Alton White Breaks WHA Color Barrier

By Hockey Blog In Canada

Do you know who the gentleman is pictured to the left? If you don't, that's ok. I'm here to tell you. The NHL doesn't recognize any of the records set in the WHA by any player simply because the NHL doesn't recognize its largest rival to date. The WHA was the "rogue league" - a league whose players wouldn't be included in any international event that the NHL was included in. Because of this, there are a large number of records that have gone unrecognized despite the WHA having some impressive records set. The man to the left is a man who set a record that will never make a record book because of the NHL's unwillingness to acknowledge anything WHA. However, the man to left - Alton White - will be recognized here because of what he did.

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Comments

[Rudy Martinez]

Hey, did you know Alton White was the first black player to have scored 20 goals in a single major league season? In 1972-73, he had one goal and four assists with the New York Raiders, and after being traded to the L.A.Sharks, scored 20 goals and had 17 assists, for a total of 21 goals and 21 assists. Tony McKegney was the first to do it in the NHL, I believe, when he had 23 goals and 29 assists for the Sabres in 1979-80. But Alton WAS the first to do it in a major league, of which the WHA certainly was. You know, neither he nor McKegney get enough credit as black goal-scoring pioneers.

[Rudy Martinez]

I actually saw him play at the L.A. Sports Arena, a place where I saw many a great NHL player skate for WHA teams...guys like Bobby Hull, Gordie Howe, Serge Bernier, Pat Stapleton, etc.
I remember when I was around 13, Bart Crashley ( perfect name for a defenseman, Crashley)and some other Sharks gave us kids a bunch of sticks, some broken, some not so broken, but easily taped up by us, and enough sticks to form our own street and roller hockey league, first the Federation League and later the Metropolitan League when we included kids from Silverlake, Glendale, Hollywood and Melrose. And 30+ years later, me and some of the guys from those days are L.A.Kings season ticket holders. Hockey is for life!!!