Backgrounder: Willie O’Ree Celebration of Hockey History
City Council voted unanimously in September 2007 to name the new $16-million north side sports and leisure complex to honour Willie O’Ree and to name a second sports and leisure complex expected to open in 2010 in honour of former Detroit Red Wings star and another Fredericton native Danny Grant.
On January 14, 2008 Fredericton City Council declared the week of January 14-20, 2008 as Willie O’Ree Week in Fredericton.
O’Ree was the guest of honour on January 15 at a New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame fund-raising banquet that included a special visit by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. He also donned his skates early on January 16 during a public skating party hosted by CBC Radio’s Information Morning show which was broadcast live from Willie O’Ree Place. He was also guest of honour at a reception at Old Government House hosted by New Brunswick’s Lt.-Governor Herménégilde Chiasson on the afternoon of January 16. He will be honoured by the Boston Bruins on January 19 during a game against the New York Rangers. A large delegation from Fredericton will be traveling to Boston for the ceremony.
The naming ceremony for Willie O’Ree Place on January 16 was billed as a Celebration of Hockey History and open to the public. Fredericton mayor Brad Woodside presented O`Ree with a framed painting by Fredericton artist Ron Sajack. The painting features images of O’Ree and the complex which now carries his name. Former teammates from the Fredericton Capitals senior men’s team, Tim Bliss and Laurie Menzies, were given the honour of raising a specially made banner to the rafters of the building during the ceremony. It will be included in a permanent Willie O`Ree display case to be located in the complex`s Celebration of Sport area.
The ceremony also featured a five-minute video based on O’Ree’s life and video tributes from NHL legend Wayne Gretzky and Coaches Corner duo Ron MacLean and Don Cherry as well as from Gus and John Mazzuca, lifelong friends of O’Ree’s. Cherry recounted his days playing junior hockey against O`Ree and said if he was just beginning his career in the NHL today he had the skills and speed to play for 12 to 15 years in the world’s top hockey league.
Some youths in Fredericton are paying tribute to Willie O'Ree in a unique way. They're entering the Mathieu Da Costa Challenge and have decided to use Willie O'Ree, a role model and inspiration to youth in the community, as the subject for the contest. The Mathieu Da Costa Challenge is an annual contest that invites youth between the ages of 9-18 to submit their original pieces of writing or artwork about the contributions that Canadians of Aboriginal, African and other ethnocultural backgrounds have made in building our country. Mathieu Da Costa was a navigator and interpreter of African descent who is believed to have travelled extensively throughout the Atlantic world in the late 1500s and early 1600s. He was sought after by French and Dutch traders to help in their interactions with Aboriginal people. He acted as the interpreter between the French explorers and the Mi'kmaq people. It is believed he was the first black person to set foot in Canada.
Two Grade 10 students from Fredericton High School, Meghan Thompson and Brandon Persaud, finished their written contest entries in time to share them with Willie O'Ree. Another group of youth spent a whole day working on their creative tributes to Willie O'Ree. Members from the Fredericton chapter of Children's International Summer Villages will also be displaying their work at Willie O’Ree Place. Other youth in the school system and different community groups are working on their entries using Willie O'Ree as their subject. They'll be working towards the deadline for the Mathieu Da Costa Challenge which is February 22, 2008 to submit their original artwork or piece of writing. Nine winners from across Canada (accompanied by a parent or guardian) will receive a three-day trip to Quebec City where they will take part in an awards ceremony in April 2008.
