Detroit radio icon and hockey fan Gerald McBride was inspired to write the screenplay for his film “Black Ice: The Rhythm” when he attended a sold-out University of Michigan hockey game and realized he was the only Black fan among 10,000.

Among the “Big Four” professional sports leagues in the United States, the National Hockey League has the least racial diversity among its players — 90% of whom are white and only 0.052% of whom are Black. In contrast, about 70.4% of NBA players, 53.5% of NFL players, and 6.2% of Major League Baseball players are Black.

With an eye toward diversifying the sport and breaking down barriers for Black athletes, Tennessee State University is poised to make history in the 2025-26 season by launching the first NCAA Division I ice hockey team at a historically Black college or university.

  

The NHL also was the last of the Big Four leagues to break the color line. Willie O’Ree, often called “the Jackie Robinson of hockey,” became the first Black NHL player in 1958 — more than a decade after Robinson debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. The Los Angeles Rams signed the first Black NFL player of the modern era, Kenny Washington, in 1946. Earl Lloyd became the first Black player to appear in an NBA game in 1950.

While outright bans on Black hockey players are a thing of the past, the sport has been marred by instances of racism in recent years. A banana was thrown at Philadelphia Flyers winger Wayne Simmonds in 2011. In 2020, New York Rangers prospect K’Andre Miller was taunted with racial slurs during a video chat.

Economic barriers also play a significant role. Hockey is an expensive sport, often costing thousands of dollars a year for equipment, ice time, and club membership fees.

The groundbreaking program at Tennessee State is part of the NHL’s efforts to confront racial inequity within the sport. Kevin Westgarth, vice president of hockey development and strategic collaboration for the NHL, told The Tennessean that the league already was discussing the establishment of a hockey team at an HBCU when he received an email from TSU Athletic Director Dr. Mikki Allen.

“We were having a brainstorming session around what it would take to get a hockey team on an HBCU campus,” Westgarth said. “Literally as we got off that call, we got an email forwarded from Dr. Allen at Tennessee State saying they’re interested in adding varsity hockey. It was beautiful timing.”

TSU is not alone among HBCUs in adding nontraditional sports in recent years. According to the Associated Press, at least 20 schools have added more than 40 new sports since 2016, including wrestling, gymnastics, lacrosse and volleyball.

Former NHL player Anson Carter, a co-chair of the league’s Player Inclusion Coalition aimed at diversifying hockey, said, “To have the ability to even open up the HBCU in the hockey space ... it really is a game-changer for young kids playing hockey in the United States and Canada.”

The writer is president and CEO of the National Urban League.