Larry Kwong. Photo courtesy Vernon Museum and Archives
Author and columnist Tom Hawthorn wrote an obituary that was published in The Globe and Mail yesterday which I highly recommend you read. The author of Deadlines: Obits of Memorable British Columbians is known for penning some of Canada's best recaps of notable British Columbians' lives, and in his latest he shared the story of Larry Kwong.
Kwong was the first NHL player of Asian descent, and he was born in Vernon, BC. He passed away last week.
I first came across his story while visiting the Vernon Museum and Archives last year. We were filming an unrelated segment for our BC Was Awesome history show, interviewing some folks inside the museum at the same time their Famous Figures: 125 years of Vernon History exhibit was on. I took a tour through and was surprised that in the 18 years I spent in that town (I grew up there) I'd never heard of this man who I now view as one of the province's greatest heroes. He may have only played one shift for the Rangers in 1948 but his story is super inspiring, and I'm thankful that the museum, as well as Tom and the Globe, shone a light on it. I hope that more of our institutions can move more towards sharing these stories in the future, so the people who grow up here learn about more history than the stories of the white folks who colonized the province, and their ancestors.
Read Tom's obituary for Kwong HERE, and be sure to follow him on Twitter at @TomHawthorn as he shares insights into the interesting folks who have made our province what it is.
ICYMI My @globeandmail obit of trailblazing hockey player Larry Kwong:
— Tom Hawthorn (@tomhawthorn) March 21, 2018
"A man can live nearly a century and yet have his life's travails and triumphs reflected in a single minute of labour." https://t.co/C2DjhO6jsw pic.twitter.com/DpykWgT7Of
Below is Kwong's bio, from the Vernon Museum and Archives' Vernon Hall of Fame. He was inducted in 2011. It is reprinted here with permission.
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Larry Kwong
Born in Vernon on June 17th 1923, Larry Kwong found his passion for hockey by listening to radio broadcasts of NHL games by Foster Hewitt. By the late 1930’s, Kwong was playing with the Vernon High School Hockey Team and the Vernon Hydrophones, an intermediate boy’s team. The Hydrophones won the midget hockey championship of B.C. in 1939 and the provincial juvenile title in 1941. Shortly after, as an 18-year-old, Kwong jumped the junior ranks to play senior hockey for the Trail Smoke Eaters who had won the 1939 World Ice Hockey Championships.
In 1944, Kwong was drafted into the Canadian Army. Instead of being deployed overseas, he was selected to play on the Red Deer Wheelers of the Central Alberta Garrison Hockey League. After World War II, Kwong returned to Trail and won the provincial senior hockey championship with the Smoke Eaters in 1946. In that B.C. Final series against the New Westminster Royals, Kwong led the Trail team in scoring and even made the winning goal that secured the team the Savage Cup. Later that year, hockey scout, Lester Patrick, saw Kwong play and was impressed enough to sign him for the New York Rovers, a farm team of the New York Rangers. Kwong scored a goal in his debut for the Rovers against the Boston Olympics in Boston on Oct. 27, 1946. At Madison Square Gardens on Nov. 17, 1946, Kwong was presented with the Keys to New York’s Chinatown. Kwong went on to lead the New York Rovers in scoring in 1947–1948 with 86 points in 65 games.
Less than a year after Jackie Robinson shattered the baseball colour line, Larry Kwong broke the barrier in hockey. On March 13, 1948, Kwong made his NHL debut with the New York Rangers against the Montreal Canadians in the Montreal Forum. Kwong had to wait until late in the third period before seeing the ice for his only shift of the night. He tallied no points in what would be his only big-league game. The Rovers' top scorer had watched several other Rover forwards get called to the NHL ahead of him. Demoted after a single minute, Kwong became convinced that he would not get an opportunity to prove himself at the NHL level with the Rangers. In the off-season, Kwong accepted a more lucrative offer to play for the Valleyfield Braves of the Quebec Senior Hockey League (QSHL).
Kwong went on to have a long and productive career in senior leagues in Canada and the United States. Coached by Toe Blake, Kwong was named as an assistant captain of the Valleyfield Braves of the Quebec Senior Hockey League. In 1951, Kwong won the Vimy Trophy as the Most Valuable Player of the QSHL. That year, he led the Braves to the league championship and then to the Alexander Cup, the Canadian major senior title. In the following QSHL season (1951–52), Kwong's 38 goals were topped only by Jean Beliveau’s 45 tallies. In his nine-year tenure in the Quebec League, competing against future NHL All-Stars such as Béliveau, Jacque Plante, Dickie Moore, Gerry McNiel and Jean-Guy Talbot, Kwong averaged better than a point per game. Kwong also spent one season with the Nottingham Panthers in Britain, scoring 55 goals in 55 games.
