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Willie
The Game-Changing Story of the NHL's First Black Player
Author: Willie O'Ree, Michael McKinley
Narrator: Everett Fitzhugh
Unabridged: 5 hr 54 min
Format: Digital Audiobook Download
Publisher: Viking
Published: 10/20/2020
Category: Biography & Autobiography - Sports
Synopsis
An inspiring memoir that shows that anyone can achieve their dreams if they are willing to fight for them.
In 1958, Willie O'Ree was a lot like any other player toiling in the minors, waiting for his chance to play in the best hockey league in the world. He'd grown up playing in small towns, working his way up the complicated hierarchy of junior and minor leagues, losing teeth and dropping the gloves along the way. He was good. Good enough to have been signed by the Boston Bruins, good enough to have been invited to training camp twice. In a six-team league, that meant he was one of the best players in the world. Just not quite good enough to play in the NHL.
Until January 18 of that year. The call came, and Willie O'Ree was told he'd be suiting up against the Montreal Canadians.
The next morning, he opened the paper to see if his name showed up in the box score. Instead, he found it on the front page, in the headline. Without even realizing it, Willie O'Ree had broken hockey's colour barrier, just as his hero, Jackie Robinson, had done for baseball.
In 2018, O'Ree was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in recognition not only of that legacy, but of the way he has built on it in the decades since. He has been, for twenty years now, an NHL Executive. As Director of Youth Development, O'Ree has helped the NHL Diversity program expose more than 40,000 boys and girls of diverse backgrounds to unique hockey experiences. Over the past decade, O'Ree has travelled thousands of miles across North America helping to establish 39 local grassroots hockey programs, all geared towards serving economically disadvantaged youth. While advocating strongly that "Hockey is for Everyone," O'Ree stresses the importance of essential life skills, education, and the core values of hockey: commitment, perseverance, and teamwork.
In 1958, Willie O'Ree was a lot like any other player toiling in the minors, waiting for his chance to play in the best hockey league in the world. He'd grown up playing in small towns, working his way up the complicated hierarchy of junior and minor leagues, losing teeth and dropping the gloves along the way. He was good. Good enough to have been signed by the Boston Bruins, good enough to have been invited to training camp twice. In a six-team league, that meant he was one of the best players in the world. Just not quite good enough to play in the NHL.
Until January 18 of that year. The call came, and Willie O'Ree was told he'd be suiting up against the Montreal Canadians.
The next morning, he opened the paper to see if his name showed up in the box score. Instead, he found it on the front page, in the headline. Without even realizing it, Willie O'Ree had broken hockey's colour barrier, just as his hero, Jackie Robinson, had done for baseball.
In 2018, O'Ree was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in recognition not only of that legacy, but of the way he has built on it in the decades since. He has been, for twenty years now, an NHL Executive. As Director of Youth Development, O'Ree has helped the NHL Diversity program expose more than 40,000 boys and girls of diverse backgrounds to unique hockey experiences. Over the past decade, O'Ree has travelled thousands of miles across North America helping to establish 39 local grassroots hockey programs, all geared towards serving economically disadvantaged youth. While advocating strongly that "Hockey is for Everyone," O'Ree stresses the importance of essential life skills, education, and the core values of hockey: commitment, perseverance, and teamwork.