O'Ree to be honored with portrait in New Brunswick hometown Wednesday

Willie O'Ree already has his plaque hanging among the greats in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Now he will have his portrait among the great paintings in his hometown.

A portrait of O'Ree, who became the NHL's first Black player when he made his debut with the Boston Bruins against the Montreal Canadiens at the Montreal Forum on Jan. 18, 1958, will be unveiled at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton, New Brunswick, on Wednesday.
The event coincides with the 65th anniversary of his first NHL game and the Annual Willie O'Ree Day in Fredericton.
Hundreds are expected to attend the showing of the painting, which was presented to the gallery by an anonymous donor. O'Ree now lives in San Diego and will deliver remarks via Zoom, said John Leroux, the art gallery's manager of collections and exhibitions.
"This is huge for Fredericton and so, really, it's like him coming home," Leroux said. "We have some of the really important portraits done by British artists, Canadian artists over the last two centuries. So, it'll fit the frame and scope of our collection really well."
The portrait was done by Tim Okamura, an Edmonton, Alberta-born artist who lives in Queens, New York. It was used for the cover of O'Ree's 2020 autobiography and the poster for the 2019 award-winning documentary about his life.

"It's become kind of the quintessential Willie O'Ree portrait, and it's a beautiful work by a really important artist who does a lot of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) and urban figures," Leroux said. "Tim Okamura is a serious painter. ... He was short-listed to do a portrait of the late Queen [Elizabeth II] 10 years ago."
Okamura, a lifelong Edmonton Oilers fan, said the Fredericton art gallery is the perfect permanent home for his painting.
"Having it being his hometown, I think it's significant on many levels," he said. "Obviously he's one of Fredericton's most famous sons. And I think it is also very significant to have -- everything Willie represents, especially, being the first Black player in the NHL -- to really, really, celebrate that and have that portrait hang as representation of that, I think, is really great for the gallery, too. It's kind of a win-win situation all the way around."
O'Ree played 45 games over two seasons (1957-58, 1960-61), all with the Bruins, and continued to play in the minor leagues until 1979. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in the Builders category for his off-ice contributions to the sport, including helping to establish 39 grassroots hockey programs in North America as part of the NHL's Hockey Is For Everyone initiative.
The Bruins retired his No. 22 jersey Jan. 18, 2022, during a ceremony at TD Garden. On Jan. 31, President Joe Biden signed a bill into law to award O'Ree the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. Congress.