Black history: push to have Nova Scotia’s John Paris Jr inducted into Hockey Hall of Fame

John Paris Jr. wasn’t just the first Black coach in major league hockey. He was the first Black coach to win a pro hockey championship, the first Black NHL Scout and the first Black general manager, he battled adversity, he battled illness, he changed lives—he’s an inspiration. 

Now, there is a push to have the Windsor Nova Scotia born Paris Jr. recognized as that inspiration and be inducted into the Hockey Hall of fame.

Garreth MacDonald, the play-by-play commentator for the Halifax Mooseheads, has helped lead and spread the petition Paris to Toronto to have John Paris Jr. considered by the Hockey Hall of Fame Selection Committee.

“It’s been remarkable getting a chance to know John,” said MacDonald. “Let’s face it, we haven't done a good job at telling these stories.”

Paris Jr. was born in Windsor Nova Scotia in 1946. Some of his earliest memories are of watching hockey night in Canada in crackly black and white, rabbit ears poking out of the TV set.

“My Dad had a ritual where we would watch the game and we would stay up late, and he would ask me a lot of questions. He would help me dissect the game,” said Paris Jr.

At that early age, Paris Jr. wasn't as interested in watching as he was in playing: “my uncle played, my dad played, my granddad played. It was part of the family—part of the genetics.”

Paris Jr., always humble, didn’t recognize his talent for it early on. It was early experiences with racism that opened his eyes to his skill.

“I was young and people would call me racial epithets. And my dad told me ‘they’re only calling you that because you’re good. You have more skill and dexterity at the game, race is the only thing they can attack you with.”

In the mid 60’s, Paris was Scouted to play Junior Hockey in Quebec by Scotty Bowman. He played for a farm team there for a while, but things got difficult when he became sick.

Paris Jr. was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma and ulcerative colitis in the late 60’s. At the time he was told he had a few months to live. His playing became more inconsistent, but he couldn’t give up his love for the game.

“Hockey saved me, and my wife. She didn’t listen to the doctors and she took me to games anyway.”

The doctors were wrong, and in 1969 John Paris Jr. began what would become a long and legendary coaching career. 

A manager, Charlemagne Pelicane, asked him to coach Jr Hockey. “I said Sir, there’s no Black coaches. You’re setting yourself up for a problem. He said ‘I’m not looking for a Black coach, I’m looking for a coach.’ When he said that I said ‘well you have one sir.'”

In 1987, Paris Jr. led his team, The Riverains du Richelieu, to win the Air Canada Cup (now the Telus Cup) undefeated. To this day, they hold the record for the only team to win undefeated.

He went on to coach the  Atlanta Knights of the International Hockey League. The Knights won the Turner Cup championship in 1994 under his leadership.

“One person is not responsible, it’s a group of people,” said Paris Jr. “to be honest with you it’s the players. The players talk and sometimes managers listen.”

Today, Paris Jr. maintains his humble attitude, “I never looked at it as breaking barriers. I’m a coach by choice and Black by nature. I’m just coaching. People would bring it to my attention either negatively or positively.”

He says hockey came first, but his identity in the game made undeniable impacts, “I had a [white] player once tell me that in his household, the n-word was commonplace. And he told me that after I coached him he would never let it happen again.”

Now, the push to get Paris. Jr. considered for the Hockey Hall of Fame is gaining momentum. The petition, which can be found at paristotoronto.com, has almost two thousand signatures.