THE HUB Magazine - August 2022

IN THE

Herb Carnegie

~ HOCKEY HALL OF FAME

LONG

RUN

By CHARLIE UPSHALL

“May it be said that we tried to leave this society better than we found it.” ~ Herb Carnegie

Like so many, when I was young I wanted to be a hockey player. I was small but a very strong skater. As much time as possible was spent at our neighbourhood outdoor rink every winter. I was in my element during innumerable pickup games and often stayed on the ice practicing my skills late at night after everyone else had gone home. In my PeeWee year, age eleven, I was one of the participants in the newly-formed Future Aces Hockey School. About twenty of us practiced twice a week at Mitchell Field, the local outdoor artificial ice rink. I didn’t learn until decades later that it was the first registered hockey school in Canada, established in 1955. Starting the next year, we played in the North York Hockey League. My age group teams were league champions for the four years I played, up to age sixteen. Still, the main goal of the Future Aces program was not winning, but teaching us how to play the game and how to be upstanding citizens.

The idea of the hockey school was conceived by the outstanding, just retired player, Herb Carnegie, who will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame posthumously this November. Unfortunately, he did not live to receive the prestigious honour in person, having died in 2012. My memories of him are still very much alive, especially from that winter on the ice over 65 years ago. He was a superb skater and a patient, knowledgeable instructor. We all loved listening to him explain the game for us.

As a young man, he had been one of the best hockey players in the country. During his peak

years, he played for the Quebec Aces in the Quebec Senior League. Among his teammates was Jean Beliveau and the coach was Punch Imlach.

Why didn’t he play in the NHL? He was black. No team owner would sign a black player. Conn Smythe, the owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs, was quoted as saying he would give ten thousand dollars to anyone who could turn Carnegie white. Herb is widely considered as the best black player never to have been in the NHL. He was at the top of his game in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. The colour barrier wasn’t broken in hockey until 1958.

Carnegie retired from hockey in 1954 at the age of 34. In his book, “A Fly in a Pail of Milk”, he states that he was angry, defeated, frustrated and humiliated. What resonates most for me is how he dealt with overt racism and the insurmountable barrier to his hockey goal. As he looked back on his life, he was able to say his experience taught him that a young man’s thwarted dream can lead to other dreams being realized later in life. One test we all face is how we handle life’s obstacles. Herb Carnegie went on to a very successful career in the insurance industry, was the two-time Canadian Senior Golf Champion and wrote the Future Aces Creed, which is displayed in many schools. For me, Mr. Carnegie has always been an example of how to handle your circumstances with grace and positivity.

Why is it that racism still exists? The impact of racism is that a set of humans is socially, culturally and politically excluded, declared ineligible to be equal participants in society because of their skin colour. It is utterly demeaning for them. Racism is a system of advantage based on race. I think many people, myself included, underestimate the depths of racism. People tend to feel and act more positively toward those they consider to be like them and be part of their “ingroup”. This means that they are more likely to treat people from outside their social circles less favourably. Studies demonstrate that the amount of exposure a child has to other racial groups early in life affects how they will think about and act toward those groups when they are adults. Passivism is also an issue. For example, overlooking or denying the existence of racism encourages others to do the same. We need to

all become anti-racist. White people hold a disproportionate percentage of the power and economic advantage. Because I am white, I have the privilege to not think about racism. However, that is not right. We live individually but, as a society, we can only be judged collectively. James Baldwin wrote, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed that is not faced.” Talking about race is hard because it doesn’t allow one to pretend racism doesn’t exist. And sadly, when one is accustomed to privilege, equality can feel like oppression.

I believe in the concepts of fairness and equality and acknowledge that I have much to learn in my quest to be a more worthy human being. I do know I am fortunate to have met and listened to a man of such quality, in my eyes, as Herb Carnegie, at such an impressionable age. He was a person of high moral character and exceptional talent, yet the road to his greatest athletic goal was blocked. All he wanted was an equal chance. I knew that concrete example at an early age and I had the opportunity, firsthand, to observe how he dealt with it. I am thrilled that Herb Carnegie is being recognized by the hockey world for his talent and his character. But I am saddened by the fact that it has taken far too long.

If you are a reader of my articles, you know that I am slowly learning about Stoicism. Marcus Aurelius said, “As you move forward along the path of reason, people will stand in your way. They will never be able to keep you from doing what is sound.” As a society, we must keep trying to move forward along that path regardless of those who would block it. Mr. Carnegie exemplified that effort. Let’s all try to leave this society better than we found it.