Willie O’Ree will be the 12th Bruin to have his number retired, and it’ll come 64 years to the day after he broke the league’s color barrier.
It was on Jan. 18, 1958, that O’Ree became the first Black player to take the ice for an NHL game – and he remained the league’s lone Black player until 1974. He played two games for the Bruins that season, then 43 more in 1960-61 before being dealt to Montreal. Although he was legally blind by the time he reached the Bruins, he went on to play 21 seasons of pro hockey, totaling four goals and 10 assists at the NHL level.
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