Larry Kwong Gave Asians NHL Identity 

Kristina Heintz didn’t even know her father, Larry Kwong, had played in the NHL until a relative mentioned it to her offhandedly when she was 11.

That was the type of quiet pride her dad, trailblazing forward Kwong, conducted himself with throughout a lifetime both within and beyond the world of hockey. As the first player of Asian descent in NHL history – and the first non-white not of indigenous descent to break into the league a year after Jackie Robinson shattered baseball’s “color barrier” in 1947 – Kwong didn’t exactly wear his unique legacy on his sleeve.

“He was kind of raised to be like, keep your head down and don’t draw attention to yourself or the family,” Heintz, 56, said. “Because they already were different. So, he was raised that way and he kind of carried that mantra with him throughout his life.”

Heintz and her daughters, Madison, 23, and Samantha, 25, will be on-hand at Climate Pledge Arena on Tuesday, Jan 28 to celebrate Lunar New Year Night, pres. by Alaska Airlines. Alaska will be providing them with round-trip flights to and from the game. The Kraken plan to honor Kwong, who died in March 2018 at age 94, at that night’s game against the Anaheim Ducks by giving his daughter and granddaughters a Kraken jersey celebrating his 1948 feat and its impact on future generations of Asians playing professional hockey.

Kwong will also be the night’s “Hero of the Deep” and a $32,000 donation will be made by the Bonderman family of Kraken majority owner Samantha Holloway to two non-profits supporting the Asian American community.

Lunar New Year Night is part of a continuing Common Thread series of themed Kraken games – highlighting the team’s commitment to diversity and inclusivity through yearlong community initiatives. It symbolizes the idea that regardless of our diverse backgrounds and unique experiences, we are all woven together by the same passion and devotion to our team.

The program takes a deeper look at growing the game of hockey and its impact extends beyond a singular game celebration within a season.

When it comes to Kwong, a singular game wearing his No. 11 was all he was given to make history. In fact, a singular shift at the end of that March 13, 1948 game in Montreal against the Canadiens and scoring legend Maurice “The Rocket” Richard was all the New York Rangers afforded Kwong – their best minor league player at the time.

It would be the only shift of his NHL career.

Heintz said her father never mentioned “racism” or “discrimination” as being behind his limited stint, despite the fact he led the Rangers’ New York Rovers farm club in scoring at the time and other players from that squad subsequently got greater NHL playing time than he did. But she said he knew there was likely more to that decision than his playing ability; he'd already been singled out plenty as a Canadian of Chinese descent growing up in Vernon, B.C.

“He never outright said it because my dad’s not the kind of person to go around and say things he didn’t know for a fact,” Heintz said. “Nobody ever came to him and said: ‘You did not play hockey because you were Chinese.’ But in his gut, he always suspected he was different. There was a lot of racism at the time. A lot more racism, from the stories my family tell me, than there was when I was growing up.”

In a localized twist of fate, Kwong’s lone NHL opportunity had come about because Seattle Metropolitans founder Lester Patrick, by then general manager of the Rangers, invited him to a tryout in New York. That got him placed on the NHL squad’s Rovers farm team, which he led in scoring the 1946-47 campaign with 86 points in 65 games.

The season after that saw Kwong – nicknamed “The China Clipper” and “King Kwong” -- promoted to the Rangers for his game against the Canadiens. He had already been honored at Madison Square Garden a year prior with a “keys to Chinatown” ceremony given for his minor league Rovers exploits.

But Patrick, his early champion, was no longer the team’s GM by the time Kwong got his brief NHL taste.

Convinced he wouldn’t get a true NHL shot, Kwong opted for better money in the highly popular Quebec Senior League circuit -- playing several seasons for the Valleyfield Braves in suburban Montreal. He played as an alternate captain under future Hall of Fame Canadiens coach and former “Rocket Richard” linemate Toe Blake, winning league MVP honors in 1951 while leading the Braves to the Canadian Major Senior championship.

Kwong faced several future Hall of Famers during his nine-year Valleyfield stint, including Canadiens legends Jean Beliveau, Jacques Plante and Dickie Moore.

In 1952, Kwong finished second in league scoring with his 38 goals trailing only Beliveau’s 45.

Beliveau, an all-star center considered perhaps the greatest NHL team captain of all-time, was quoted saying of Kwong: “Larry made his wing men look good because he was a great passer. He was doing what a centerman is supposed to do.”

Heintz said she couldn’t believe her father had played in the NHL when she first heard of it. She’d been born in Switzerland when he was coaching overseas, but moved to hockey-mad Calgary, Alberta in childhood so her dad could run the Food-Vale supermarket chain with his brother, Jack.

She’d quickly learned to worship the NHL – sitting down to watch “Hockey Night In Canada” on CBC every Saturday night like all her school friends – and was just blown away that her dad had played for the Rangers. Her classmates had always wrongly assumed she was related to Normie Kwong, a Canadian Football League legend of Chinese descent who’d played for the Calgary Stampeders, but not an NHL guy.

“I was like ‘You’re pulling my leg, right?’,” she said with a laugh. “Nobody here knew Larry unless it was from his business, the grocery store.”

But all of that changed with the onset of the Internet and researchers digging up his past. Towards the end of his life, her father finally began getting recognition long after due for his historical contributions to the game.

“He knew people were recognizing him and stuff and he honestly was really humbled he was getting the attention,” Heintz said. “He was like ‘Wow, people are actually interested in my story. Why me?’ It goes back to his inner strength to power through racism or whatever kind of discrimination he faced.’

In the days following his 2018 death, Heintz and her daughters were making funeral arrangements. At one point, Madison, her youngest daughter, stumbled across an internet quote from bestselling leadership author Jon Gordon saying: “There’s nothing more powerful than a humble person with a warrior’s spirit who is driven by a bigger purpose.”

The quote was used on Kwong’s funeral card. Heintz had it made into a sign that now hangs in her Calgary home.

“I think that quote is him all the way around,” she said. “He was powerful, but not in the sense of arrogance and money. Just determination within himself. He never ever saw himself as better than anyone else. But being recognized as the first Asian in the NHL, he was proud of that and humbled he was getting this attention.”