After a long wait, one of hockey’s greatest pioneers is getting called to the Hockey Hall of Fame next season.
The Hockey Hall announced their incoming Class of 2018 on Tuesday afternoon, and former Bruins forward Willie O’Ree is getting inducted in the “Builder” category after breaking the color barrier as a member of the Black and Gold way back in 1958.
“Willie paved the path for the rest of us. In that way he is a true builder of the game,” said Hockey Hall of Famer Grant Fuhr, who will be joined by O’Ree as the only two black NHL players in the Hockey Hall of Fame. “If you look up the word ‘builder’ there should be a picture of Willie. He is the Jackie Robinson of hockey.”
O’Ree is the seventh member of the Bruins organization to be inducted in the “Builder” category, which is defined as “coaching, managerial or executive ability, or ability in another significant off-ice role, sportsmanship, character and contributions to his or her organization or organizations and to the game of hockey in general.”
It’s an honor long overdue given the importance of a player courageously breaking the color barrier, and it’s clearly something the Bruins are extremely proud to be connected with.
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“Willie is a pioneer and tremendous ambassador for the game of hockey, and on behalf of the Bruins organization I would like to congratulate Willie and his family on today’s announcement that he will be enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame,” said Bruins President Cam Neely. “The courage he showed 60 years ago when he broke the league’s color barrier while wearing a Bruins sweater is an inspiration, and his work today continues to grow the game of hockey and spread the message that hockey is for everyone.”
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After becoming the first black man to play in the NHL back in 1958, O’Ree played 20 years for countless teams spread across various leagues, and then embarked on a post-playing career as an ambassador for the game of hockey. O’Ree became the first black player to compete in an NHL game on January 18, 1958, when he dressed for the Boston Bruins against the Montreal Canadiens, despite being legally blind in one eye.
O'Ree played two games with the Bruins during that particular stint before being sent back down to the minors. He joined the team again during the 1960-61 season, scoring four goals and 14 points in 43 games. O'Ree then was traded to the Canadiens, but he never dressed for the club before eventually spending 13 seasons in the Western Hockey League before his official retirement in 1979.
Since 1998, O'Ree has worked for the NHL as a Diversity Ambassador, focusing on the League's Hockey Is For Everyone initiatives. O’Ree was certainly too much of a gentleman to hold expectations that his Hall of Fame induction was a given, but he voiced appreciation on Tuesday that it arrived while he can still fully enjoy it with his family and friends.
"I think being inducted in the Hall of Fame just opens the door for just thousands of kids, kids of colors, white kids, brown kids, green kids," said O’Ree to NHL.com. "It gives them the opportunity to be able to play the sport if they want to. We're just opening up the doors and saying, 'Here, you can play a sport where you never had the opportunity to play before.'"
In 2018, the NHL introduced the Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award, presented to the person who best utilizes hockey as a platform for participants to build character and develop important life skills for a more positive family experience. O’Ree will join NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur, Tampa Bay Lightning forward Martin St. Louis, Alexander Yakushev and Jayna Hefford in the incoming Hall of Fame Class of 2018. It was a much longer wait than it probably should have been for such an influential figure in the NHL world, but his induction once again proves the old hockey adage that good things eventually come to good hockey people. Everything in the 82-year-old O’Ree’s life has been a tribute to being a good hockey man, and somebody more than willing to open the door for many others to follow him on that NHL pathway.