Just when I think I'm out, they suck me back in.

Happy 82nd birthday, Willie O’Ree.

I went into some buildings and you heard the boos and the racial remarks but that kinda geared me up. I was called the N-word so many times that I thought it was a compliment, you know (laughs) So I just went out and played. […] They had never seen a black man on the ice. I just told myself: “Just go out and play and try to represent the hockey club at the best of your ability. And if the fans can’t see that then don’t worry about it.” I am a black man. I know when I look in the mirror that I am a black man. Nobody needs to tell me that. — Willie O'Ree, who became in 1958 the first black player in the National Hockey League