Jarome Iginla, the first black captain in the NHL, speaks on the 31 thoughts podcast about the protests.
Posted Jun 4, 2020, 8:47 PM UTC
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He wasn't the first? Dirk Graham, chi.
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It's literally the top post on this sub lol
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It was posted because of this and like 14 hours after.
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Iginla probably went through some serious shit to make it to the show in his day.
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Maybe initially, after he beat the shit outta them they probably stopped.
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Totally unrelated but I heard a story this morning on a podcast, Tic with a side of Tets, Jarome beat the wheels off of Chris Thompson in the WHL and told him afterword “call me in a couple years when you wanna go to school, I’ll pay your tuition.” Thompson was laughing while telling the story, seemed to have lots of respect for Jarome
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I love this.
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god this is why I love iginla.
he's the total skills package but isn't afraid to dust it up when he needed to stand up for himself.
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he's the total skills package but isn't afraid to dust it up when he needed to stand up for himself.
It's even better because opponents that would usually try to give star players a hard time and knock them off their game actively avoided doing the same to Iggy because getting him fired up was a good way to lose games.
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man that just makes people madder
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It sounds like Iginla actually didn't go through serious racism and had some good people around him.
As a kid, did you experience racism at the rink?
Once, I was playing and I overheard some commotion in the stands. And afterwards I heard that one of the other parents had said something [racially negative] about me, and one of our parents had went over and had a discussion with that guy, whoever had said it. Obviously, it doesn’t feel good. It’s wrong that that other parent is saying that. But it felt good to know that our fans, my friends’ parents, are sticking up for me. So there was good from it. But I never felt that I had any racial problems on my own team, or with coaching. I don’t feel like I ever missed ice time or ever got cut from a team [because I’m black]. But going to different places, there were some minor instances.
--Source
That being said, he's the sort of guy that would only have played harder and stronger whenever he ran into "minor instances" of it. Iginla just got mad and played better when he was mad. During his prime it was well-known that pissing off Jarome would only work to his advantage. Flames fans smiled and laughed whenever some dumb pest tried to ride or chirp Iginla because we all knew what would follow.
Iginla may not have faced a lot of racism, or maybe he just chooses not to talk about it. In any case, he offers a great example of how to respond to it. Get mad, but control that anger and use it as fuel to make you better.
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You make some great points. I can’t imagine he didn’t experience racism, but it probably doesn’t have the intended impact when the player punches your head in and scores three goals when he gets out of the box.
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And it's much less likely for the subconscious prejudices to have an impact when the player is so much better than everyone else that he's getting the star treatment from that.
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I can’t imagine he didn’t experience racism
I'm sure its hard to imagine but not every white person is racist.
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Wow great insight, genius.
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Username does not check out, way to miss the mark completely there guy.
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When Flames fans were watching games and saw someone lay out or piss off iggy before the second period was over... It was always a good feeling... Didn't matter how bad we were loosing..
A fired up Iggy and Kipper in net, often meant a comeback.
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For starters, he had to play most of his career in Calgary..
(In seriousness, Canada seems to have less of a problem with racism as US)
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Calgary is a pretty great city and he grew up in Edmonton.
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Calgary does have a history though. A lot of early KKK members and Confederate leaders who were rooted out of the American South for one reason or another settled in Calgary. It's like the Nazi's in Argentina.
Sorry you had to take out our trash, Calgary
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At least he didn't have to play for the Leafs.
!If you didn't understand it was a joke about the Flames, not saying Calgary is a hard place to play in!<
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Few hockey players command more respect than this man right here
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His scoring stats are phenomenal - 13 x 30 consecutive goal seasons is crazy. Respect!
(I know 2 of those were 28/29 or whatever but my point still stands)
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In one of the lowest scoring eras as well
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I officiated his son’s game 2 years ago. Honestly one of if not the nicest coach I’ve ever dealt with.
St. Louie was at the same tournament, can’t say the same for him
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If we could return prime Iginla to our team right now it'd basically fill our biggest hole
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I mean what team wouldn't benefit massively from bringing back arguably their most celebrated player in history?
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You're right. Prime Messier on today's Canucks would run an absolute show.
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I walked into that one
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Well you're not wrong. We never had prime Messier.
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Prime Messier on the original Canucks would run an absolute show.
Not the "basically a third liner" messier that we got.
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The Canucks, seeing as how it's linden and how much of a shit show it would be with management and ownership.
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Touche
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I more meant that the exact position we have the biggest need and style of play we need is Iginla.
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To be fair, Iginla was an extremely rare skillset that you see even less these days , a dominant power forward that can punch your face in and score. Prime Bertuzzi was similar, but it's really hard to find a guy who can light the lamp and be that tough. Corey Perry is the only other one I can think of in the same realm.
I went to look up prime Lucic and he's not even close, never got close to 40 goals or 70 points he's kinda the perfect player to demonstrate my point, he was a super celebrated "scoring thug" and he's not even close to that prime Iggy/Bertuzzi/Perry level being able to hit 40g/90pts. Ovi obviously fits the role too but he's an otherworldly scoring monster.
That's what made Iginla so beautiful, just how unique he was. Also he was extremeled composed and had such leadership poise but would destroy you if he needed to. I was jealous of Iggy/Kipper combo on the Flames for years between the collapse of the west coast express and until we finally hit our good stretch around 2009
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Prime Bertuzzi was similar, but it's really hard to find a guy who can light the lamp and be that tough. Corey Perry is the only other one I can think of in the same realm.
Shane Doan maybe? I always viewed Iginla and Doan as similar players. Doan didn't have that same elite offensive upside, though.
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The one in my heart?
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A lot of teams would pay big for a serious power forward
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Wasn't Dirk Graham the first black captain in the league?
That being said, not surprised at Iggy's comments. Such a good dude. Wish he got a ring.
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Dirk Graham
First captain and first coach, both with the Blackhawks.
Also, the 2010 *and 2013 Hawks teams doubled the number of black players that had won cups in the NHL. It was only 3 before those wins, and they added Byfuglien, Oduya, and Emery.
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Okay, I'm stumped. Dustin Byfuglien is one, who are the other two?
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I had that wrong, I was thinking of the dynasty years in total and not just 2010.
Buf in '10, Oduya and Emery in '13. That brought the total to 6. I know Daley has won since then, but I don't know if anyone else made it.
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Devante Smith-Pelly
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I'll be honest, at first I was a bit indifferent on the issue. I was shocked like everyone else at the footage, but realistically it's not the first time we've seen video of police killing a black man for no good reason.
However, as the days passed, my viewpoint has changed quite a bit. I had time to think and realize that at the end of the day everyone protesting is just asking for equality. Someone should not be treated differently due to the color of their skin. It also really helped bring cases of police abuse to the headlights.
I hope this continues until the 5 demands are met, and I hope more people manage to empathize and change their viewpoints as the protests continue.
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What are the 5 demands?
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Shorten that to one: abolish the police
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Nah I'll never say that. It just serves as ammo for the people against the protests to prove its unreasonable.
A well-trained, compassionate police is needed in a well functioning society. Unfortunately, American cops are neither.
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The police brutality which has been on display every single day of the protest should worry people of every skin color.
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I agree with all five, regardless of race. Yes, blacks are treated unfairly by police. But look no further than the Steven Avery case from Making a murderer and it's clear that police are simply incompetent in many respects.
Make policing a college education job. Have mandatory course on racial profiling, inequality, philosophy, and have a mandatory inner city outreach program where the students volunteer with minority communities before graduating. Make them learn to appreciate the people that wouldn't normally meet and make them sensitive to their needs, their lives, and their struggles.
And pay them! If we want smart, educated, quality individuals in these positions, you have to pay them and you'll attract talent.
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Why did they use the whitest picture available of Iggy? Weird choice
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Yeah I was very confused as someone that only really knows Bruins I was like this dude looks white so googled other pics did they brighten this photo up?
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I honestly never really knew he was black to begin with. I always thought he was aboriginal.
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I mean his first name was Jarome.
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And? I know a bunch of Joey's from the nearby reserve. Iginla isn't a very typical black name.
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O Captain My Captain 😭
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Loved him when he was here in Denver for a spell. Fantastic player and an even better person.
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I'm a big fan of Dallas Stars (draft) legend Jerome Iginla.
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So much so that you can't spell his name?
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Haha. Touche'. I trust autocorrect far too much. The last time I typed his name I ended up with "Karine"
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Best player in the NHL for 3 or 4 years.100% Class for his whole career.
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While Crosby was the one who scored the golden goal, it was Iginla who won the game.
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Thought that was a given. He won a board battle and gave a beauty pass to a wide open Crosby.
Didn't even have to look it up haha, shits burned in
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Love this dude!
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<3
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Even though he lit up my team over the years, I respect the hell out of him.
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I see Iginla. I upvote.
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Iggy... I wish we could have won one for him. BLACK LIVES MATTER.
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Dirk Graham was the first black captain in NHL history?
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I will never not love Iggy, genuinely wish we could’ve kept him for more than that one season
I just wish he could have one just one single Stanley Cup, if not with Calgary, then at least with Boston. Alas...
what are you talking about man he did win in 04 :)
Didn't get to raise it though
As much as i hate the flames you have to recognize the greats like Iggy, def deserved a cup
Definitely one of the best to not get one. Thornton too. It's a pretty small list. There's a few.
In our hearts he has one
Wish our team wasn't garbage when we had him. He was fading that late in his career, but the team didn't even give him a chance
It's pretty hard to not be an Iginla fan. Believe me, I tried for years.
My first hockey memory is watching Canada win gold at Salt Lake. At the time, as a 7 year old, I didn't know any of the players or anything, but when I started watching hockey consistently after that, Iginla became one of my favourites. The generation of players I grew up watching was him, Sakic, Sundin, etc. He was the last superstar of that group to retire, and it felt like I was leaving part of my childhood behind.
That said, it's crazy how the guy was a key part of both Salt Lake in 2002 and Vancouver in 2010. Flames are still my second team largely because of him.
He's the best.
I was struck by how, after 17 years in Calgary, he pronounces the city's name as no Calgarian would.
I'm struck by how many people in r/CalgaryFlames keep calling him "Jerome Iginla"
Should be an auto ban for mangling the name of the GOAT
(ONE OF) MY (ALTERNATE) CAPTAIN(S)