Larry Kwong: Hockey Pioneer and Global Game-Changer

Larry Kwong had a passion for hockey that drove him to break barriers, alter history and change the game internationally.

Kwong is known for breaking the colour barrier as the first player of Asian descent to play in the NHL.

His daughter, Kristina Heintz, knew him as a humble man who taught her to skate and play tennis, cherished his friends, and was an ambassador of Chinese culture.

“Every culture is very unique, and my dad was very proud to be Chinese,” Heintz shared. “He was very happy to share his Chinese culture with anybody and everybody that would want to learn or listen.”

At the Rotary Club in Calgary, Kwong and his brother started a Chinese New Year dinner that is still held at the club today and is now called the Larry Kwong Memorial Chinese New Year Dinner.

From Vernon, B.C., and the second youngest of 15 children, Kwong dreamed of playing in the NHL, but born in 1923, he lived the first 24 years of his life under the Exclusion Act, overcoming racial discrimination to do the impossible.

His brothers were his biggest influence in picking up the sport. His older brother Jimmy played junior hockey in Vernon and paved the way for young Kwong. He developed his skills on outdoor rinks and ponds around Vernon as a child before the city built its first indoor rink when Kwong was 14 years old. The rink became his second home.

Before making it to the NHL he played senior hockey for the Trail Smoke Eaters, Nanaimo Clippers and then in 1943-44 Vancouver St. Regis. Drafted into military service in 1944, WWII, he earned a place on the Canadian Army’s hockey team based in Alberta to play and entertain the troops.

After the war he made his way back to Trail for one season before being invited to try out for the New York Rangers in Winnipeg, and they signed him to play for their farm team at Madison Square Garden.

He drew crowds of up to over 15,000 to New York Rovers’ games as people were excited to catch a glimpse of “The China Clipper”. On March 13, 1948, he got the call-up to the Rangers to play against the Montreal Canadiens at the Montreal Forum. He played one minute in the third period, which was a pivotal moment in history.

Feeling as though there was no further opportunity for him in the NHL with the Rangers, he went to the Valleyfield Braves of the Quebec Senior Hockey League, making the QSHL his home for the next eight years. He won two championships with the Braves, leading the team in points and earning MVP and First All-Star Team honours.

Kwong’s friend Chad Soon – credited by Kwong’s daughter Kristina Heintz as keeping Kwong’s memory alive – first heard about Kwong from his grandfather who idolized the hockey star. Soon is a Larry Kwong historian, having researched articles at the time he played and getting information from Kwong through chats they had as friends.

“After he goes to Quebec, he's the most valuable player in what was arguably the second-best league in the world,” Soon shared. “They were stocked with players like Rocket Richard and Jean Béliveau, Dickie Moore and Jacques Plante. These all-time greats played in the Quebec League before they were called up by Montreal. Larry was the MVP of that league, he was called the best senior player in Canada, and yet again nobody calls him up.”

Kwong was in high demand in the European hockey circuit for years, and in the late-’50s he decided to make the jump across the pond to England and then Switzerland. After his first year in the Swiss League a rule was instituted disallowing foreigners to play, but he continued to coach. To satisfy his hunger to keep playing, he gathered a group of expats that included other Canadian coaches and high-level players to take part in exhibition games across Europe. With the Swiss Canadians, Kwong beat the Soviet and Czechoslovakian national teams, introducing a different style of hockey and sharing his passion and knowledge for the game.

“In newspaper articles at the time, written in French, German and Italian, he was described basically as Mr. Hockey and the most incredible player imaginable,” Soon shared. “Like a gift from the hockey gods.”

“He's such an important figure in terms of changing the face of the game, making people see that the game could be for anyone. He was a hero of diversity, but also a builder of hockey as a world sport.”

Kwong only intended to go to Europe for one year but helped develop the game overseas for 15 years before returning home to Canada and settling in Calgary.

Importance of Community and Giving Back

Kwong passed away on March 15, 2018, at the age of 94. His legacy for sharing his culture and helping others carries on through various initiatives.

Hockey 4 Youth, in partnership with the Canucks For Kids Fund, honoured Kwong through a program that was rolled out in Vernon, last month. The Larry Kwong Memorial Hockey 4 Youth program introduces students that come from immigrant and marginalized backgrounds to participate in a weekly hockey program.

“I think Larry would have been so happy to see that as a part of his legacy. He used to fundraise to give out scholarships,” Soon said. “He just wanted others to have the chance that he had and experience all those great things that you learn through the game.”

Heintz’ oldest daughter, Samantha, has been invited to speak on behalf of her family at various events honouring her grandfather. She gave a speech at the National Sports School in Calgary for the 75th anniversary of Kwong’s NHL game which they’re looking forward to becoming an annual celebration.

"It has been an awesome journey that we have been on, meeting Chad and so many other people. I'm really grateful and I think this is a great thing for my girls, having the opportunity to meet different people and talk to different people about their grandfather's story, and I honestly hope they keep this up after I'm gone,” Heintz said.

Kwong was a big believer in community, staying in touch with friends across the world. Heintz has had the opportunity to meet some of his friends around the globe and is reminded of the good her dad has done for others.

“I get contacted by people in Europe all the time, and on the anniversary of his passing, I get emails saying ‘We're thinking of your dad today’,” she said. “When my dad passed away, there was a big hockey game in Lugano that held a moment of silence for my dad.”

“I have folders of handwritten letters from friends and hockey buddies in Europe. Even when the husband would pass away, he’d always write a letter at Christmas time to the wife and or call them on Skype when that became a thing.”

Heintz has heard stories about her dad’s toughness. One time his team was headed to Nelson from Vernon when bad weather diverted the route across the border. Kwong couldn’t cross it because he was Chinese, so he traveled along the Canadian side of the border alone – as an early teen – to meet the team and play in the provincial championships.

He had both legs amputated below the knee, but he never let it get him down. While he was in the hospital for those 10 months, he had many friends stop by to bring food and sometimes a banquet-sized feast.

“I thought I had learned all the lessons from my dad that I was going to learn in life. But honestly, after I became my dad's caregiver is when I learned the most lessons. It was just watching him with his community of friends and the stubbornness and determination that made him so successful in hockey, in business, in life,” Heintz said.

The Longest Shot

Soon co-authored a children’s book called The Longest Shot which details Kwong’s journey and launches next month.

Soon and co-author George Chiang spent two and a half years putting the book together. Soon, an elementary teacher by trade, geared the book towards children in Grades 4-7, mentioning sharing Kwong’s story is a great message for children, encouraging them to be themselves and chase their dreams.

“It's those dreams we have when we're young when anything seems possible,” Soon said. “Here was this kid, and people were literally telling him ‘No, that's not possible for you.’ Yet he wouldn’t listen, and then he showed them it was.”