O'Ree 'overwhelmed' by surprise party to celebrate 89th birthday

Willie O’Ree went to a hockey practice on Wednesday and a party broke out.

O’Ree thought he was going watch the San Diego Gulls, the Anaheim Ducks’ American Hockey League affiliate, work out at the city’s Pechanga Arena, unaware that the team, the NHL and the NHL Player Inclusion Coalition had planned a surprise to celebrate the 89th birthday of the League’s first Black player.

“It’s been a great morning,” said O’Ree, whose birthday was on Tuesday. “I was so overwhelmed.”

So were the San Diego players and coaches who listened intently as O’Ree held court in the locker room and told hockey stories.

“Just looking around the room as Willie is talking, I’m staring at 25 young hockey players, all with smiles on their faces just soaking in every word that he’s sharing with us,” San Diego coach Matt McIlvane said. “I don’t know how many round of applauses we had during the moments he was talking, but the guys were just so appreciative of everything he had to share.”

And O’Ree was appreciative of the gifts he received, particularly a custom fedora personalized with his name and Gulls No. 20 in team colors on the inside.

O’Ree said he plans to wear it at San Diego’s home opener on Friday against Coachella Valley, the Seattle Kraken’s AHL affiliate.

He was also presented a replica of a plaque that will be placed in Pechanga Arena honoring him for becoming the NHL’s first Black player on Jan. 18, 1958, when he debuted with the Boston Bruins against the Montreal Canadiens at the Montreal Forum, and playing for the Gulls of the old Western Hockey League from 1967-74.

Members of the NHL Player Inclusion Coalition sent O’Ree video birthday greetings.

The NHL and NHL Players’ Association created the coalition of current and former NHL players and professional women’s hockey players at the 2023 NHL Draft to advance equality and inclusion in hockey on and off the ice.

Retired NHL forward Anthony Stewart was one of the first coalition members to send a video. He said he’ll always remember what meeting O’Ree meant to him after he was selected by the Florida Panthers with the No. 25 pick in the 2003 NHL Draft.

“I was very, very nervous, ‘Gosh, do I belong in the NHL,’ seeing all the NHL brass,” Stewart said. “After I put my jersey on, came off stage, Willie was waiting for me. Willie came, shook my hand and said, ‘Welcome to the NHL, everything’s going to be fine.'

"Actually, everything was fine after that. It went from nervousness to having confidence after just a simple handshake and meeting Willie O’Ree. It’s a small interaction but for me, personally, it made a big, big difference.”

The party shifted Wednesday from the San Diego locker room to a lounge inside the arena, where O’Ree was surprised by a group of longtime friends.

“We had tea, coffee and cake,” he said. “It was a nice gathering.”

O’Ree 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 WHL, where he had 639 points (328 goals, 311 assists) in 785 games for Los Angeles and San Diego.

He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in the Builders category in 2018, largely for his off-ice contributions, including helping to establish 39 grassroots hockey programs in North America as part of the NHL's Hockey is for Everyone initiative, which has introduced the sport to more than 130,000 boys and girls.

The Bruins retired O'Ree's No. 22 on Jan. 18, 2022, during a ceremony at TD Garden. President Joe Biden signed a bill into law on Jan. 31, 2022, to award O'Ree the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. Congress.