The National Hockey League announced Monday that Detroiter Jason McCrimmon is one of three finalists for the 2023 Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award in the United States. The award is given “to an individual who — through the sport of hockey — has positively impacted his or her community, culture or society.”
McCrimmon is the president and founder of Detroit Ice Dreams, a 501c3 nonprofit committed to exposing more children from Detroit and metro Detroit neighborhoods to sports performed on the ice, particularly hockey, by making the sports more accessible and affordable. The winner of the Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award in the United States, along with a Canadian winner of the award, will each receive a $25,000 prize to be donated to a charity of the winner’s choice. The four remaining United States and Canadian finalists each will receive a $5,000 prize to be donated to a chosen charity.
“I’m beyond grateful to be mentioned in the same sentence as Willie O Ree, let alone have the opportunity to win an award that has so much meaning to the game of hockey and community impact,” said McCrimmon, who along with Karen Ota-O’Brien of Coconut Creek, Florida and Marty Richardson of Littleton, Colorado, are the three finalists for the United States version of the award. “Our program has an opportunity to gain a larger platform that would really showcase what we do for our community and the game. And I have such a great group around me, including our program manager Cynthia Wardlaw, as well as my mom, Barbara Nelson, who have put us in position to do all the things we do to make an impact.”
In a May 7, 2022, Free Press story, McCrimmon named Wardlaw and Nelson, along with Stamina Brooks, Jennifer Poole, Edna Walker and Noreen Adams as other members of the “moms club” that inspired him during his youth hockey days at the Jack Adams Memorial Arena. And he said these women continue to motivate him to be “a positive influence for kids in the city of Detroit.”
Along with providing coaching and competition, McCrimmon’s program reduces the cost for youths (ages 3-17) to participate in hockey through a variety of means, including sponsoring kids from families with financial need and providing a complete set of equipment to participants on a loaner basis. McCrimmon and the Detroit Ice Dream program also are vigorously engaged in community outreach throughout the year including turkey giveaways, distribution of care packages for the homeless, adopting a family for Christmas, and providing backpacks filled with school supplies to children in need. In addition, the 39-year-old McCrimmon has served as a youth ambassador for the Detroit Red Wings.
The winner of the Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award in the United States will be determined by a judging panel, along with a public fan vote, which begins Monday and lasts through 1 p.m. April 16 at NHL.com/OReeAward. U.S. residents, ages 13 and up, may vote for any finalist in the U.S., and there is a limit of one vote per person per day. The U.S. winner will be announced at the NHL Awards in Nashville on June 26.
The Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award honors the man who became the first Black player in the NHL on Jan. 18, 1958. O’Ree, who lost sight in his right eye at a young age, played professional hockey in different leagues for a total of 21 years. For more than two decades, O’Ree has served as the NHL’s Diversity Ambassador, and in 2018 he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.