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Native American Taffy Abel broke the Winter Olympic Color Barrier in 1924 and then was recruited to join the NHL where he broke the NHL Color Barrier on November 16, 1926. The second Native American in the NHL, Henry Boucha, did not debut in the NHL until 1972 some 46 years after Taffy Abel.

Here's the accepted definition of 'Color Barrier' --- it says nothing about Blacks only. Definition: unspoken social code of racial segregation or discrimination, esp. in sports, education, public service, and the like.

The NHL - National Hockey League Color Barrier, also known as the NHL Color Line, excluded non-white or BIPOC players. This racist exclusion or segregation included Black persons, Indigenous persons, Asian persons, etc. The heyday of the NHL Color Barrier lasted about 60 years from when the NHL was founded in 1917 up to 1977.

From 1917 to 9 years later in 1926, the NHL had 0% athlete racial diversity, all the 188 NHL athletes prior to the Indigenous Taffy Abel in November 1926 were White.

Only one non-white or BIPOC player, of any race, can be credited with breaking a Major Sport League Color Barrier. Example: Indigenous Taffy Abel broke the NHL Sport League Color Barrier in 1926 and he can also be credited with being the NHL’s first Indigenous Player. Same goes in MLB Baseball, only one person, Jackie Robinson, is credited with breaking the MLB Color Barrier.

The Asian 1-minute NHL Player, Larry Kwong, did not break the NHL Color Barrier in 1948. However, Larry Kwong can be credited with being the NHL’s first Asian Player.

The Black Willie O’Ree did not break the NHL Color Barrier in 1958. However, Willie O’Ree can be credited with being the NHL’s first Black Player. This is essentially from the prestigious Associated Press usage guidelines on Sport Color Barriers.

Some in hockey’s NHL leadership seem to think that they are also in history’s NHL - the National History League and can sanitize history to what they desire by saying the Black Willie O’Ree broke the NHL Color Barrier in 1958.

More than one person at the NHL has expressed this very racist view: “Only a Black Person can break a Color Barrier” Such a view would exclude a Native American or Indigenous person such as Taffy Abel.

To get their point across, the NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and NHL lobbyists heavily lobbied the US Congress for 4 years from 2018 to 2022 to award the Black Willie O’Ree a prestigious Congressional Gold Medal for breaking the NHL Color Barrier in 1958. He did not.

The Congressional Gold Medal is an ‘earned recognition’ versus a recognition that is lobbied for by very wealthy sports organizations such as the NHL via their 32 NHL Team owners who are largely billionaires.

The NHL and these 32 white NHL Team owners are trying hard to rebrand the NHL as more diverse and away from the NHL racist past. The truth is that the NHL is the least diverse in Major League Sports and such demographics with low diversity are hurting their advertising and sponsor revenue.

The NHL and other Major Sports Leagues have also heavily lobbied states to permit gambling on sports. It appears that Black Gamblers are a key demographic.

A PhD Sports Historian even suggests that Congress award both Willie O’Ree and Taffy Abel a Congressional Gold Medal. We disagree. This is similar to awarding a trophy to each young child playing Junior Football so their feelings would not be hurt.

Congress should stick to their knitting in awarding Congressional Gold Medals to Americans based on exemplary merit such as the past recipient Jonas Salk.

The NHL should correct their Hockey History Record by telling the truth. The truth is this: “Taffy Abel broke the NHL Color Barrier in 1926” some 21 years before Jackie Robinson broke the MLB Color Barrier in 1947. The NHL’s Gary Bettman is not treating all races equally, certainly not Native Americans.