Larry Kwong Day Is Made Official

"King Kwong's" Legacy Grows as March 13th Celebrates First Asian NHL Player

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Color barriers are a interesting thing. Sometimes we rattle off “so and so broke the color barrier” as a point of trivia without taking the time to realize the gravity of what breaking a color barrier actually means. On March 13, 2025 the State of New York formally designated the day as “Larry Kwong Day,” a tip of the cap to the first Asian player to break the color barrier in the National Hockey League.

Larry Kwong (from Vernon, British Columbia and of Chinese descent) briefly played for the New York Rangers, one of the “Original Six” franchises in the NHL. And while his time on the team was short, I could only imagine what it must of felt like playing in New York being the first of anything during that time. Kwong took the ice on March 13, 1948 in a relief role in his sole appearance, but history had been made. This was only eleven months after Jackie Robinson broke the (black) color barrier in Major League Baseball the year prior, suiting up for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. And well, we all know how people were so receptive to Jackie taking the field back then.

Yikes.

But Kwong was on a different path. After the NHL stint was over, he went on and played for squads all across his native Canada and Europe in a career that spanned the better part of two decades. Not only was he a dominant player in the Quebec Senior Hockey League, he also evolved into a player-coach in England and Switzerland as well. Imagine achieving all of that while having to deal with good ol’ racism: the pollution you can’t carbon offset.

Here’s an excerpt of a review of the book, “The Longest Shot: How Larry Kwong Changed the Face of Hockey, written by Chad Soon.

One of the book’s ongoing themes is that, despite his growing list of achievements, Kwong had to cope with racism and discrimination throughout his entire life. He got stopped at the Canada-US border because of his cultural background and was subjected to racial slurs and insults at hockey games. In addition, his career development stalled when he was solicited for an AHL team but was prevented from playing by the Canadian government. Despite these setbacks, he remained passionate about hockey and did not let these obstacles dissuade him from seeking other opportunities. - Canadian Review of Materials

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But those in the know about Kwong knew how important he was to hockey’s history. However, stories like Kwong’s are typically the first to fade into the ether, especially by people who “don’t see color” or say “it shouldn’t matter where you’re from, it’s about ‘merit.’” I won’t even get into to the people who think it’s avant-garde to drop a ‘Who Cares?’ in the social media comment section.

Kwong passed away in 2018, but even then there was a push to make sure that his legacy wasn’t forgotten. Chad Soon, (the author of the aforementioned “Longest Shot”) wrote the book because even though Kwong was his grandfather’s favorite player, he realized not many were familiar with him:

“I remember thinking that my grandpa, maybe he was mistaken,” confessed Soon. “I hate to think about that now, that I doubted him, but it was just like, if he was such a big star, why isn’t there anything written about him anywhere?” - SIHR Hockey

There’s some really solid resources on YouTube about the man they once called “King Kwong.”

And there is a push to put Kwong in the NHL Hall of Fame

But if you ask me, the best way to keep the stories like this alive is to do things like the state proclamation that New York did this week. It’s the working with current teams to have specialty nights (and merchandise…yeah, I know…). For a league that is trying to grow the game, looking back to the history, no matter how uncomfortable it may seem to some, may be the right move.

It might actually get me to buy a Rangers jersey, because I sure as hell wouldn’t otherwise. Go Isles.