Despite poor vision, Willie O’Ree saw the big picture while breaking NHL’s color barrier

Willie O’Ree likes to tell a story that has nothing to do with what he’s most well known for.

O’Ree became the NHL’s first black player in 1958 but did so with less than five percent vision in his right eye, the result of an errant puck two years earlier. He kept his impaired vision a secret, developing a mantra after struggling to see plays develop on the ice.

“After a while I just said, ‘Willie, don’t worry about what you can’t see. Just concentrate on what you can see,’ ” said O’Ree, who spoke Friday night during a reception at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. “It just goes to show you that you can do anything you can set your mind to. You have to feel strong when it’s in your heart and in your mind … I wouldn’t let anything get in my way of what I wanted to do.”

O’Ree is in town as a guest of the Missouri Mavericks, who are honoring the 75^th anniversary of the Kansas City Monarchs’ Negro Leagues World Series championship all weekend. He’ll be on hand Saturday night when the Mavericks, wearing special sweaters modeled after the 1942 Monarchs uniforms, face the Quad City Mallards at 7:05 p.m.

The baseball-hockey connection makes sense for O’Ree, who grew up playing both sports in New Brunswick, Canada. In 1949, his youth team was awarded a trip to New York City after winning a tournament, which led to O’Ree meeting Jackie Robinson at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn. Robinson chuckled when O’Ree told him that his first love was hockey.

Years later, after breaking the NHL color barrier with the Boston Bruins and becoming ‘the Jackie Robinson of hockey,’ he attended an NAACP luncheon in Robinson’s honor. O’Ree – then with the Western Hockey League’s Los Angeles Blades – introduced himself to Robinson again, but this time it wasn’t necessary.

“He remembered meeting me in 1949 and it made a big impact me for the rest of my career,” he said, using the story to drive home another life lesson. “You have to set goals for yourself and believe in what you can do … I think we have three individuals within ourselves: the person we think we are, the person other people think we are and the person we really are. You have to find out that real person within you.”

O’Ree’s positivity and leadership have been put to use in his role as the NHL’s Director of Youth Development and ambassador for NHL Diversity for the last 18 years. He travels the country, speaking to groups, whether at receptions like Friday night’s or on the ice of a local youth hockey association. His message is always the same: hockey is for everyone. He stresses that boys and girls of every race, background and economic status should get the chance to develop their skill.

It’s a message that received a boost earlier this month when the Philadelphia Flyers’ Wayne Simmonds became just the second African American player to win the NHL All-Star Game MVP award.

“Wayne is a terrific human being. I’ve met him on several occasions,” O’Ree said. “He’s playing in the National Hockey League because he has the skills and the ability to be there. He just happens to be black. I enjoy watching him play.”

O’Ree will be watching hockey Saturday as well, this time in Silverstein Eye Centers Arena, where the surging Mavericks face the Mallards.

“This is my second visit to Kansas City and it’s just been absolutely fantastic,” he said. “I’m just thrilled to have the opportunity to come and meet so many wonderful people. I’m going to get to see the game (tonight) and root them on and help them get two points.”

This story was originally published February 17, 2017 at 10:05 PM with the headline "Despite poor vision, Willie O’Ree saw the big picture while breaking NHL’s color barrier."