Gary Bettman, click on this image for additional insight and information.

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 above table for the 4 Major Sports League Color Barriers is informative. Various Leagues such as the MLB and NFL / NHL and NBA have additional “credible Color Barrier information” for their respective League.

The N.H.L. site does not contain “credible Color Barrier information”. The N.H.L. could have hired a credible Hockey Historian or looked at this authoritative site. In a blatant disregard for accurate history, the N.H.L. and Gary Bettman failed to do this. If they had, they would have discovered 8 Indigenous N.H.L. Players (Taffy Abel as the first in 1926) who debuted in the N.H.L. before the Black Willie O’Ree debuted in 1958.

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

The N.H.L. - National Hockey League Color Barrier, also known as the N.H.L. 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 N.H.L. Color Barrier lasted about 60 years from when the N.H.L. was founded in 1917 up to about 1977.

From 1917 to 9 years later in 1926, the N.H.L. had 0% athlete racial diversity, all the 188 N.H.L. 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 N.H.L. Sport League Color Barrier in 1926 and he can also be credited with being the N.H.L.’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 N.H.L. Player, Larry Kwong, did not break the N.H.L. Color Barrier in 1948. However, Larry Kwong can be credited with being the N.H.L.’s first Asian Player.

The Black Willie O’Ree did not break the N.H.L. Color Barrier in 1958. However, Willie O’Ree can be credited with being the N.H.L.’s first Black Player. This is essentially how the prestigious Associated Press “now in 2025” reports on Willie O’Ree. AP in 2025 said: "On Jan. 18, 1958, Canadian Willie O’Ree became the FIRST BLACK PLAYER in the National Hockey League as he made his debut with the Boston Bruins."

NOTE! The AP no longer says in 2025, as the AP did in 2018, 2018, 2020, 2021, that Willie O’Ree BROKE THE N.H.L. COLOR BARRIER in 1958. "...the player who broke the NHL’s color barrier in 1958." NPR also got wrong in 2008 as did the New York Times in 2008.

Some in hockey’s N.H.L. leadership, including Commissioner Gary Bettman, seem to think that they are also in history’s NHL - aka the “National History League”. Bettman is similar to Donald Trump in this regard. Bettman wants to deliberately deceive the American people and sanitize N.H.L. history by saying a falsehood that the Black Willie O’Ree broke the N.H.L. Color Barrier in 1958 … he did not!

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 N.H.L. Commissioner Gary Bettman along with N.H.L. Team Owners and N.H.L. lobbyists heavily lobbied the US Congress over 4 years from 2018 to 2022 to award the Black Willie O’Ree a prestigious Congressional Gold Medal for breaking the N.H.L. Color Barrier in 1958. Willie O’Ree did not break the N.H.L. Color Barrier … Native American Taffy Abel broke the N.H.L. Color Barrier in 1926. Bettman knows this and has likely silenced people in the N.H.L. and USA Hockey who would favor Taffy Abel over Willie O’Ree. Hockey Insiders say a “Wall of Silence” goes up if the Taffy Abel name is mentioned.

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

The N.H.L. 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 (1975 Polio vaccine) and not bend a knee to billion-dollar organizations such as the N.H.L. which is controlled by billionaires.

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

If Gary Bettman were to change his mind and atone, we hope it would be something like this: “Bettman kept only one hockey memento in his living room, the photograph of Native American Taffy Abel carrying the American Flag in the Olympics. He carried a print with him when he visited schools and churches to speak about American racial equality and tolerance.”