Color of Hockey: Paris first black coach to win pro hockey title

Ironically, he succeeded Paris, who coached the team from 1996-97 to 1998-99."I don't think people understand that what John did in Atlanta, how important it was," said Dave Starman, a hockey analyst for NHL Network and CBS Sports Network who coached under Paris at minor league stops in Atlanta and Macon. He's one of the more unique human beings I've ever been associated with."Paris believes that more coaches of color are on the way in the near future thanks, in part, to initiatives such as the NHL Declaration of Principles, which seeks to provide a safe, positive and inclusive environment in hockey regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation and socioeconomic status.He said Commissioner Gary Bettman's announcement at the NHL Board of Governors meeting in Pebble Beach, California, in December to accelerate a strategic plan focusing on culture and inclusion in hockey will also help. Commissioner Bettman outlined the plan in response to allegations regarding alleged abusive behavior from certain coaches, initially brought into focus by former NHL player Akim Aliu."Gary Bettman, I'll tip my hat to him and to the National Hockey League, because they did not sugarcoat it," the 73-year-old Paris said. Kahlil Thomas, Akil's father, is an assistant with Greenville of the ECHL.At the college level, Paul Jerrard, a former Calgary Flames and Dallas Stars assistant, joined the University of Nebraska-Omaha coaching staff in May 2018; Leon Hayward has been coaching at Colorado College since 2017; and Duante Abercrombie, who played for U.S. Hockey Hall of Famer Neal Henderson's Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club, is an assistant at Stevenson University, an NCAA Division III school near Baltimore.Paris grew up in Windsor, Nova Scotia, where he developed into such a talented player that a young Montreal Canadiens scout named Scotty Bowman (who became the winningest coach in NHL history and won the Stanley Cup nine times) paid his family a visit in May 1963. "Most of the problems I had were from other states that weren't in the South, the hate mail and that."The hateful messages didn't seem to bother Paris, said Brent Gretzky, who was a Lightning prospect on the Knights."He never brought attention to himself or 'Hey, I'm the black coach here,'" the younger brother of NHL all-time scoring leader Wayne Gretzky said.