Willie O’Ree once had to wait for two police officers to escort him off the ice in Chicago after a benches-clearing brawl, which began when his front teeth were purposely knocked out by the butt end of an opponent’s stick.

Another time, he had to be pulled away from a mob of hostile fans at Madison Square Garden who tried to yank him into the stands.

O’Ree, the first black player in the N.H.L., endured a lot over his 24 seasons in professional hockey, most of them in the minor leagues. But he loved the game so dearly that after a puck hit him in the face at age 19, permanently blinding his right eye, he stayed quiet about the disability so that no doctor would rule him unfit to play.

For his contributions to the sport, O’Ree, 83, will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday in the builder category. He is being honored not just for the historical significance of his N.H.L. career, but also for his decades of working with young players all over North America through various youth hockey and outreach programs.