Results 1 to 2 of 2
- Willie : the game-changing story of the NHL's first black player / by O'Ree, Willie,1935-author.; McKinley, Michael,1961-author.; Iginla, Jarome,1977-writer of foreword.;
"An inspiring memoir that shows that anyone can achieve their dreams if they are willing to fight for them. In 1958, Willie O'Ree was a lot like any other player toiling in the minors, waiting for his chance to play in the best hockey league in the world. He'd grown up playing in small towns, working his way up the complicated hierarchy of junior and minor leagues, losing teeth and dropping the gloves along the way. He was good. Good enough to have been signed by the Boston Bruins, good enough to have been invited to training camp twice. In a six-team league, that meant he was one of the best players in the world. Just not quite good enough to play in the NHL. Until January 18 of that year. The call came, and Willie O'Ree was told he'd be suiting up against the Montreal Canadians. The next morning, he opened the paper to see if his name showed up in the box score. Instead, he found it on the front page, in the headline. Without even realizing it, Willie O'Ree had broken hockey's colour barrier, just as his hero, Jackie Robinson, had done for baseball. In 2018, O'Ree was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in recognition not only of that legacy, but of the way he has built on it in the decades since. He has been, for twenty years now, an NHL Executive. As Director of Youth Development, O'Ree has helped the NHL Diversity program expose more than 40,000 boys and girls of diverse backgrounds to unique hockey experiences. Over the past decade, O'Ree has traveled thousands of miles across North America helping to establish 39 local grassroots hockey programs, all geared towards serving economically disadvantaged youth. While advocating strongly that "Hockey is for Everyone," O'Ree stresses the importance of essential life skills, education, and the core values of hockey: commitment, perseverance, and teamwork."--- Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; O'Ree, Willie, 1935-; Hockey players; Black Canadian hockey players;
- Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
-
unAPI
- Down and back : on alcohol, family, and a life in hockey / by Bourne, Justin,author.;
"For readers of Nine Lessons I Learned from My Father and Hockey Confidential, Down and Back tells broadcaster Justin Bourne's story of following his Hall-of-Fame father into the NHL, only to also follow him into rehab. When Justin Bourne's father stole back the Stanley Cup ring he'd given his son as a graduation present, the younger man was forced to call into question just about everything he thought he knew about two of the most important things in his life: hockey, and his father. Bob Bourne had been a star--an NHL All-Star, a Sports Illustrated "Athlete of the Year," a Stanley Cup champion. He was everything a son wants to emulate. And Justin did follow in those huge footsteps, leading his teams in scoring year after year, and finally garnering an invitation to the New York Islanders' training camp--the same team his father had played for. Though an injury brought to an end his dream of winning a Cup, Bourne found a way to stay in the game. His blog caught the eye of both The Athletic and the Toronto Maple Leafs, and soon he was both coaching and writing professionally. But at the same time, Justin was following his father's footsteps down a darker path. Though he hadn't had his first drink until he was 18, by 30 he was in rehab--his impressive career in the game in peril of being cut short. In an act of brutal self-honesty--which may not have been possible had his father not shown him the consequences of lying--Bourne got help, got sober, and confronted what his father and the game mean to him. That honesty is the backbone of Playing Hurt. It is a frank and sometimes harsh appraisal of the game and of the man in his family who played it: the violence and danger, the booze and drugs, the consequences of fame for the young men who are not prepared for it. But it is also an honest look at what is redeeming about the game, through the eyes of someone who grew up in NHL dressing rooms, who has skated on NHL ice as both a player and a coach, who lives and breathes the game--and who inherited it from a man he can understand only through the game."--- Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Bourne, Justin; Bourne, Justin.; Fathers and sons; Hockey coaches; Hockey players; Recovering alcoholics; Sportscasters; Sportswriters;
- Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
-
unAPI
Results 1 to 2 of 2