Willie O’Ree, the first Black player to play in the National Hockey League, was recently inducted into the Hockey Hall Of Fame as a builder – a pioneering player of the sport. Today marks another major Black hockey milestone, as Art Dorrington became the first Black player to sign with the NHL.
Dorrington, a native of Truro, Nova Scotia, signed with the New York Rangers on November 15, 1950. He mostly toiled in the minor leagues and while he put up strong numbers on the ice, he never made it to the NHL ranks. His signing as the league’s first Black player came after Larry Kwong, an Asian player, broke the NHL’s color barrier in March 1948.
Hockey historians who followed the exploits of players of color regard O’Ree as a rightful trailblazer. He made his NHL debut with the Boston Bruins in January 1958. Despite making it to the NHL, O’Ree mostly played in several minor and alternate leagues from 1957 until 1979.
Dorrington was drafted into the military in 1956, spending 22 months away from the game before returning to the sport. He became a fixture in the Atlantic City area as a member of the Eastern Hockey League’s Atlantic City Seal Gulls.
A broken leg ended his career but not his passion for the game. In 1998, Dorrington and his wife began the Art Dorrington Ice Hockey Foundation, which taught hockey to low-income youth in the Atlantic City region.
So beloved was Dorrington in Atlantic City that Boardwalk Hall’s ice rink was named after the player. And the city’s Mayor, Don Guardian, declared an Art Dorrington Day in 2015.
Both Dorrington and O’Ree share the distinction of being the “Jackie Robinson of Hockey.”
Dorrington passed last December. O’Ree just celebrated his 83rd birthday last month.
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