Some 60 years after taking his last shift as a Boston winger, Willie O’Ree will soon hoist his No. 22 to the rafters on Feb. 18, making him only the 12th Bruins player in nearly a century to have his number retired to hallowed heights, reports the Boston Globe.
O’Ree, 85, was home in San Diego when Bruins president Cam Neely called him with the unexpected news.
“And I said, ‘Oh, my gosh!’ ” noted O’Ree, who spoke with the media Tuesday in a late-afternoon Zoom session. “I was at a loss for words there for a few seconds. I’m overwhelmed and thrilled.”
Born and raised in Fredericton, New Brunswick, O’Ree had a very brief NHL playing career, a total of 45 games (and only 14 points) across two seasons (1957-58 and 1960-61) with the Black and Gold. A goodwill ambassador for the league for the better part of the last quarter-century, he was the first player of African heritage to play in the NHL when he suited up for the Bruins on Jan. 18, 1958, for a weekend home-and-away series vs. the Canadiens.
A speedy and tenacious right winger, O’Ree played in 43 of the Bruins’ 70 games in 1960-61, then was traded to Montreal in the offseason. In part due to severely limited vision related to an eye injury in junior hockey, he never made it back to the NHL, but went on to play 15 more seasons in the minors before finally retiring at age 43 following the 1978-79 season with the San Diego Hawks.
