Herb Carnegie: Hockey's First Black Superstar

It's 1947, and Jackie Robinson has joined the Brooklyn Dodgers, becoming the first African-American to play in Major League Baseball. The story is legendary.

At the same time in Quebec, a 28-year-old man from Toronto of Jamaican descent is tearing up the semi-pro Quebec Provincial League.

Although he would never play in the NHL, his story is also legendary.

Born in 1919, Herb Carnegie gained the attention of the hockey world at the age of 19, becoming a rising star in junior hockey with the Toronto Young Rangers.

The Rangers played in Conn Smythe's Maple Leaf Gardens and also featured a future Hall of Famer named Punch Imlach.

Carnegie caught Smythe's attention while playing there. It was then that some racial controversy began.

Having already faced racial taunts from opposing players, coaches, and even teammates in his young career, Hall of Fame referee Red Storey allegedly had Smythe quoted as telling Carnegie's coach that he would accept Carnegie on the team if he were white, or that he would pay $10,000 to anyone who could turn Carnegie white.

While there's no record of Smythe publicly stating or denying this, a later remark by Storey seems to question whether or not it was indeed spoken.

“It’s very simple. He’s black. Don’t say we don’t have any rednecks in Canada. But I’m not saying Conn Smythe was bigoted either," Storey told journalist Joe Pelletier.

"I think he said the quote, but I think he meant that with Herbie being black, he wouldn’t be able to put him in the same hotels with the rest of the team and have him eat at the same restaurants and there could be problems if he took him to the States to play against the NHL teams there.”

Carnegie would eventually join the Buffalo Ankerites in a mining town league that took him through Northern Ontario and Quebec.

It was during this time, in 1942, that a young Frank Mahavolich had an opportunity to witness Carnegie's brilliance with the puck.

“I was just amazed at the way he played; he was much superior to the others on the ice,” the Hall of Fame forward said.

Carnegie played on a line with brother Ossie and fellow African-Canadian Manny McIntyre known as the Black Aces.

During the Second World War, NHL teams were desperately looking for replacement players. Although the league claimed to sweep racism under the rug, and despite being well known in the hockey world, Carnegie was never offered to play for any team.

The trio would join Shawinigan of the Quebec Provincial League in 1945 and then the Sherbrooke Randies/St. Francis.

Carnegie would win the first of three consecutive league MVP awards in the 1946-47 season. In the following year, he amassed 127 points in just 56 games.

In 1948, Carnegie was given a tryout with the New York Rangers and offered a contract to play in the Rangers' minor league system.

However, now with a family of his own, he was offered less money than he was earning in the Quebec league and turned down all three offers made by the Rangers organization during his tryout.

"Frankie Boucher was coaching the New York Rangers in 1948 and he told me he thought I was a good player, but he wanted to be sure whether I could play in the NHL," Carnegie told author Cecil Harris.

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