Larry Kwong

Lawrence Kwong was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward who was the first player of Chinese descent in the National Hockey League, playing one shift late in the third period of a 1948 game. He was the NHL's first player who was neither white nor Indigenous North American, debuting ten years before Willie O'Ree. Although denied much playing time in the NHL, Kwong was a top player in senior hockey leagues outside the NHL throughout his entire career and battled the likes of Jean Béliveau for the scoring race in Quebec.
Kwong came from a Cantonese-speaking family, and was also the first NHL player from Vernon, British Columbia, and the Okanagan region. Kwong's nicknames included the "China Clipper" and "King Kwong".
Kwong continued his playing career in Europe and became the first ethnic Chinese coach of a professional hockey club in Switzerland. In his later years, he returned to Canada and operated a supermarket, following his father's footsteps.

Early years

Kwong was born in 1923 in Vernon, British Columbia, as the second youngest of 15 children born to his Cantonese-speaking father who had two wives. His father had immigrated from China in 1884 for the gold rush in Cherry Creek, BC. His father later started farming and then went into the grocery business in Vernon, British Columbia, calling his store Kwong Hing Lung. Larry's Chinese surname was Eng, but decided to take the name of his father's store as the last name in his English name.
Just two weeks after his birth, the government of the Dominion of Canada enacted the Chinese [Immigration Act, 1923|Chinese Exclusion Act of 1923] which completely prohibited Chinese immigrants from entering Canada. Kwong faced numerous acts of racial discrimination during his youthful years in Vernon, as he recalled being denied service at a barbershop because of his ethnic background.

Early playing career

Kwong practiced ice hockey on outdoor rinks and frozen ponds around Vernon, before the city’s first indoor arena opened when he was 14 years old. He powered the Vernon Hydrophones to the midget hockey championship of BC in 1939 and then to the provincial juvenile title in 1941. As an 18-year-old, Kwong jumped the junior ranks to play senior hockey after a try-out for the elite semi-professional Smoke Eaters (senior)|Trail Smoke Eaters], who had won the 1939 World Ice Hockey Championships. In Trail, players who made the roster got good-paying jobs at a local smelter, but Kwong was denied a job because of his Chinese heritage. Instead, he was sent to a nearby hotel to work as a bellhop.
In early 1944, Kwong was drafted into the Canadian Army. Instead of being deployed overseas, he was selected to join "Sugar" Jim Henry and Mac Colville on the Red Deer Wheelers of the Central Alberta Garrison Hockey League. The Wheelers defeated the Calgary Combines in the playoff semi-final, before falling to Calgary Currie Army in the final series. In a game with the Wetaskiwin Army Colonels in 1945, Kwong scored 7 goals, including 6 in the third period alone, in a 9-3 victory over the Penhold Air Force team.
After World War II, Kwong returned to Trail and won the provincial senior hockey championship with the Smoke Eaters in 1946. In that BC Final series against the New Westminster Royals, Kwong led the Smokies in scoring and scored the Savage Cup-winning goal.
Later in 1946, Lester Patrick and Frank Boucher scouted Kwong and were impressed, signing him for the New York Rovers, a farm team of the New York Rangers. Kwong scored a goal in his debut for the Rovers against the Boston Olympics in Boston on October 27, 1946. At Madison Square Garden on November 17, 1946, Shavey Lee presented Kwong with the Key to New York's Chinatown. Kwong went on to lead the New York Rovers in scoring in 1947–1948 with 86 points in 65 games.

NHL debut

On March 13, 1948, Kwong became the first player of Asian descent to play in the NHL. Kwong was not the first non-white player, having been preceded by several Indigenous athletes, including Paul Jacobs, Taffy Abel and Henry Maracle. Kwong wore number 8 and played against Maurice Richard and the Montreal Canadiens in the Montreal Forum. This event came less than a year after Jackie Robinson shattered the baseball color line in the US. During this game, Kwong was benched until late in the third period, when he was sent to play his lone shift of the game. Spending just a minute on the ice, he tallied no points in what would be his only big-league game.
While several other Rover forwards were called to play subsequent games, Kwong was not, despite being the Rovers' top scorer and MVP. Kwong became convinced that he would not get an opportunity to prove himself at the NHL level with the Rangers, and he left the Rangers organization at the end of the season. In the off-season, Kwong accepted a more lucrative offer to play for the Valleyfield Braves of the Quebec Senior Hockey League.

Career peak outside of the NHL

Kwong went on to have a long and successful career in senior and professional leagues in Canada and the United States. Coached by Toe Blake, Kwong was named as an alternate captain of the Valleyfield Braves. In 1951 Kwong won the Vimy Trophy as the Most Valuable Player of the Quebec Senior Hockey League. That year, he led the Valleyfield Braves to the league championship and then to the Alexander Cup, the Canadian major senior title. In the following QSHL season, Kwong's 38 goals were topped only by Jean Béliveau's 45 tallies. In his nine-year tenure in the Quebec League, competing against future NHL All-Stars such as Béliveau, Jacques Plante, Dickie Moore, Gerry McNeil and Jean-Guy Talbot, Kwong averaged better than a point per game. Béliveau, who later became a Hall of Fame inductee, said: "Larry made his wing men look good because he was a great passer. He was doing what a centre man is supposed to do."

Player-coaching career

Kwong accepted an offer to play hockey in England and, later, in Switzerland, before it even became fashionable to do so in Europe. He expected only to stay for a year, but remained in Europe for 15 years. "I went there to coach ice hockey and then after six years of coaching, I decided to start teaching tennis as a tennis pro." Kwong spent one season with the Nottingham Panthers in Britain, scoring 55 goals in 55 games, before moving to Switzerland where he led HC Ambrì-Piotta in scoring as player-coach. With this coaching assignment, he became the first person of Chinese descent to coach a professional hockey team. He later coached HC Lugano, HC Lausanne, EHC Aarau and the Neuchâtel Young Sprinters. In 1960, Kwong led a team of expatriates, the Swiss Canadians, to victories over the Soviet and Czechoslovak national squads at the Geneva International Tournament. According to former Swiss Ice Hockey Federation CEO Patrick Bloch, Kwong was "a great ambassador and builder of hockey."

Personal life

Kwong was married to Audrey Craven in Nottingham in 1964. The couple had one daughter, Kristina Heintz. In 1972 Kwong returned to Canada with his family to run Food-Vale Supermarket with his brother Jack. In 1989 Kwong married Janine Boyer. He was widowed for a second time in 1999. Retired from the grocery business, he lived in Calgary, Alberta. Kwong died on March 15, 2018, in Calgary at the age of 94.

Honours & achievements

Kwong has been honoured on numerous occasions. Below is a list of select honours:

On-ice achievements

1939: British Columbia Midget Hockey Championship
1941: British Columbia Juvenile Hockey Championship
1946: British Columbia Senior Hockey Championship; scored the Savage Cup-winning goal
1947-48: Leading scorer on the New York Rovers, the top minor league team for the New York Rangers
March 13, 1948: Breaking the NHL's colour barrier by playing for the New York Rangers as the first player of Asian descent in the league
1950-51: Byng of Vimy Trophy winner as MVP of the Quebec Senior Hockey League; QSHL First Team All-Star Centre; league leader in assists, second in points, third in goals
1951: Quebec Senior Hockey League Championship
1951: Canadian Major Senior Hockey Championship
1951-52: Second in QSHL scoring with 38 goals, only behind Jean Béliveau's 45 goals
1957-58: 55 goals in 55 games for the Nottingham Panthers in the British National League
1958-59: Leading scorer on HC Ambrì-Piotta in the Swiss National League A

Awards

November 17, 1946: Received Key to New York's Chinatown in Madison Square Garden
2002: Calgary's Asian Heritage Month Award
2009: Heritage Award from the Society of North American Historians and Researchers
2010: Okanagan Hockey Group's inaugural Pioneer Award
November 23, 2011: Okanagan Sports Hall of Fame Honoured Member in the Athlete category
September 19, 2013: Honoured Member of the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame
July 23, 2016: Honoured Member of the Alberta Hockey Hall of Fame
December 7, 2022: Honoured with Paul Jacobs, Henry Maracle, Fred Sasakamoose and Willie O'Ree for breaking racial barriers in the NHL with a Canadian National Historic Event designation and commemorative plaque in Toronto
January 28, 2025: Seattle Kraken's Hero of the Deep Award
July 12, 2025: Honoured Member of the British Columbia Hockey Hall of Fame as a Player/Pioneer
Kwong's game-worn 1942–43 Nanaimo Clippers sweater hangs in the Hockey Hall of Fame as a part of its exhibit ''The Changing Face of Hockey – Diversity in Our Game.''

Honorary appearances

2008: Saluted by the Calgary Flames of the National Hockey League at the Saddledome
2009: Honoured by the Vernon Vipers of the British Columbia Hockey League in a pre-game ceremony

Movies and media

2011: Kwong's story is featured in the documentary film Lost Years: A People's Struggle for Justice, written, directed and produced by Kenda Gee and Tom Radford.
2014: The Shift: The Story of the China Clipper, a documentary by Chester Sit, Wes Miron and Tracy Nagai, had its theatrical premiere in Vernon, BC.
2015: King Kwong: Larry Kwong, the China Clipper who Broke the NHL Colour Barrier, a biography by Paula Johanson, was published.
2024: The Longest Shot: How Larry Kwong Changed the Face of Hockey, a biography written by Chad Soon and George Chiang and illustrated by Amy Qi, was released by Orca Book Publishers.