N.J. The Philadelphia Flyers announced
Wednesday that they agreed to terms on a one-year contract with Emery.
(AP Photo/ Joseph Kaczmarek)
Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
