Continued from page 11 
     
    
   
   
    
     that extended from the front office to the stands 
     
     combined to make O’Ree’s stay short. 
     
    

    
     From the moment he stepped on the ice for 
     
     the first time, O’Ree was greeted with a barrage 
     
     of racial taunts from the crowd and opposing 
     
    
   
   
    
     teams. He played only 45 games with the Bruins 
     
     and then returned to the minor leagues where 
     
     he played until 1974. 
     
    
   
   
    
     In an interview from San Diego, where he sells 
     
     used cars, O’Ree’s voice is bitter as he recalls 
     
     an incident which took place in Chicago Stadium 
     
     in 1960. — 
     
    

    
     “We were playing the Black Hawks and sev- 
     
     eral of their players were calling me racist names 
     
     all night. Then Eric Nesterenko, who loved call- 
     
     ing me nigger, butt-ended me and knocked out 
     
     my two front teeth. | was infuriated so | took my 
     
     stick and hit him over the head. It almost created 
     
     a riot, the fans started calling me every racist 
     
    
   
   
    
     The only alternative! 
     
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     892 
     
    
   
   
    
     Line 
     
    
   
   
    
     CIMN 
     
    
   
   
    
     name in the book and Blackhawk players were 
     
     threatening to kill me. | was:lucky to get out of 
     
     the arena alive.” 
     
    

    
     “If |was white | would have played 15 seasons 
     
     in the NHL,” he continues. ‘After the ‘58 season 
     
     Milt Schmidt and Lynn Patrick who ran the team 
     
     assured me of a spot on the Bruins for the 1959. 
     
     season. But a couple of weeks later they traded 
     
     me to the Montreal Canadiens. The Canadiens 
     
     were run by racists then and they didn’t even in- 
     
     vite me to try out for the team. They immediately 
     
    
   
   
    
     sent me to a minor league team in Hull.” 
     
    

    
     Although he is often described as the Jackie 
     
     Robinson of hockey, O’Ree immediately dis- 
     
     misses the comparison. 
     
    

    
     “lt certainly don’t consider myself to be ariy-- 
     
     thing like Jackie Robinson because Robinson 
     
     immediately opened the door to blacks in base- 
     
    
   
   
    
     ball. The next black to step into the NHL after me | 
     
    
   
   
    
     was Mike Marson 15 years later.” 
     
    
   
   
    
     d ntegration came too late for many great black 
     
     athletes who could do nothing but lament the 
     
     fact that they were born too soon. 
     
    

    
     From 1942 to 1948, hockey fans flocked to 
     
     arenas all over Quebec to see a spectacle com- 
     
     monly known as “les noirs,”’ the first all-black 
     
     line in organized hockey. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Herb Carnegie, Manny Mcintyre and Ossie 
     
     Carnegie starred for the Sherbrooke Saints as 
     
     the trio dominated the scoring statistics of the 
     
     Quebec Senior League. The league, which was 
     
     one step away from the NHL, was then.groom- 
     
     ing future superstars such as Doug Harvey, 
     
     Jean Beliveau andPunchImlach. | 
     
    

    
     Wherever “les noirs” played, fans would jam 
     
     the usually half-empty arenas and local sports- 
     
     writers soon discovered they were great copy. 
     
     One night they led Sherbrooke to a 4 - 2 exhibi- 
     
     tion victory over a Montreal Canadiens squad 
     
     that featured hockey legends Rocket Richard, 
     
     Toe Blake and Elmer Lach. It appeared they 
     
     were about to demolish the racial barrier. 
     
    

    
     Recalling those days, Manny Mcintyre sits in 
     
     a small parking lot shack outside McGill Univer- 
     
     sity, where he works as a security guard. 
     
    
   
   
    
     “We never worried about playing in the NHL 
     
     because we knew we were good enough to play 
     
     there and we thought our chance would eventu- 
     
     ally come,” says Mcintyre, who was equally ad- 
     
     ept as a second baseman and became the first 
     
     black Canadian to sign a professional baseball 
     
     contract in 1947... 
     
    

    
     He turns down the volume on his portable radio 
     
     to make his next point as his face narrows in a 
     
     frown. ‘“‘But when players who couldn’t even tie 
     
     our shoelaces started moving up to the NHL and 
     
     we never got called, we realized.we'd never get 
     
    
   
   
    
     Continued on page 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     Page 12 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     ‘13 
     
    
   
   
    
     Thursday, Tanweey 19, 198%