File this one under the “You Never Know Until You Know” category.

I was at a holiday party last December where a friend of mine was chatting up the Color of Hockey to John C. Brittain, a prominent civil rights attorney and a  mentor of his.

Attorney John C. Brittain grew up playing pond hockey.

After hearing what the blog was all about, Brittain, a trim, impeccably-dressed, bow-tied black man with more salt than pepper in his hair, smiled. He then offered information that his protege – my friend – never knew in his decades of knowing Brittain.

“I was captain of my high school hockey team in Norwalk, Conn., in 1962,” he said.

It doesn’t take a historian or detective to deduce that very few black people played organized hockey in Connecticut – or anywhere else in the United States – in the early 1960s, let alone be designated as the undisputed leader of a team.

But there’s Brittain in the pages of Norwalk High’s 1962 year book, kneeling front and center in the first row of the hockey team’s picture and proudly wearing the captain’s “C” on his jersey.

Brittain and Norwalk High School hockey team circa 1962.

“I’m surprised I never really talked about it,” Brittain, a professor at the University of the District of Columbia’s David A. Clarke School of Law, told me. “I never suppressed it for any conscious reasons – I loved it. That photo hangs in my office as part of a collage of my induction into the Norwalk Hall of Fame in the mid 1990s. And I mention it to people if they look at it and say ‘You played hockey? Or when something hockey comes up. But otherwise, no, I’ve never talked about it.”

Brittain learned to play hockey in the late 1950s the same way many New England kids do.

“I got started playing hockey on a frozen pond near our house,” he said. “I walked to school with my buddies.  Along the way, there was this very wealthy man’s estate high up on a hill. The land included a huge pond in the back of the mansion in the woods, kind of secluded. We played on the ice often to and from school, but a lot on the weekends. We began playing with just our shoes and boots on, just kicking a rock around or playing make-believe hockey with a stick and a rock.”

Christmas presents allowed the boys to graduate to ice skates, rubber pucks and real hockey sticks, which enabled Brittain and his friends to skate and play at Norwalk’s indoor ice rink.

“Virtually from grade school through middle school, I either skated on the pond and played hockey or skated at the indoor rink and played hockey,” he said. “By the time I reached the ninth grade I was in, modern-day terms, ‘tapped’ by the coaching staff to join the high school hockey team. I became captain because I was one of the best and the highest scorer on the team.”

Brittain says he never experienced problems or discrimination from Norwalk High’s coaches or his teammates. However, he remembers hearing the N-word and being called a monkey by spectators at road games played in parts of Connecticut, Rhode Island and Upstate New York.

But the taunting didn’t discourage him because he knew his teammates had his back.

“One of the reasons it didn’t bother me was in my neighborhood we had a ‘Rat Pack,’ so to speak, since I was one years old. We all went through elementary, junior high and high school together,” Brittain recounted. “It included an immigrant Jew from Israel…the second was an Italian…and the third was an Englishman.  It was one for all and all for one. If anyone ever called us the N-word, the K-word, the G-word, or the L-word, it was throw down your gloves and time to fight.”

John Brittain lets it fly in 1962.

To put the hockey timeline into perspective, Brittain was playing in high school five seasons after Willie O’ Ree became the National Hockey League’s first black player in 1957-58 with the Boston Bruins and one year after O’Ree’s last NHL game in 1960-61.

It would be 14 years before another black player – forward Mike Marson with Washington Capitals – would reach the NHL.

Meanwhile, several talented black Canadian players who had long-toiled in the minor leagues because the NHL’s unwritten race rules kept them down were hanging up their skates.

Forward Herb Carnegie, regarded by many as the best hockey player never to play in the NHL, retired in 1953. Forward Art Dorrington, who signed a contract with the New York Rangers in 1950 but never played a game with them, ended his nine-year minor league career in 1961.

Brittain said he thought about playing hockey in college. But any chance of that happening ended when he enrolled at Howard University, a black college in Washington, D.C. 

He put down his stick and took up the causes of the turbulent of the 1960s.

“One of my closest college mates was (black activist) Stokley Carmichael,” Brittain recalled. “Muhammad Ali coming up on campus, civil rights movement, John Lewis, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. I got involved in the activist wing at Howard University, joined the anti-war movement, got involved in track, and later went on to law school.  I had a whole bunch of new stuff to do.”

That “stuff” led to a distinguished law career in the courtroom and the classroom. In addition to his U.D.C. professorship, Brittain is a former University of Connecticut law professor and former dean of Texas Southern University’s Thurgood Marshall School of Law.

He’s a former chief counsel and deputy director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a group established under President John F. Kennedy to enlist private lawyers to take on civil rights cases at no cost.

Brittain has handled several high-profile school desegregation and funding cases. In addition, he’s chair of the Norflet Progress Fund, a charitable group created by a lawsuit settlement involving John Hancock that will distribute about $16 million in grants to benefit African-Americans in education, health, and post-Hurricane Katrina relief.

At 69, Brittain is a staunch vegan and a nationally-ranked masters runner.  He hasn’t played hockey in decades, but he hasn’t abandoned the sport. He’s a devoted Washington Capitals fan and college hockey follower who takes his 7-year-old grandson ice skating.

“I’ve got a new one-year-old grandson, so both my son and I said we’re going to introduce him to more winter sports,” he said. “We’re going to get him some hockey skates to see if he’s interested in that.”

St. Louis Blues right wing T.J. Oshie was one of 25 American-born National Hockey League players selected Sunday to represent the United States at the 2014 Winter Olympics next month in Sochi, Russia.

Blues’ T.J. Oshie lands a spot on the U.S. Olympic men’s hockey team headed to Sochi next month.

Oshie, who is part Ojibwe (Chippewa), and two other Blues players join an All-Star-caliber lineup of American skaters who hope to bring a Gold Medal back from Sochi. The U.S. narrowly lost to a Sidney Crosby-led Team Canada at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver.

Oshie, a 27-year-old from Everett, Wash., is ninth in the NHL in scoring with six goals and 27 assists in 39 games. Though it will be his first time playing in the Olympics, he brings a wealth of international playing experience to the U.S. team.

He played for the U.S. at the 2006 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship and the IIHF’s 2009, 2010 and 2013 World Championships. He’ll be joined in Sochi by fellow Blues teammates David Backes, a center with 16 goals and 14 assists in 35 games, and defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk who’s scored six goals and 22 assists in 38 games.

The U.S. team, led by Pittsburgh Penguins Head Coach Dan Bylsma, is a mix of youth and veterans players with Olympic experience. Thirteen members of the Silver Medal-winning 2010 Olympic squad are on the 2014 team, including Backes 2010 Olympic MVP goalie Ryan Miller of the Buffalo Sabres, forwards Patrick Kane of the Chicago Blackhawks, Dustin Brown of the Los Angeles Kings, Ryan Callahan of the New York Rangers, Zach Parise of the Minnesota Wild, Phil Kessel of the Toronto Maple Leafs and defensemen Brooks Orpik of the Penguins and Ryan Suter of the Nashville Predators.

“We went through a very thorough process to get to today and could not be happier with the team we’ve selected,” said David Poile, general manager of the 2014 U.S. Olympic Men’s hockey team of GM and president of the Predators. “We’re fortunate to have probably the deepest talent pool we’ve ever had in our country and that made for some very difficult decisions. In the end, however, we’re confident we’ve selected a group of players that puts us in the best position to have success in Sochi.”

USA Hockey invited a diverse group of players to its pre-Olympic orientation camp in Washington last summer. But the organization’s brain trust passed on forward Kyle Okposo, who’s enjoying his best season with the New York Islanders, Winnipeg Jets defenseman Dustin Byfuglien, and Predators rookie D-man Seth Jones.

Some hockey experts believe that Okposo, who is currently 12th in the NHL in scoring, didn’t make the cut because of concerns

N.Y. Islanders Kyle Okposo disappointed about not making the U.S. Olympic team.

about his skating ability on the larger 200 ft. long by 100 ft. wide international ice surface even though he played on the big ice during his days at the University of Minnesota.

That assessment was verified Thursday in a brutally frank tic-tock story about the U.S. team’s selection process on ESPN.com. Okposo disagreed with the talk about his skating ability.

“That part of it is a little bit frustrating, that they think I’m not built for the big ice, but that’s their opinion,” Okposo told Long Island’s Newsday. “I think I’ve proven myself on the big sheet from college and I’ve had a lot of international experience playing world championships with them. But that’s their viewpoint and, you know, that’s okay…I wish them all the best.”

Byfuglien tantalized USA Hockey with his massive size and offensive upside with his powerful slap shot from the blue line. But questions lingered about his defensive prowess on the large ice.

As for Jones, the fourth overall pick in the 2013 NHL draft, it was a matter of 2014 being too soon for the Nashville rookie. Look for the 19-year-old son of former NBA standout Popeye Jones to be in the mix for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Oshie will be one of a handful of minority hockey players representing their countries at the Winter Games. Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban, who won the Norris Trophy as the NHL best blue liner last season, is under consideration to play for Team Canada.

Canadiens goaltender Carey Price, whose mother is a former chief of the Ulkatcho First Nations, will likely be one of three goalies chosen when Hockey Canada unveils its Olympic roster on January 7.

Blackhawks defenseman Johnny Oduya will likely play for his native Sweden as he did at the 2010 Winter Games.

Here’s the U.S. Olympic Men’s team roster. GOAL: Ryan Miller, Buffalo Sabres, Jonathan Quick, Los Angeles Kings, Jimmy Howard, Detroit Red Wings. FORWARDS: T.J. Oshie, St. Louis Blues, David Backes, St. Louis Blues,  Ryan Callahan, New York Rangers, Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks, Phil Kessel, Toronto Maple Leafs, Zach Parise, Minnesota Wild, Dustin Brown, Los Angeles Kings, Ryan Kesler, Vancouver Canucks, Max Pacioretty, Montreal Canadiens, Joe Pavelski, San Jose Sharks, Paul Stastny, Colorado Avalanche, Derek Stephan, New York Rangers, James van Riemsdyk, Toronto Maple Leafs, Blake Wheeler, Winnipeg Jets. DEFENSE: John Carlson, Washington Capitals, Justin Faulk, Carolina Hurricanes, Cam Fowler, Anaheim Ducks, Paul Martin, Pittsburgh Penguins, Ryan McDonagh, New York Rangers, Brooks Orpik, Pittsburgh Penguins, Kevin Shattenkirk, St. Louis Blues, Ryan Suter, Nashville Predators