1929 NY Americans photo

MS

1%er
Mar 18, 2002
53,367
83,458
Vancouver, BC
Came across this photo on wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:New_York_Americans_1929.jpg

Interesting photo in several ways - garbage not swept out of the gutter, Harry Connor's disturbingly high pants, Roy Worters' beer gut - but the most interesting thing is the black guy in the really sharp suit dead center in the picture between HHOFers Lionel Conacher and Billy Burch, exactly where you'd expect the head coach to stand (Tommy Gorman is off to the side). Struck me as really odd given the era, when pro sports including the NHL were pretty much completely segregated.

Anyone have any idea who this is and their connection to the Americans? Name appears to be 'Deckett' or something similar.
 

isles52480

Registered User
Feb 27, 2002
899
15
Portland, OR
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Came across this photo on wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:New_York_Americans_1929.jpg

Interesting photo in several ways - garbage not swept out of the gutter, Harry Connor's disturbingly high pants, Roy Worters' beer gut - but the most interesting thing is the black guy in the really sharp suit dead center in the picture between HHOFers Lionel Conacher and Billy Burch, exactly where you'd expect the head coach to stand (Tommy Gorman is off to the side). Struck me as really odd given the era, when pro sports including the NHL were pretty much completely segregated.

Anyone have any idea who this is and their connection to the Americans? Name appears to be 'Deckett' or something similar.

Boy I wish my Dad was still alive so I could frame that for him. He was a huge Americans fan and that led to his hatred of the Rangers as the Rangers pretty much forced the Americans to fold.

Thanks Dad, for passing on your love of hockey and hatred of the Rangers!
 

Snap Wilson

Registered User
Sep 14, 2003
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Came across this photo on wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:New_York_Americans_1929.jpg

Interesting photo in several ways - garbage not swept out of the gutter, Harry Connor's disturbingly high pants, Roy Worters' beer gut - but the most interesting thing is the black guy in the really sharp suit dead center in the picture between HHOFers Lionel Conacher and Billy Burch, exactly where you'd expect the head coach to stand (Tommy Gorman is off to the side). Struck me as really odd given the era, when pro sports including the NHL were pretty much completely segregated.

Anyone have any idea who this is and their connection to the Americans? Name appears to be 'Deckett' or something similar.

The NHL itself was never officially "segregated," although I'm not sure whether or not there were black players of NHL quality by that time or if the teams would have iced one even if there had been. When Willie O'Ree eventually broke in, Canada's black population was one-tenth of one percent of the total population. Translating it down to the NHL level, you would expect a black player to contend for one-fourth of an NHL spot.

Anyway, the position and prominence of the black man in the picture is rather ennobling. Makes me proud of the sport. Well, at least until I remember how many Russian players were treated when they first came to the NHL.

Anyway, great pic. Thanks for sharing it.
 

Stephen

Moderator
Feb 28, 2002
77,850
51,520
The NHL itself was never officially "segregated," although I'm not sure whether or not there were black players of NHL quality by that time or if the teams would have iced one even if there had been. When Willie O'Ree eventually broke in, Canada's black population was one-tenth of one percent of the total population. Translating it down to the NHL level, you would expect a black player to contend for one-fourth of an NHL spot.

Anyway, the position and prominence of the black man in the picture is rather ennobling. Makes me proud of the sport. Well, at least until I remember how many Russian players were treated when they first came to the NHL.

Anyway, great pic. Thanks for sharing it.

Conn Smythe famously remarked that if he could pay $50,000 or something to turn Herb Carnegie white he would. Or maybe it was some other black player, but the message was clear. The league was probably playing by some kind of segregation rule.
 

Nalyd Psycho

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Feb 27, 2002
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The NHL itself was never officially "segregated," although I'm not sure whether or not there were black players of NHL quality by that time or if the teams would have iced one even if there had been. When Willie O'Ree eventually broke in, Canada's black population was one-tenth of one percent of the total population. Translating it down to the NHL level, you would expect a black player to contend for one-fourth of an NHL spot.

O'Ree commented that he wasn't the best black player playing in the Quebec senior league. While it is true that there weren't many, and I believe there was no formal segregation. There was definitely an informal segregation. Possibly sponsorship related fears.
 

Snap Wilson

Registered User
Sep 14, 2003
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O'Ree commented that he wasn't the best black player playing in the Quebec senior league. While it is true that there weren't many, and I believe there was no formal segregation. There was definitely an informal segregation. Possibly sponsorship related fears.

That's how the NBA was, more or less. The owners didn't really care themselves, but they were worried that the fans wouldn't like it, and they were worried that Abe Saperstein, the owner of the Globetrotters who it was understood had a monopoly on black players, wouldn't play games in their arenas. At the time, Globetrotter games sold better than NBA games. Then Celtics owner John Brown drafted Chuck Cooper at Auerbach's instigation, the owners recessed had a small meeting about it and decided, "hey, what the hell?" A couple of other black players were drafted and the rest is history.
 

VanIslander

A 19-year ATDer on HfBoards
Sep 4, 2004
35,134
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the right stuff?

looks like a bunch of pudgy factory workers playing in a rec league
 

ClassicHockey

Registered User
May 22, 2005
595
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When we were working on the People's History book, we came across this photo. Although the name of the person is on the photo, if I remember right, we had no luck in getting precise info on who the fellow was and what role he had. It really intrigued us and we put it in the book anyways.



Came across this photo on wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:New_York_Americans_1929.jpg

Interesting photo in several ways - garbage not swept out of the gutter, Harry Connor's disturbingly high pants, Roy Worters' beer gut - but the most interesting thing is the black guy in the really sharp suit dead center in the picture between HHOFers Lionel Conacher and Billy Burch, exactly where you'd expect the head coach to stand (Tommy Gorman is off to the side). Struck me as really odd given the era, when pro sports including the NHL were pretty much completely segregated.

Anyone have any idea who this is and their connection to the Americans? Name appears to be 'Deckett' or something similar.
 

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