(Middle) Larry Kwong.
Image Credit: BC Sports Hall of Fame
September 14, 2022 – 7:00 PM
Vernon resident Larry Kwong was the star of the local hockey team in the 1930s, scoring plenty of goals and winning championships.
Yet, he still couldn’t get a haircut in town and had to always carry a card identifying himself as a “Chinese alien.”
However, in March 1948, Kwong stepped onto the ice to play for the New York Rangers, breaking the NHL’s color barrier and making him the first player of Asian descent to play in the NHL.
Now, 74 years after Kwong made NHL history, Vernon elementary school teacher Chad Soon is lobbying to get Kwong into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
READ MORE: How a Vernon man defied the odds and broke the NHL’s color barrier
“I think it’s one of the most inspiring stories that I’ve come across,” Soon said. “It in itself was a huge accomplishment just to get there.”
Soon said the story resonated with him because Kwong was the same generation as his grandfather.
“It’s one of these stories that’s kind of fallen through the cracks… it really had the biggest impact on… Chinese Canadians and Americans that have no other heroes and suddenly see this guy breaking all the stereotypes and showing that they are hope Soon said. “Every step of the way opens people’s eyes that this white man game could be a game for everyone.”
While Kwong made it to the NHL his ice time was very limited.
“He only got a minute on the ice in the NHL, a lot of people discount his impact,” Soon said.
However, Soon said his impact should not be overlooked and it was extremely difficult just to get that one minute of ice time.
READ MORE: NHL teams invite Kamloops, Okanagan players to join Penticton’s Young Stars Classic
After Kwong left the NHL he played for more than a decade in North America and was named an MVP in Quebec. He then embarked on a coaching career in Europe.
Soon said he’s read multiple articles written in French and Italian about Kwong’s 10 years of coaching in Switzerland and said he also had a big impact on the game in Europe.
He later returned to Canada and died in 2018 aged 94.
Getting Kwong into the Hockey Hall of Fame also won’t be easy, and Soon has nominated Kwong before.
But Soon points out that a former student of his, Gavin Donald, successfully spearhead a campaign to get Kwong into the BC Sports Hall of Fame and he was inducted in 2013.
Soon now wants to spread the word about Kwong’s remarkable career and hopes to catch the attention of the voting members of the Hockey Hall of Fame.
The elementary school teacher also wants to keep Kwong’s story alive and will be publishing a children’s book about the hockey legend himself.
Currently, an online petition has been launched to campaign for Kwong to be inducted into the hall of fame.
“It will give him that legitimacy that he belongs to… people will look at the story and be inspired,” he said.
The online petition can be found here.
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