While the U.S. Senate hasn’t agreed on much of anything for several years, this week it unanimously passed legislation granting the Congressional Gold Medal to Willie O’Ree, the first Black player to compete in the National Hockey League.
The legislation now moves to the U.S. House of Representatives for approval so O’Ree, 85, and known as the “Jackie Robinson of hockey,” can receive this much deserved honor.
O’Ree broke the NHL’s color barrier in 1958 by playing as a winger for the Boston Bruins, one of six teams at the time. O’Ree, who is Canadian, played professional hockey in his home country before joining the NHL and retiring from the sport in 1979. He has spent the past two decades as the NHL’s diversity ambassador with his Hockey is for Everyone youth program.
In every game he played in, O’Ree… heard name calling from opposing players and from fans in the stands. “Besides being Black and being blind in my right eye, I was faced with four other things: racism, prejudice, bigotry and ignorance,” he said.
The legislation would award O’Ree the nation’s highest civilian award that Congress can bestow “in recognition of his extraordinary contributions and commitment to hockey, inclusion, and recreational opportunity.”
O’Ree was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2018 for his off-ice contributions to the sport. The Bruins retired O’Ree’s No. 22 jersey in February of this year.
In addition to his 2020 memoir by Nicole Mortillaro and
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/31/politics/willie-oree-congressional-gold-medal-nhl-senate/index.html
https://www.theroot.com/willie-oree-nhls-1st-black-hockey-player-set-to-recei-1847384678
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Willie O’Ree’s recognition is long overdue and richly deserved. I have written about Willie in my article Massachusetts Supers that can be viewed and downloaded on my link to published articles at http://www.ssrn.com/author=1653603
I urge the U.S. Senate to act favorably.
Sincerely,
James A. Johnson, Esq.
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