JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Hockey isn't a sport where you'll typically see a lot of Black players on one team. So, when Daniel Hickman hit the ice 18 years ago with two Black players by his side leading the Jacksonville Barracudas, it was a huge deal.
Hickman sat down with Good Morning Jacksonville Anchor Keitha Nelson at the Community First Igloo ice rink where history was made during the 2006-2007 season.
"That was huge for me," Hickman said. "We had our championship here. We were a team that wasn't even supposed to make the playoffs. But, we beat the No. 2 seed and we made it there."
Hickman recalls being a part of the second team in professional hockey history to play with an all-Black line. The starting lineup for the Jacksonville Barracudas included Khalil Thomas, Tyrone Garner and Hickman.
"We were a force out there and we were flying," Hickman exclaimed. "I'll never forget those moments because we were so in-sync and I feel like we were feared out there."
Hickman, the Connecticut native of Puerto Rican and African American descent, loved the game, but quickly realized he was in the minority on the ice.
"Do you remember what it was like when you saw a Black hockey player for the very first time?" Nelson asked Hickman.
"I definitely remember," Hickman responded with a smile. "I was watching Peter Worrell in New Haven, Conn. at the New Haven Coliseum that was knocked down unfortunately. I remember going to the game wearing my Nighthawks hat and seeing this player out there. When I saw Peter play, this guy was a beast. He was like 6-foot-5, he wasn't taking crap from nobody, and it was just great! And to get him to sign an autograph after the game, it was just really cool. That led me to want to play professionally."
Hickman would in fact go on to become a professional hockey player. But he, like the greats who came before him, faced hate pelted toward he and his teammates' way on the ice.
"They see this [is] history-making, [an] all-Black line, but nobody sees what it was like in the past or the things I had to go through like Ku Klux Klan signs in the Knoxville bathroom before a pro-game or beating up one of their fighters in Tennessee and getting called the N-word going to the penalty box," Hickman said.
Hickman's studied the greats and hockey's Black history, a legacy to be proud of. The origins of hockey's Black history dates to 1895 in Halifax, Novia Scotia where the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes was born. The league was created by Pastor James Borden, James A.R. Kinney, Henry Sylvester Williams and James Robinson Johnston. Initially organized to increase church attendance, its popularity quickly grew.
Modern staples of the game including the slapshot and a goaltender's butterfly technique, can be traced to the Colored Hockey League with players like Eddie Martin and Henry "Braces" Franklyn.
By 1958, the National Hockey League saw its first Black player, Willie O'Ree. O'Ree blazed a path for future generations.
In 1984, Grant Fuhr's name was etched onto the Stanley Cup, a first in the National Hockey League's history.
The Hockey Hall of Fame includes African American greats, Angela James, Fuhr and O'Ree.
Hickman has witnessed the color of hockey players change over the years. And even though racism may still linger on the ice, he says the hard hits he's had to endure have not been in vain.
"Seeing all the people out there, I feel like Ty, Kahlil, myself, Peter Worrell, Willie Reed, all these guys are pioneers and I'm just proud and honored to be a part of that because it's a part of the game now," Hickman said. "We're no longer standing out, we are in it."
Vivid Hues: Hockey's Black History, featured artist, Chris Clark.