First NHL player of Chinese ancestry, Larry Kwong, dies at 94

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      Larry Kwong only played one shift with the New York Rangers in 1948, but the Vernon-born hockey player still made it into the history books.

      That's because he became the first person of colour in the NHL, one year after Jackie Robinson broke the colour barrier in Major League Baseball.

      Kwong, a member of the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame, died on March 15 in Calgary at the age of 94.

      The so-called China Clipper was sent back down to the minors after his only NHL shift, going on to score 37 goals and 84 points with the Valleyfield Braves of the Quebec Senior Hockey League.

      He scored more than 20 goals in five more seasons in Valleyfield, averaging more than a point a game playing against future NHL stars such as Jean Beliveau, Dickie Moore, and Jacques Plante.

      After retiring from hockey, Kwong went into the grocery business with his brother Jack.

      His life story was told in Paula Johanson's 2015 biography, King Kwong: Larry Kwong, the China Clipper Who Broke the NHL Colour Barrier.

      CBC broadcast this documentary on Larry Kwong in 2013.

       

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