O'Ree's 'powerful contribution' to hockey celebrated ahead of his 90th birthday

SAN DIEGO -- Willie O'Ree gave an unassuming answer when asked about his hockey legacy.

"I just opened the door," he said.

O'Ree, the NHL's first Black player, was honored Tuesday by some of the players who followed him through that door, along with fans, friends and family at a celebration ahead of his 90th birthday on Oct. 15.

The San Diego Gulls, his former minor league team and now the Anaheim Ducks' American Hockey League affiliate, hosted the "Night to Celebrate a Legend" at the Rooftop Cinema Club Embarcadero atop the city's Manchester Grand Hyatt.

The event, sponsored through a grant from the NHL Player Inclusion Coalition, featured a panel moderated by "NHL on TNT" analyst and retired NHL forward Anson Carter followed by an outdoor showing of "Willie," the 2019 autobiographical documentary that follows O'Ree from his Fredericton, New Brunswick upbringing to his 2018 induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

"I think it's always important to remember the people that came before you," Carter, a PIC member, said before the event. "We talk about the Wayne Gretzkys of the world, the Bobby Orrs, and Ken Dryden, who passed away. I think it's important for us to highlight Willie's contributions to the game of hockey, not just on the ice but off the ice, too.

"Because it's a powerful contribution that he made to our game," said Carter, who played 674 regular-season games with the Washington Capitals, Boston Bruins, Edmonton Oilers, New York Rangers, Los Angeles Kings, Vancouver Canucks, Columbus Blue Jackets and Carolina Hurricanes. "Not only as a Hockey Hall of Famer, but just that inspiration he's provided to players like myself. That just adds more motivation for us to do the work, continue to pick up the baton or hockey stick that Willie passed along to try to make the game as inclusive as possible."

The San Diego Gulls Foundation gave O'Ree a gold-plated hockey stick inscribed with the phrase he's repeated to inspire more than 130,000 boys and girls in 39 grassroots hockey programs in North America as part of the NHL's Hockey Is For Everyone initiative: "If you think you can, you can. If you think you can't, you're right".

O'Ree will add to his collection when he becomes the first NHL player to be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honor bestowed by Congress, during a ceremony at the U.S. Capitol scheduled for later this month.

O'Ree made history when he became the NHL's first Black player on Jan. 18, 1958, making his debut for the Bruins against the Montreal Canadiens at the Montreal Forum. He played 45 games for the Bruins over two seasons (1957-58, 1960-61) with 14 points (four goals, 10 assists), despite being legally blind in his right eye, the result of an injury sustained playing junior hockey.

He had a lengthy pro career, mostly in the old Western Hockey League, where he had 639 points (328 goals, 311 assists) in 785 games for Los Angeles and San Diego.

O'Ree was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in the Builders category in 2018, largely for his off-ice contributions. The Bruins retired O'Ree's No. 22 on Jan. 18, 2022.

"When I played, there were six teams in the (NHL), four from the states and two from Canada and back then, I was the only black player playing in the League," O'Ree said Tuesday. "I can honestly say that the game is much better today than it was. More exposure now to kids of color, you know, to get into playing hockey and to make a choice whether they want to pursue it or not."

Retired NHL forward Jamal Mayers, who spoke on the event's panel Tuesday with San Diego forwards Justin Bailey and Travis Howe, said the upcoming 90th birthday made him reflect on O'Ree's importance as the League's first Black player.

"If it was the wrong person, there might not have been a second," said Mayers, a PIC member and broadcast analyst for the San Jose Sharks and Sportsnet who played 915 games with the St. Louis Blues, Toronto Maple Leafs, Calgary Flames, San Jose Sharks and Chicago Blackhawks, winning the Stanley Cup with Chicago in 2013. "As we celebrate his 90th, I don't lose sight of the fact that I'm grateful it was him."

Bailey said participating in O'Ree's birthday celebration was a full-circle moment for him. The 30-year-old from Buffalo was 14 when he first heard O'Ree speak to Hasek's Heroes, a program established in 2001 by then-Buffalo Sabres goalie Dominik Hasek for underprivileged youth in the area. The two met again when the Sabres selected Bailey in the second round (No. 52) of the 2013 NHL Draft.

When Bailey scored a goal assisted by defensemen Tyson Hinds and Noah Warren, two other Black players, in a 5-1 San Diego win against Tucson on March 28, he looked up after accomplishing the rare feat and noticed the banner hanging high above the net in Pechanga Arena that honors O'Ree . Bailey was smiling Tuesday while he showed O'Ree the picture that the two had taken at the 2013 draft.

"I kind of see him during different checkpoints in my life, before I'm drafted, when I'm drafted and now playing professional hockey here," Bailey said. "And I think hearing his message at 30 is so much different than hearing at 14, taking on kind of a whole new perspective for kind of the things that he was able to do for the game, for guys like me, and for, obviously, guys around the League."

Howe said he first heard about O'Ree from forward Malik Johnson, a Black teammate with Charlottetown of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League in 2013-14. Howe said he learned more about O'Ree over the years and was moved when he spoke to San Diego players last year during a surprise 89th birthday celebration.

"The path that Willie paved for everybody, bringing kids together," Howe said. "And now you get everybody from every walk of life in your locker room now and it's truly inspiring.

"You get French guys, Russians, Europeans from everywhere, every walk of life," he said. "I just don't think you really get there without the help of Mr. O'Ree here and the hard work he put in."