TheColorOfHockey

~ Hockey for Fans and Players of Color

TheColorOfHockey

Tag Archives: Neal Henderson

The time is right for more people of color to get the call from U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame

10 Monday Dec 2018

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Bill Guerin, Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club, Henry Boucha, Hockey is for Everyone, Neal Henderson, New Jersey Devils, Scott Gomez, United States Hockey Hall of Fame

American-born hockey excellence will be celebrated in Nashville, Tennessee, when five deserving individuals are inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Wednesday night.

Nashville Predators General Manager David Poile, former three-time Winter Olympian Natalie Darwitz, legendary former University of Michigan hockey Head Coach Gordon “Red” Berenson, retired National Hockey League referee Paul Stewart and the late Leland “Hago” Harrington will be honored by the U.S. Hall.

The new inductees will join 173 individuals and four hockey teams enshrined in the U.S. Hall, located in Eveleth, Minnesota, about 190 miles from Minneapolis.

Since opening its doors in 1973, the Hall has inducted two people of minority heritage – Henry Boucha and Bill Guerin.

Henry Boucha was a Minnesota high school hockey star, played in the 1972 Winter Olympics and had a promising pro career until he suffered a serious injury (Photo/Portnoy/Hockey Hall of Fame).

Boucha, a Native American (Ojibwe), was a standout high school hockey player in Minnesota and a member of the 1972 U.S. Olympic men’s hockey team that won the Silver Medal at the Sapporo, Japan, games.

The Detroit Red Wings chose Boucha in the second round of the 1971 NHL Draft. The gifted center seemed destined for hockey stardom post-Olympics but a cracked bone around his eye – the result of a vicious 1975 altercation with Boston Bruins forward Dave Forbes – curtailed his career.

Boucha appeared in 247 NHL games for the Red Wings, Minnesota North Stars, Kansas City Scouts and Colorado Rockies and tallied 53 goals and 49 assists. He played 36 games for the Minnesota Fighting Saints of the old World Hockey Association, scoring 15 goals and 20 assists.

Guerin, who is of Nicaraguan and Irish descent, was a high-scoring forward for seven NHL teams.

He won the Stanley Cup in 1994-95 with the New Jersey Devils and again in 2008-09 with the Pittsburgh Penguins. He was a Penguins assistant general manager when the team won back-to-back Cups in 2016 and 2017.

Guerin was a member of the U.S. men’s hockey team that won silver at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Embed from Getty Images

He also played on the U.S. men’s squad at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, the first Winter Games where NHL players competed.

During his NHL career, Guerin tallied 429 goals and 427 assists in 1,263 regular season games and 39 goals and 35 assists in 140 Stanley Cup Playoffs contests.

With more and more people of color getting involved in hockey at all levels and all aspects of the game, the time seems right to give Boucha and Guerin a little more company in the U.S. Hall.

Winnipeg Jets defenseman Dustin Byfuglien, Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Seth Jones, Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews and Washington Capitals right wing T.J. Oshie (who is Henry Boucha’s second cousin) should all merit U.S. Hall induction consideration if their careers continue on their current paths.

As for the here and now, who fulfills the Hall’s induction criteria that nominees must exhibit extraordinary contributions to hockey in the United States? Some suggestions:

NEAL HENDERSON, head coach/founder of Washington, D.C.’s Fort Dupont Hockey Club. Henderson was preaching that “Hockey is for Everyone” long before tit became the NHL’s mantra.

He’s the patriarch of North America’s oldest minority-oriented youth hockey program – 43 years and counting – and is responsible for building a generation of black hockey players and fans in the Washington, D.C., region and beyond.

Fort Dupont Hockey Club coach and founder Neal Henderson prepares to drop a puck at a Washington Capitals game (Photo/Courtesy Robert Primus).

Henderson, 82, has also launched a generation of kids, many of them disadvantaged, on  paths toward success by using hockey to teach the value of teamwork, responsibility, punctuality, good manners, and the necessity of pursuing an education.

He’s done so despite undergoing joint surgeries, skating in an ancient ice rink in one of Washington’s tougher neighborhoods, and often having only just enough money to pay the non-profit program’s bills.

“There are few coaches as remarkable and deserving as Neal Henderson, who I believe is an obvious choice for the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame,” said U.S. House Rep. Mike Quigley, co-chair of the Congressional Hockey Caucus on Capitol Hill. “Neal has dedicated himself to the principle that ‘Hockey is for Everyone,’ having spent decades fostering community and ensuring that every child in D.C. – regardless of race, zip code, socioeconomic status – has the opportunity to fall in love with the game.”

Henderson’s Fort Dupont program has produced success stories like Lt. Col Ralph Featherstone, a U.S. Marine aviator who became the first black captain of the United States Naval Academy’s hockey team.

Coach Neal Henderson – last row, second from the left – has been guiding the Fort Dupont Hockey Club since he founded the team 43 years ago (Photo/AJ Messier/Hogtown Studios).

Duante Abercrombie, another Henderson pupil, is now the head coach of the Washington Little Capitals 16U National Team, a program with a track record of developing players who go on to NCAA hockey programs and junior leagues like the USHL.

Fort Dupont became the model for programs like the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation and similar organizations under the NHL’s “Hockey is for Everyone” umbrella.

It’s not for nothing that after Capitals won the Stanley Cup in June, team Owner Ted Leonsis and superstar forward Alex Ovechkin took it to the Fort Dupont Ice Arena to share it with Henderson’s players.

Henderson was a finalist for the NHL’s inaugural Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award. He received the Bridgestone Mark Messier Youth Leadership Award in 2010.

Scott Gomez won two Stanley Cups and the Calder Trophy in a 16-year NHL career.

SCOTT GOMEZ, is a two-time Stanley Cup champion who also won the NHL’s 1999-2000 Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie.

The son of a Mexican-American father and Colombian mother, Gomez is regarded as perhaps the best hockey player to come out of Anchorage, Alaska.

A center, Gomez played for seven teams over his 16-year NHL career but he’ll forever be associated with the New Jersey Devils, the team he collected Cups with in 1999-2000 and 2002-2003.

He had his best season in New Jersey in 2005-06 when he notched 33 goals and 51 assists in 82 regular season games and 5 goals and 4 assists in nine playoff games.

In all, he tallied 181 goals and 575 assists in 1079 NHL regular season contests and 29 goals and 72 assists in 149 playoff games.

Embed from Getty Images

Gomez had a goal and 4 assists in six games for the U.S. at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. He also skated for the U.S. at the International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship tournaments in 1997-98 and 1998-99 and the 2004 World Cup.

His international stat sheet: 6 goals, 14 assists in 24 games.

Gomez, currently an assistant coach for the New York Islanders, embraced his heritage throughout his career and his play inspired other Hispanics to watch and take up hockey.

“If a Hispanic player like Scott Gomez can overcome his many life obstacles from afar in Alaska to play professional hockey in the NHL, the Hispanic player from New Jersey, Miami, New York can propose to achieve the same,” said Nelson Negron, a  Mahwah, New Jersey, resident whose son, Peter Negron is a goaltender for NCAA Division III Hamilton College. “And Scott represented himself, family, teammates and Hispanics well by being a consummate and exemplary professional and human being.”

Gomez has also represented his home state. He’s contributed time and money to help keep youth hockey alive in Alaska, particularly girls’ high school hockey, through his Scotty Gomez Foundation.

Forward Julie Chu competed in four Winter Olympics for the United States (Photo/Nancie Battaglia)

JULIE CHU, is a four-time Winter Olympian and one of the most-decorated players in U.S. women’s hockey history.

She has more hardware than Home Depot – Olympic Silver Medals from Sochi in 2014, Vancouver in 2010,  Salt Lake City in 2002 and a Bronze Medal from Turin in 2006.

Chu was the U.S. flag-bearer at the closing ceremony of the 2014 Winter Games in Russia, joining Hockey Hall of Fame and U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Cammi Granato as the only women’s hockey players to receive the honor.

She’s the first person of color to carry the U.S. at a Winter Olympics closing ceremony.

Chu, who was a forward, owns a lot of gold in the form of IIHF Women’s World Championship medals. She earned them with U.S. women’s teams that competed in 2005 in Sweden, 2008 in China, 2009 in Finland, 2011 in Switzerland and 2013 in Ottawa.

When Chu’s U.S. teams didn’t win gold medals at IIHF tournaments, they earned silver in 2001 in Minnesota, 2002 in Halifax, 2007 in Winnipeg,  and 2012 in Vermont.

Embed from Getty Images

Chu tallied 4 goals and 20 assists in 20 Winter Olympics matches. She notched 13 goals and 34 assists in 44 IIHF world championship contests.

A four-time All-American at Harvard University, she is the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer in women’s hockey with 284 points – 88 goals and 196 assists in 129 games – over four seasons.

She was the recipient of the 2007 Patty Kazmaier Award – the women’s hockey equivalent of the Hobey Baker Award – and the 2007 Bob Allen Women’s Player of the Year by USA Hockey.

Chu won three Canadian Women’s Hockey League championships in 2010-11, 2011-12, and 2016-17. She’s now the head coach of Concordia University’s women’s hockey team in Montreal.

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

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • More
  • LinkedIn
  • Print
  • Reddit
  • Telegram
  • WhatsApp
  • Skype

Like this:

Like Loading...

Pictures tell hockey’s diversity story in Stanley Cup Final Game One

30 Wednesday May 2018

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Devane Smith-Pelly, Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club, Neal Henderson, Pierre -Edouard Bellemare, Ryan Reaves, T.J. Oshie, Vegas Golden Knights, Washington Capitals

The Stanley Cup Final is only a game old but I already have a favorite picture – one that jubilantly tells the story of diversity in hockey.

It’s a shot of Vegas Golden Knights forwards Ryan Reaves and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare joyfully celebrating the top-shelf goal that Reaves scored in the third period Monday night against the Washington Capitals that tied the game at 4. Vegas won the series opener 6-4, a contest in which players of color had front and center roles.

Embed from Getty Images

Reaves and Bellemare were effective pests on the Golden Knights checking line, giving the Capitals fits and putting the puck in the net.

Capitals forward T.J. Oshie, who is Ojibwe First Nations/Native American, had an assist on the Capitals’ fourth goal, scored by defenseman John Carlson. And Washington forward Devante-Smith Pelly made the most of his 10:04 minutes of ice time, hitting anything that moved that wore gray, gold and red.

Embed from Getty Images

The Stanley Cup Final isn’t the only thing with neat visuals. Voting is underway for the NHL’s Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award, with three finalists to choose from.

And, like any good campaign, supporters of Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club founder and Head Coach Neal Henderson, have put up a video to garner votes.

For those who represent inclusion in hockey @SNChrisSimpson @ColorOfHockey @usahockey welcome community hero NEAL HENDERSON from Washington DC on his nomination for the #NHLOreeAward. A truly special man. Please WATCH the video and VOTE here: https://t.co/DAE7UjZs4K pic.twitter.com/8Yqqb7Hn0G

— Steven Hoffner (@Hoffner_Steven) May 29, 2018

At 40 years old, Washington’s Fort Dupont program is the oldest minority youth hockey program in North America.

The other O’Ree award finalists are Debbie Bland, a long-time girls and women’s hockey advocate in Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada, and Humboldt Broncos Coach Darcy Haugan, who was killed in April when the Saskatchewan junior hockey team’s bus collided with a semi-trailer.

Voting closes at 1 p.m. Eastern Time on June 1. Click here to cast your vote.

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

 

 

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • More
  • LinkedIn
  • Print
  • Reddit
  • Telegram
  • WhatsApp
  • Skype

Like this:

Like Loading...

‘Hockey is for Everyone’ alum Duante’ Abercrombie begins climb up coaching ladder

15 Sunday Apr 2018

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Duante' Abercrombie, Fort Dupont Ice Arena, Graeme Townshend, Neal Henderson, USHL, Washington Little Capitals

As a kid, Duante’ Abercrombie dreamed of playing for the Washington Little Capitals, a youth hockey program with a track record of developing players for junior, college and professional hockey teams.

Duante’ Abercrombie becomes head coach in a hockey program that helps develop players for collegiate, junior and pro hockey.

Almost after each practice with the Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club – North America’s oldest minority-oriented youth hockey program – Abercrombie would ask his mother if he could join the Little Caps, too.

“We just didn’t have the money,” he recalled. “Coming from a family that knew absolutely nothing about hockey, it was hard to justify paying as much as it cost to play hockey when I was already doing the same thing with Fort Dupont.”

Abercrombie, 31, finally joined the Little Caps last week as the new head coach of the Washington Little Capitals 16U National Team. The appointment fulfills the Washington, D.C., native’s dreams of being affiliated with the program and pursuing a career in coaching that he hopes will lead a National Hockey League job someday.

“It’s just amazing how I’ve come from a time and place when I couldn’t even afford to try out for the team to now being the head coach of arguably the most critical age group they have in the U16’s,” he said. “It’s an opportunity that I don’t take lightly.”

Neal Henderson, founder and head coach of the 41-year-old Fort Dupont hockey program, was all smiles about Abrercrombie joining him in the head coaching fraternity.

Fort Dupont is part of the NHL’s “Hockey is For Everyone” initiative that provides support and unique programming to some 30 nonprofit profit youth hockey organizations across North America, offering kids of all backgrounds the opportunity to play the game.

Duante’ Abercrombie, right, with Neal Henderson, founder and head coach of the Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club, the nation’s oldest minority-oriented youth hockey program (Photo/Courtesy Duante’ Abercrombie).

“It’s an honor to have had the opportunity to work with Duante’, and teach him, and put him on his first pair of skates,” Henderson said. “It’s an honor to see him progress the way he has, play hockey the way he has, and climb the ladder the way he has, and to stick with a trade that’s very difficult to maneuver through.

The Little Caps, a member of the Atlantic Youth Hockey League, has a proven record of developing players who go on to NCAA hockey programs, American Collegiate Hockey Association club teams, and junior leagues like the USHL.

Its most notable alum is Jeff Halpern, who had a lengthy NHL career with the Washington Capitals, Dallas Stars, Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning and Los Angeles Kings.

“It was a no brainer deciding that this was something that I had to be a part of,” Abercrombie said. “My plan is to teach my players how to use their individual skills within a team structure that not only leads to eventual team success on the score sheet, but also prepares them individually for what’s expected at the next levels.”

Hockey took Duante’ Abercrombie from Washington, D.C., to New Zealand and the U.S. minor league hockey towns. Here he’s facing off as a member of the Brewster Bulldogs of the Federal Hockey League (Photo/Courtesy Duante’ Abercrombie).

With his appointment, Abercrombie begins a journey to one of the final frontiers for people of color in hockey – the head coaching ranks.

There were no minority head coaches in the NHL in the 2017-18 season. Calgary Flames Assistant Coach Paul Jerrard was the only black NHL coach working the bench during games.

The NHL’s other minority coaches can be found on the practice ice or in the video room. Fred Brathwaite is the New York Islanders‘ goaltending coach and Sudarshan Maharaj tutors netminders for the Anaheim Ducks. Frantz Jean is the Tampa Bay Lightning’s goalie coach and Nigel Kirwan is a video coach for the ‘Bolts.

Little Capitals management considers Abercrombie “a rising star in the hockey development scene.”

“Talk to him for five minutes and you can feel his excitement and energy for this job,” said Little Capitals Hockey Director Matt Thomas. “His ability to develop players is a great asset to our organization, and particularly for our 16U team during this critical stage. I look forward to working with Duante’ to help our talented group of 16U players advance in their careers.”

A graduate of Gonzaga High School, Abercrombia had a brief professional career playing for the West Auckland Admirals in New Zealand, the Steel City Warriors of the Federal Hockey League, and the FHL’s Brewster Bulldogs.

He’s even skated for the Jamaican ice hockey Olympic team effort coached by

Graeme Townshend, the NHL’s first Jamaican-born player, and Cyril Bollers, director of player development for Canada’s Skillz Black Aces program.

He developed an appreciation for hockey training and coaching through participation in rigorous conditioning programs like BTNL and Twist in Ontario and serving as an instructor for three years in a hockey school in Maine run by Townshend.

For the last two seasons, Abercrombie served as a hockey coach for Georgetown Preparatory School.

“Having scouted and been a skills consultant at the ACHA and NCAA levels, I will spend time developing the skills and habits that junior programs and colleges look for, and my ultimate goal is to teach (players) how to play the game with a ‘Winning Attitude’ all the time,” he said.

Abercrombie said he stands on the shoulders of other black coaches who’ve mentored him – Townshend and Henderson – and credit them for his progress.

“Duante’ is one of the best instructors I had,” Townshend said. “He comes from a background where there wasn’t a lot of hockey. He’s come a long way just because of that (Fort Dupont) program there. He’s always studying the game, he’s always learning and improving his craft. All those reasons make him a good coach.”

Thompson believes that the sky’s the limit for Abercrombie now that he has his foot in the coaching door.

“He’s now definitely in that realm where he’s going to start meeting people and start working his way up the ladder,” he said.

Henderson predicts that other Fort Dupont pupils will follow in Abercrombie’s  path and become bench bosses for teams.

“Coming out of our group, for as old as it is, you’re going to find more doing it, such as Ralph Featherstone, and other men who have gone on in hockey to reach certain pinnacles in it,” Henderson said.

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

 

 

 

 

 

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • More
  • LinkedIn
  • Print
  • Reddit
  • Telegram
  • WhatsApp
  • Skype

Like this:

Like Loading...

Minority hockey program helps Featherstone reach the skies in the U.S. Marine Corps

18 Sunday Mar 2018

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Annapolis, Fort Dupont Ice Rink, Neal Henderson, Toronto Maple Leafs, United States Naval Academy, Washington Capitals

Before he flew in U.S. Marine Corps fighter jets, Ralph Featherstone took flight inside a run-down ice skating rink on Ely Place Southeast in Washington, D.C.

Before he became a ramrod straight lieutenant colonel, Featherstone was a Fort Dupont Cannon, an African-American teenager in the 1990s learning how to play hockey in the oldest minority youth hockey program in North America.

His sense of duty and love of hockey converged when he attended the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis and joined the school’s hockey club.

U.S. Marine Corps Let. Col. Ralph Featherstone.

Like a plebe, he rose through the ranks, advancing from a seldom-used second-unit penalty kill specialist on the team to become the first African-American team captain in Navy hockey club history.

“The biggest attribute that I learned at Fort Dupont was persistence,” Featherstone told me. “That’s been one of the main things in my life, in my career, my personal life. Being  persistent will make up for a load of shortcomings.”

The academy and the National Hockey League honored Featherstone last month – Black History Month – with a moving video scoreboard salute between periods of the Washington Capitals–Toronto Maple Leafs game played outdside at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.

He also participated in a ceremonial puck drop last month when the Capitals paid tribute to the Fort Dupont Cannons, Founder/Coach Neal Henderson and his staff, before a game against the Buffalo Sabres at Washington’s Capital One Arena.

“I got a standing O from the Navy/Marine Corps crowd, which was awesome,” Featherstone said of the outdoor game salute. “Hockey has done me right.”

So has the Marine Corps. Featherstone is a desk officer for the FB-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program Office in suburban Washington. This summer, he’ll move to San Diego and Marine Corps Air Station Mirimar to become the commanding officer of the Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 225,  also known as the Vikings, next year.

For Featherstone, 40, it all goes back to hockey and the lessons taught by tough-love Coach Neal inside the Fort Dupont Ice Arena on Ely Place Southeast.

“He did it by making you overcome obstacles, not handing out things, not allowing you to feel that you’re entitled to play, entitled to ice time,” Featherstone said of Henderson. “Everything is based on your performance and you earning those things. You realize after hard work, after the effort and dedication, that you’ll achieve those things that you want. Those are some of the early life lessons in the game of hockey that are analogous to things that occur throughout life.”

Honored to have Neal Henderson and the coaches from Fort Dupont Ice Arena to drop the ceremonial first puck at our Black History in Hockey night. #HockeyIsForEveryone #ALLCAPS @KidsOnIce pic.twitter.com/B3tLiIxv2q

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) February 25, 2018

A lesson learned quickly when Featherstone visited Annapolis at the end of his junior in high school junior to observe what freshman life at the Naval Academy was like.

“I did a one-week camp there and on the last day, they treat you like a plebe, like a freshman,” Featherstone recalled. “I was looking around, these kids are crying from the intensity of getting turned up. And I was, like, ‘This is nothing. Come out to Fort Dupont, I’ll show you what getting yelled at feels like. This is easy.'”

While Featherstone loved his four years at Annapolis, his tenure there also had its challenges. A top player at Fort Dupont, he was anything but on the Midshipmen hockey club.

That led him to question his talent and to feel somewhat isolated as the only black player on the team and in the Eastern College Hockey Association at the time.

“I honestly questioned whether or not I was good at the sport, I questioned whether I loved hockey or loved being at Fort Dupont with my friends,” he recalled. “I was very much down on myself and wondering, ‘Hey I don’t know if this is really for me at this level.'”

From Anacostia to Annapolis. Ralph Featherstone, an alum of Washington, D.C.,’s Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club, was the first African-American to captain the U.S. Naval Academy’s ice hockey club (Photo/Courtesy Ralph Featherstone).

Those doubts were gone by his senior year when he became the Midshipmen’s starting center and his teammates voted to give him the captain’s “C,” the symbol of being the squad’s undisputed leader.

“It was awesome, it was probably one of the biggest accomplishments in my life up to that point,” Featherstone recalled. “Making that transition, that journey from penalty kill-2 to team captain was something that I was really proud of.”

He had the respect of his teammates, but not from some of the opponents that he faced. Featherstone recalled the sting of being called a racial slur on the ice during one game in the 1997-98 season. He reached back to lessons ingrained at Fort Dupont and at home.

A call to duty and a love of hockey combined for Ralph Featherstone at the U.S. Naval Academy (Photo/Courtesy of Ralph Featherstone).

“In playing for Coach Neal, you can’t allow that to bother you,” Featherstone said. “And having a frank discussion with my dad, he was, like, ‘You’re in a different realm. You’re in a world that if that bothers you, maybe you shouldn’t play, maybe you shouldn’t be in that environment.”

“With dad and Coach Neal taking that stance, I kind of saw that as a challenge to rise above that type of thing, when you know someone is doing it only to manipulate you and get you off your game,”  Featherstone added.

Featherstone also applied lessons learned at Dupont  to help get him through aviation training in Pensacola, Florida.

He suffered from air sickness, not an unusual malady for new aviators. But his lasted 15 months, an unusually long and potentially career-crippling amount of time.

“I would puke two to three times a week when I would go fly – it was like a Pavlovian response of getting in an aircraft,” he recalled. “Within 15 minutes I’m getting queasy and about another 10 minutes later, I’m vomiting and trying to hang on.”

Ralph Featherstone’s U.S. Naval Academy hockey teammates voted him team captain in his senior year (Photo/Courtesy of Ralph Featherstone).

Determined to make it through flight training, Featherstone remembered what Coach Neal and his dad taught him about dealing with racially uncomfortable situations.

“‘Hey, if you can’t deal with the discomfort, someone calling you a name, you have to reconcile for yourself that this is not going to bother you or maybe you need to think about something else to do,'” Featherstone said. “Same thing with the flying. ‘Okay, you need to reconcile that you’re probably going to get sick and either you’re going to gut this out and still perform or maybe you need to go in there and tell them that this is not for you,’ which was not an option for me.”

U.S. Marine Lt. Col. Ralph Featherstone is flying high after overcoming a severe bout of air sickness in aviation training, applying lessons learned playing hockey for the Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club (Photo/Courtesy Ralph Featherstone).

Today, jets are a major part of the lieutenant colonel’s life. So if Fort Dupont. Featherstone is a volunteer coach with the Cannons and his  9-year-old son, also named Ralph, plays for the team.

“It’s great having him out there – we can tell Coach Neal stories,” Featherstone said. “Coach’s nuances and his catch phrases haven’t changed in 40 years.”

For all that Fort Dupont has done for Featherstone, he said he didn’t realize his impact on the program until Duante Abercrombie, another Cannons alum, posted a thank you tribute to him on Facebook a few years ago after meeting him.

After graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy where he played ice hockey, Ralph Featherstone went into the U.S. Marine Corps. A lieutenant colonel, he’ll command an air squadron next year (Photo/Courtesy Ralph Featherstone).

“Ralph made my dreams tangible. I knew zero about his journey, but what I did know was that he looked like me and played where I played and hockey took him places, places other than Ely Place Southeast,” said Abercrombie, 31, who played professional hockey in the U.S. and New Zealand and is currently seeking collegiate hockey coaching opportunities.

“I still remember sitting in that old meeting room upstairs (at Fort Dupont) when Ralph presented Coach Neal with his college jersey,” Abercrombie added. “I don’t remember what was said in his speech, but that moment single-handedly set me on the path I’m still on today.”

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • More
  • LinkedIn
  • Print
  • Reddit
  • Telegram
  • WhatsApp
  • Skype

Like this:

Like Loading...

Fort Dupont Hockey Club founder Neal Henderson still skating strong at 79

12 Tuesday Jul 2016

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation, Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club, Hockey is for Everyone, Neal Henderson

His deep-voiced bark is still matched by its bite, and the tough love he bestows upon the kids of the nation’s oldest minority-oriented youth hockey program remains as strong as ever.

Neal Henderson, founder, coach, and father-figure of the Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club, turned 79 over the weekend.

Through joint surgeries, an ancient ice arena with a sometimes leaky roof, and often with only just enough money to pay the program’s bills, Henderson continues to skate strong –  his passion for the program he created nearly four decades ago unabated by time.

Tough but tender, Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club founder Neal Henderson celebrated his 79th birthday over the weekend.

Tough but tender, Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club founder Neal Henderson celebrated his 79th birthday over the weekend.

Henderson is responsible for producing a generation of black hockey players and fans in the Nation’s Capital. He’s also helped launch a generation of at-risk kids on the right course in life.

He preaches life through the prism of hockey, teaching the value of teamwork, responsibility, punctuality, good manners, and the necessity and value of staying school.

Fort Dupont developed into a model for programs like the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation and similar organizations under the National Hockey League’s “Hockey is for Everyone” umbrella to follow.

“Neal Henderson has been a pioneer in helping develop and shape the lives of young boys and girls and use the core values of hockey to affect other life skills that these children would need as they become adults,” Kenneth Martin, the NHL’s vice president for community affairs told me. “His relentless commitment to children has been a trademark of our ‘Hockey is for Everyone’ program. He has been a true hero and a shining light, not only for the NHL, but for young boys and girls.”

James T. Britt, the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, said Henderson’s “impact on his community and hockey throughout the United States has been tremendous.”

“His coaching style and communications are direct – when you hear him begin to address a player in his deep voice with ‘Young man…,’ it makes you feel you’d better take notes because something important is being highlighted,” Britt added.

Born in St. Croix, Henderson founded the program in Southeast Washington’s  Anacostia neighborhood in 1977, in large part to teach his son the game that he played while growing up in Canada.

The Fort Dupont club has no fees or dues. The only thing participants have to pay is attention to Henderson rules: maintain good grades, be respectful, and behave.

Embed from Getty Images

 

Henderson has had to beg, borrow – he would never steal – over the years in order to cover the free ice time, equipment, and instruction.

The NHL, members of the U.S. Congress and Washington’s lobbying community  have helped by hosting an annual lawmakers vs. lobbyists charity hockey game, with part of the proceeds going to the Fort Dupont hockey program and rink.

Through the program, Henderson has helped guide his charges to victories on and off the ice. He’s seen alums from his program complete high school and go on to college or serve in the military.

Some, like Donnie Shaw III., have gone on to play hockey in college. Still others, like Daunte Abercrombie, became so hooked on the game through Henderson’s teachings that they’re pursuing professional hockey opportunities.

“Coach Neal is a true living legend and a man with a long list of accomplishments that continue to grow,” said Shaw,  a 2013 NHL/Thurgood Marshall College Fund scholarship recipient who plays for Elmira College in New York. “I cannot thank him enough for all that he has done for me, as well as the devotion that he personally puts into every single kid who joins his hockey program as if they were family.”

Happy 79th,  Coach Neal.

 

 

 

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • More
  • LinkedIn
  • Print
  • Reddit
  • Telegram
  • WhatsApp
  • Skype

Like this:

Like Loading...

Washington’s Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club featured on PBS NewsHour

17 Friday Apr 2015

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club, Hockey is for Everyone, Neal Henderson

Kudos to the PBS NewsHour for taking time in Thursday evening’s newscast to tell the story of the Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club, the nation’s oldest minority-oriented youth hockey program.

Since 1977, program founder Neal Henderson has shown that if you give a kid – no matter what race, ethnicity, or gender – a stick, a puck, some equipment, ice time, and a chance, they can become hockey players.

Henderson is a hockey lifer who teaches life through hockey. He uses the sport to instill teamwork, discipline, perseverance, responsibility and accountability in kids from some of D.C.’s toughest neighborhoods.  He’s a gentle man who preaches tough love, a task master who takes time to make sure his players are alright, both on and off the ice.

Hockey is lucky to have him. And PBS NewsHour was thoughtful enough to show viewers the essence of what he and the Fort Dupont program are all about.

Neal Henderson, far left, and his Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club  hang out with Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin (Photo/Patrick McDermott).

Neal Henderson, far left, and his Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club hang out with Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin (Photo/Patrick McDermott).

The Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club is part of the National Hockey League’s Hockey is for Everyone initiative which provides support and unique programming to non-profit youth organizations across North America that are committed to offering children of all backgrounds opportunities to play hockey.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • More
  • LinkedIn
  • Print
  • Reddit
  • Telegram
  • WhatsApp
  • Skype

Like this:

Like Loading...

Recent Posts

  • Asian & Pacific Islander heritage players on 2020-21 team rosters in pictures
  • Meet the Black players on NCAA women’s hockey rosters in 2020-21
  • Jaden Lindo adds new chapter to ‘Soul on Ice’ by winning hockey championship
  • Sarah Nurse seeks gold at IIHF world championship after winning Olympic silver
  • Hockey Family Photo Album, Page 2

Archives

  • May 2021
  • February 2021
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • April 2013
  • December 2012

Categories

  • John Tortorella
  • nhl.com
  • Uncategorized

Hockey Links

  • American Collegiate Hockey Association
  • Black Ice Book
  • Detroit Hockey Association
  • Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation
  • Fort Dupont Ice Arena
  • Hasek's Heroes
  • Hockey is for Everyone
  • Hockeyland Canada
  • Ice Hockey in Harlem
  • International Ice Hockey Federation
  • Jamaica Olympic Ice Hockey Federation
  • Kevin Weekes Online
  • NHL official website
  • NHL Uniforms
  • Ted's Take
  • The American Hockey League
  • The ECHL
  • TSN
  • USA Hockey

Powered by WordPress.com.

 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: