O'Ree hid loss of eyesight

0 Comments | USA TODAY, January, 2008 | by Kevin Allen

Loss of eyesight, rather than racial issues, probably limited Willie O'Ree to 45games in the NHL.

In his last season of junior hockey, a slap shot hit O'Ree flat in the face, breaking his nose and cheek and shattering the retina in his right eye.

"The surgeon told me, 'I did everything I possibly could, but you are going to be blind in the right eye,'" O'Ree says.

Only 19, O'Ree began working out and decided he could play with one eye. He kept the injury secret, even when he was called up by the Boston Bruins in 1958.

"They didn't give eye exams back then," O'Ree says. "I was a left wing and a left-hand shot, and to compensate I had to turn my head all the way around and look over my right shoulder."

Neither the coaches nor the...