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Macon another black hockey head coach: Leo Thomas takes over SPHL’s Mayhem

24 Thursday May 2018

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Akil Thomas, Graeme Townshend, John Paris, Leo Thomas, Macon Mayhem, Niagara IceDogs, SPHL

Macon makes black hockey head coaches – and hockey history.

The Macon Mayhem introduced Leo Thomas as its new head coach Wednesday, scoring  something of a hat trick in the Middle Georgia city that gave the world Otis Redding, Little Richard and the Allman Brothers Band.

Leo Thomas is new head coach of the Macon Mayhem of the SPHL.

With the appointment, Thomas  becomes the only black head coach in North American professional hockey currently and the first in the 10-team Southern Professional Hockey League.

“I didn’t realize it until (Tuesday),” Thomas told reporters at a news conference Wednesday at the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in Macon. “Like, wow, this is a pretty big deal. When I started playing at a young age, I dealt with so much stuff being colored and stuff like that. I can’t even express the joy and happiness I have right now.”

Thomas also has the distinction of being the third black head coach in Macon’s storied hockey history. John Paris Jr.coached the defunct Macon Whoopee of the old Central Hockey League from 1996-97 to 1998-99.

Paris became the first black head coach to win a professional ice hockey championship when he led the Atlanta Knights to an International Hockey League title in 1994.

Graeme Townshend, the National Hockey League’s first Jamaican-born player, succeeded Paris as the Whoopee’s head coach in 1999-2000.Townshend now coaches Jamaica’s Winter Olympics hockey effort and operates a hockey camp in Maine.

Now it’s Thomas’ turn in Macon. He’ll helm a team that finished second in the SPHL last season with a 33-16-7 record. The team lost to the Huntsville Havoc in the second round of the playoffs after winning the league’s President’s Cup in 2016-17.

“I’m just going to bring my style of hockey which is hard-nosed, in-your-face and skill,” Thomas said. “I’m not going to go out there trying to goon it up or anything like that. Just bring all the stuff I’ve learned through the years and bring it to this team and make myself, and everybody that’s helped me, proud.”

Thomas had been a Mayhem assistant coach since the team’s championship season. Before that, the 36-year-old was a high-scoring forward for several  minor league teams, including the Fort Wayne Comets of the ECHL the SPHL’s Mississippi RiverKings, and the IHL’s BloomingtonPrairieThunder.

New Macon Mayhem Head Coach Leo Thomas enjoyed a long and high-scoring minor league hockey career.

A Toronto native, Thomas comes from a hockey family. His nephew, Akil Thomas, a center for the Ontario Hockey League’s Niagara IceDogs, is a potential first-round pick in the 2018 National Hockey League Draft June 22-23 in Dallas, Texas.

Leo Thomas’ older brother, Khalil Thomas, was a career minor-leagurer who played center for the CHL’s Memphis RiverKings and Oklahoma City Blazers, the United Hockey League’s Flint Generals, and the SPHL’s Jacksonville Barracudas.

Hockey runs in new Macon Mayhem Head Coach Leo Thomas’ family. His nephew, Niagara IceDogs forward Akil Thomas, is rated the 15th-best North American skater eligible for the 2018 NHL Draft by NHL Central Scouting. Leo’s brother, Khalil Thomas, enjoyed a lengthy minor league hockey career (Photo/Terry Wilson/OHL Images).

Khalil Thomas and his wife, Akilah, are now part owners of the Oshawa RiverKings of the Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League.

Leo Thomas is part of a small  but growing fraternity of minority hockey coaches who are working their way through the professional, amateur and youth ranks.

Calgary Flames Assistant Coach Paul Jerrard was the only minority NHL coach who worked games from the bench last season. The others were specialty coaches who were in the press box or video room on game days.

Fred Brathwaite  coached the New York Islanders’ goaltenders while Scott Gomez ran the Isles’ power play strategy. Sudarshan Maharaj tutored the Anaheim Ducks’ netminders. Frantz Jean handled the Tampa Bay Lightning’s goaltenders. Nigel Kirwan served as the ‘Bolts  video coach.

On the amateur level, Jason McCrimmon is head coach and part owner of Detroit’s Motor City Hawks of the U.S. Premier Hockey League, a Tier III junior league where players showcase their talents for college or major junior hockey programs.

In April, Duante Abercrombie, an alum of the NHL’s “Hockey is for Everyone” program, was named head coach of the Washington Little Capitals 16U National Team. That squad has a track record of developing players for junior, college, and professional hockey teams.

Follow the Color of Hockey on Facebook and Twitter @ColorOfHockey. And download the Color of Hockey podcast from iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud and Google Play.

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Canada’s first all-black college hockey line jumped over the boards, into history

17 Tuesday Feb 2015

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Bob Dawson, Darrell Maxwell, John Paris, Percy Paris, Philadelphia Flyers, St. Mary's University

When Saint Mary’s University Huskies hockey Head Coach Bob Boucher called out their names, players Bob Dawson, Percy Paris, and Darrell Maxwell didn’t realize at the time that they were about to jump over the boards and into hockey history.

It was February 1970, as Dawson recalls, in a game against the Mount Allison University Mounties. Boucher did something that no one in Canadian university hockey had done before or since – put an all-black forward line on the ice.

“The first time Bob Boucher did it, I don’t think people gave it too much thought. I don’t think we, as players, gave it a whole lot of thought right away but I think the coach knew exactly what he was doing,” Percy Paris, a former Nova Scotia cabinet minister, told me recently. “Three Nova Scotia-born players of African descent that were good hockey players – I guess he wanted to make a statement. Obviously there weren’t many persons of African-descent playing hockey, period. He wanted people to stand up and take notice and say ‘Here are three good hockey players and there should be more of them. Let’s make room for them.'”

The three line mates shared their under-told story with Rogers Sportsnet over the weekend in an excellent piece by producer Jason Robert Thom that aired as part of the network’s “Hockey Day in Canada” coverage.

If Boucher was trying to make a statement, he never told anyone, even the players involved in the history-making move.

“We were a wee bit confused because Bob was a defenseman,” said Paris, whose brother, John Paris, Jr., became the first black head coach to win a professional hockey championship when he guided the old International Hockey League Atlanta Knights to a title in 1994. “He (Boucher) didn’t come to the three of us and say ‘Percy, you take center, Darrell, you’re going to take the right side.’ He just tapped the three of us on the shoulder and said ‘Get out there.’ And over the boards we went and we figured it out once we got out there.”

Dawson, 68, said “it was only later, reflecting back on it, that we realized the significance of it.”

“Having shared in that was kind of special,” Dawson said. “It brought back memories of the Black Aces of Herb Carnegie, Ossie, and Manny McIntyre.”

The Black Aces: Herb Carnegie, center, Ossie Carnegie, right, and Manny McIntyre.

The Black Aces: Herb Carnegie, center, Ossie Carnegie, right, and Manny McIntyre.

The high-scoring Black Aces line played for the Sherbrooke Saints of the Quebec Provincial Hockey League and for other teams in Canada and Europe in the 1940s. Herb Carnegie, regarded as one of the best hockey players never to reach the National Hockey League, centered the all-black line with older brother Ossie Carnegie on one wing and rugged Manny McIntyre on the other.

Like the Black Aces, Dawson, Maxwell and Paris felt the sting of racism while trying to play the game they loved.

“It wasn’t until I played university hockey in ’67 with Saint Mary’s that I experienced it,” Dawson said. “In 67-68 when I went to places like Prince Edward Island where we’d play the University of Prince Edward Island. During the warm-ups you’d have fans call out names like ‘nigger,’ and ‘snowball,’ and ‘coon.’ During the game, there were one or two opposing players who would echo the same kind of slurs.They’d try to take certain liberties with you in terms of cheap shots – spearing and whacking you behind the legs, and slew-footing you.”

The 1970 St. Mary's University Huskies. Bob Dawson (second from left, middle row) and Darrell Maxwell (third from right, middle row).  Percy Paris not in photo. Head Coach Bob Boucher, front row, center.

The 1970 St. Mary’s University Huskies. Bob Dawson (second from left, middle row) and Darrell Maxwell (third from right, middle row). Percy Paris not in photo. Head Coach Bob Boucher, front row, center.

But the insults and indignities didn’t deter the three players or the team. The Huskies played in Canadian college hockey national championship games in four consecutive seasons to 1973.

The players credit the team’s success to Boucher, who compiled a record of 231 wins, 33 losses and four ties in 13 seasons at Saint Mary’s.

“Our coach was a bit ahead of his time,” said Maxwell, 68, who worked for the Canadian government in its human resources and revenue divisions. “He had been over to Russia and studied their system prior to a lot of people in North America paying a lot of attention to the Russians. We had some unique preparations before and during games, and our practices, that he learned from going over to Europe and Russia.”

Percy Paris, second-row, center, playing for Kings/Edgehill College, a high school hockey team in Nova Scotia.

Percy Paris, second-row, center, playing for Kings/Edgehill College, a high school hockey team in Nova Scotia.

Boucher left Saint Mary’s in 1982 to become an assistant coach with the Philadelphia Flyers for two seasons  under Head Coach Pat Quinn. He took over a Flyers power play that ranked last in the NHL in 1981 and improved it to the league’s best PP the next season. Boucher died in December 2004 after a short battle with lung cancer.

“He was a no-nonsense coach,” said Dawson, a retired Canadian government human resources employee. “In terms of the technical aspects of the game, he was well-versed. And he was fair. He was the best coach I ever had.”

Former Saint Mary's University hockey coach Bob Boucher, right, with then-Philadelphia Flyers head coach Pat Quinn (Photo/Philadelphia Flyers).

Former Saint Mary’s University hockey coach Bob Boucher, right, with then-Philadelphia Flyers head coach Pat Quinn (Photo/Philadelphia Flyers).

Dawson, Maxwell, and Paris plan to go back to Saint Mary’s campus in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in August to reminisce about their coach and exchange stories about the good times and bad they experienced over their collegiate hockey careers.

They also plan to do something that they never did during their playing days: take a photo together wearing Saint Mary’s hockey jerseys.

Dawson and Maxwell are in the Huskies’ 1970 team picture but Paris didn’t make the photo session because he was recovering from injuries suffered in a serious car accident.

“Even though we’re showing more gray now than we did then at least we can say we finally have a picture together in a Saint Mary’s uniform,” Maxwell said.

A special Color of Hockey thanks to the good people at Rogers Sportsnet for providing video of their “Hockey Day in Canada” piece on Dawson, Maxwell and Paris.

 

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John Paris, Jr., and Uriah Jones: Two hockey generations paying it forward

11 Friday Oct 2013

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Atlanta Thrashers, Bryce Salvador, Chicago Blackhawks, International Hockey League, John Paris, Jr., Life University, New Jersey Devils, University of Toronto Varsity Blues

It’s rare in today’s way-too-busy world to receive a thank-you note – especially from a younger to an elder.

So John Paris, Jr., was pleasantly surprised and gratified when he recently received a message of appreciation via Facebook from Uriah Jones, thanking him for making hockey history.

In 1994, Paris guided the now-defunct Atlanta Knights to the International Hockey League championship and became the first black coach in professional hockey to win a title. Jones, an Atlanta native who works for the Chicago Blackhawks’ youth hockey program, wanted Paris to know what that feat meant to him.

Former Atlanta Knights Coach John Paris, Jr.

Former Atlanta Knights Coach John Paris, Jr.

“I just told him that his contribution to hockey and the things that he’s gone through is inspiring to me as a minority and aspiring coach,” Jones told me recently. “I just shot him a message of encouragement and just thanking him for being who he is.”

Jones’ note filled Paris with pride, all 5-foot-5 inches of him. He said he’s the thankful one for being remembered and being a role model for someone looking to make hockey a career.

“I should be thanking him because if he’s working within the (Blackhawks) organization regardless of whatever the role he’s in – if he saw me doing it and that pushed him to do it, the credit goes to him because he had enough gumption to get up, go out and get the job,” Paris told me.

It doesn’t seem like nearly two decades since he took the Tampa Bay Lightning farm team stocked with young players and seasoned veterans to the IHL’s Turner Cup, Paris said. And it didn’t feel like history in the making when the game clock hit zero and the Knights dispatched the Fort Wayne Komets 4 games to 2 to win the trophy.

“I wasn’t there to be the first black hockey in pro hockey, I was there because I was offered a position,” Paris told me. “What I realized afterwards was the significance of it. You look at (Barack) Obama, who’s president of the United States, and say ‘Well, we can do it.’ Later on, I realized I did open a door.”

But it was slow in opening. Paris, 67, grew up playing hockey in Windsor Nova Scotia.

Uriah Jones was inspired by Paris and aspires to  make hockey a career.

Uriah Jones was inspired by Paris and aspires to make hockey a career.

He played on teams in Quebec’s junior and senior league teams, and played nine games for the Knoxville Knights in the old Eastern Hockey League before shifting to coaching.

He became the first black head coach in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, piloting the Trois Rivière Draveurs and Granby Bisons. But coaching in Quebec – the province where baseball’s Jackie Robinson played before joining the Brooklyn Dodgers – and in the IHL wasn’t a walk in the park.

He was spat upon by fans, had coins thrown at him and the N-word spewed at him. Hate mail and death threats weren’t uncommon.

“There were no coaches I could look to for advice that were of my own culture,” he recalled. “When you’re new at something and people aren’t used to it, then they have preconceived ideas like ‘What’s a guy like that doing coaching?'”

But the abuse didn’t deter Paris. After winning the Turner Cup, Paris went on to coach the IHL’s Macon Whoopee, and later moved to piloting junior teams. Last season he coached the Omaha Lancers, an AAA Under 18 team.

These days Paris is living in Irving, Texas, penning his hockey memoir and developing a program to improve youth hockey coaching, and catching NHL games on TV.

He likes what’s transpired in the game after his historic championship: former Chicago Blackhawks forward Dirk Graham becoming the first player of African decent to coach an National Hockey League team and black players like Bryce Salvador of the New Jersey Devils and Jarome Iginla – formerly of the Calgary Flames, now of the Boston Bruins – having the captain’s “C” sewn onto their jerseys.

He enjoys watching an ever-growing group of minority players like forwards Wayne Simmonds of the Philadelphia Flyers, Nazem Kadri of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Emerson Etem and Devante Smith-Pelly of the Anaheim Ducks and defenseman P.K. Subban of the Montreal Canadiens and Seth Jones of the Nashville Predators not only surviving but thriving in the league.

And Paris loves watching Kevin Weekes, David Amber, Anson Carter and others talking hockey on “Hockey Night in Canada,” NHL Network and NBC Sports, proving to audiences that minorities in hockey is the new normal.

“Kevin Weekes on TV has opened a whole vast new arena,” he said.

Paris hopes to see more coaches like the University of Toronto's Darren Lowe.

Paris hopes to see more coaches like the University of Toronto’s Darren Lowe.

Paris says the next phase is to get more minorities behind the bench and in the front offices of hockey teams. They have been few minority coaches in the NHL. Craig Berube, of Native American/First Nation roots, was recently named coach of the Philadelphia Flyers; Graham led the Blackhawks during the 1998-99 season; Ted Nolan, an Ojibwa Native American/First Nation steered the Buffalo Sabres from 1995 to 1997; and Darren Lowe, the first black to play on a Canadian Olympic hockey team, has coached the University of Toronto Varsity Blues since the 1995-96 season.

“I want more guys look at coaching instead of playing and looking at the executive side,” Paris said. “That’s just normal progression.”

And Paris hopes that Uriah Jones will someday be part of that progression.

Jones, 31, says he got hooked on hockey the minute he started playing floor hockey in Georgia. He eventually progressed to ice and played on suburban Atlanta’s Life University hockey team, a Division 3 American Collegiate Hockey Association club team coached by former Atlanta Flames goaltender Dan Bouchard.

He landed a job in the hockey development department of the Atlanta Thrashers, helping to grow the sport in the Peach State. But the job ended when the Thrashers moved to Winnipeg and became the Jets.

Hockey may have left Atlanta but it didn’t leave Jones. After the Thrashers up and left, Jones packed his bags – for Chicago. There, he found work with the National Basketball Association Chicago Bulls on their equipment staff.

With the Bulls sharing Chicago’s United Center with the Blackhawks, Jones inquired through NHL headquarters in New York and friends in the hockey world about whether there were any job opportunities with the team.

The Blackhawks hired him shortly after last season’s player lockout.  To say that Jones is in hockey heaven working for the Blackhawks is an understatement.

“This is not a game for me – I eat, breathe and sleep hockey, I’m always talking it, it’s crazy,” he told me. “It’s what I do. It’s me.”

And that makes John Paris, Jr., happy.

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