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Bigots made a big deal about Willie O’Ree’s skin colour, but leading the way for black players was not this gentleman’s only remarkable feat.

O’Ree was able to keep playing through the minors to earn his NHL shot despite being blinded in one eye in his junior days in Fredericton, N.B., making his eventual trip to the NHL — and next week’s induction to the Hockey Hall Of Fame — all the more incredible.

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He was hit by a shot from future Leaf Kent Douglas, but kept the injury from the Boston Bruins, who owned his NHL rights. His condition wasn’t fully revealed until the closing years of his career in the Western Hockey League.

We mention this because when Leafs defenceman Bryan Berard suffered serious eye damage in March 2000 from an errant stick and faced delicate surgery, O’Ree was among those who phoned him in support.

“I told him if you just know in your heart that you will overcome your handicap, you will,” O’Ree said at the time.