1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Willie O’Ree Congressional Gold Medal Act . 2. Findings Congress finds the following: (1) Willie O’Ree was the first Black player to compete in the National Hockey League (NHL), appearing for the Boston Bruins on January 18, 1958, in the throes of the civil rights movement in the United States helping to end racial segregation in the premier professional ice hockey league; he is widely referred to as the Jackie Robinson of Hockey . (2) Willie O’Ree was born October 15, 1935, in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada; he is the youngest of 13 children and a descendant of Paris O’Ree, whose name appears in the famous historical document The Book of Negroes . (3) Willie O’Ree was raised by his parents in Fredericton, a predominantly White town where hockey was deeply rooted within the culture. O’Ree was a standout athlete on the ice and the baseball diamond. (4) At age 21, O’Ree was being scouted by professional baseball teams and seriously considered baseball as a career. Upon experiencing the segregated South for the first time while appearing for a minor league tryout, his dream changed and his attention turned solely to ice hockey. (5) While playing amateur hockey, Willie was struck in his right eye with a puck and lost his eyesight. He was told by doctors to abandon his hockey career