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The stars aligned on May 28, 1900 when one fell into Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan to become the first Native American to play in the National Hockey League.
That star’s name was Native American Clarence John "Taffy" Abel.
The future United States Hockey Hall of Famer broke the ice and built a bridge that helped unite indigenous people and American citizens of European descent, during highly segregated times.
He was a man who displayed remarkable drive and spirit.
“I am in the business of winning,” Taffy often told Nephew George Jones, a lesson the hockey legend spent his life making reality.
Up until Taffy’s fatal heart attack on Aug. 1, 1964, winning is what he did.
The sports star was born to U.S. citizen John Abel and Charlotte Gurnoe Abel of the Chippewa Indian Sault Tribe, known today as the Soo Tribe.
Thanks to a little known congressional act in 1888, Indian American women married to U.S. citizens could be granted U.S. citizenship. Taffy’s mother earned U.S citizenship upon marriage, later bearing Taffy and his younger sister as naturalized citizens.
“Most natives did not get that opportunity until 1924,” Jones said.
It was not until 1924 when congress passed the Indian Citizenship Act, granting U.S. citizenship to any Native Americans born within the United States territory.
“He lived in two separate worlds,” said Jones. “Among family and friends, he could be himself. There was much discrimination against Indians and blacks. On the public side, he was a white guy in a white world. He didn’t make it publicly known that he was native until after his mother passed. This type of oppression was common among racial minority groups.”
As a young boy, it was clear the future Olympian would skate in a direction of his own making.
Jones said the nickname “Taffy” came about when he was just a school boy who would sneak taffy candy into the classroom.
In a Michigan History Magazine article titled Taffy Abel: A Sault Sensation, childhood friend Sam Kokko shared some insight into the early stages of Taffy’s career.
Kokka said he and Taffy worked together throughout high school delivering coal and oil.
In the meantime, they attended local hockey games and played among a group of friends. They would sweep ice between games, earning ice time in lieu of money.
The pair organized a team called the "Sweepers," which competed regionally and went on to earn an amateur championship.
According to the article, Taffy played for the Sault Wildcats in the United States Amateur Hockey Association (USAHA) from 1919 to 1922.
Although the Wildcats lost in a January 7, 1922 match against the Canadian Soo, a local newspaper wrote: "Taffy jarred the carcasses of the Canadians."
“The thing is you have to be in the business of winning, but you have to be a good sportsman,” said Jones. “Winning is winning, but you have to shake hands with opponents after a match. His job with a body check was to put someone down on the ice or over the boards and he did it.”
Later that season, USAHA President W.S. Haddock threatened to kick Taffy out of the league: "We intend to put a stop to anything that savors of ruffianism."
The argument was eventually settled and Taffy continued playing and impressing.
As manager of the 1924 U.S. Olympic Hockey team in Chamonix, France, Haddock laid the past to rest when he recruited Taffy to the team.
“He was the first ever U.S. flag bearer in the Winter Olympics,” said Jones. “He had to pass as a white person in order to get in.”
Waving the American flag high into the sky of France, Taffy and his team returned home with a silver medal.
The defenceman played in five games in France, scoring 15 goals.
According to the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, Taffy later joined the original New York Rangers for its NHL debut in 1926.
“His big break came when some people forming hockey organizations in the U.S. saw him,” said Jones. “One of the teams was the New York Rangers.”
Taffy played alongside other professionals, like Ivan (Ching) Johnson, to win a division title in the first season. They claimed the 1928 Stanley Cup against the Montreal Maroons.
“When the (Rangers’) goalie got hit in the head by a puck and left unconscious the team’s coach, Lester Patrick, jumped in to sub,” said Jones.
Defencemen Taffy and Ching allowed no more than three shots to be fired at the net, said Jones.
“Taffy left the Rangers in 1930,” Jones said. “The Chicago Blackhawks offered him a contract.”
The Blackhawks purchased Taffy’s contract for $15,000.
The rest was history for the Blackhawks, having achieved its first Stanley Cup in the 1933-34 season.
The U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame said Taffy left an big imprint in pro and amateur organizations as a player, coach and manager.
“He had a lot of firsts,” Jones said. “He was the first ever U.S. flag bearer in Winter Olympics, first to win two Stanley Cups and the first Native American hockey player to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.”
His National Hockey League career consisted of 333 games played..
“He tilted the scale around 250 pounds toward the end of his career,” said Jones.
He was given popular nicknames from sportswriters and fans such as “Michigan Mountain,” “Mack Truck,” and “Stonewall.”
Following a contract dispute with the Blackhawks, Taffy took off the Blackhawk’s sweater No. 2 and went home with wife Tracy Adeline Rickena Abel.
They married in 1929. The couple had no children. They successfully ran two businesses in town, including a tourist hotel known as Taffy Lodge.
“After hockey, he went back to Soo and formed an amateur hockey league for the American Soo Tribe,” said Jones.
In his spare time, Taffy could be found on the ice coaching the Sault Sainte Marie Indians of the Northern Michigan Hockey League (or NMHL).
But Taffy held off on forming the league until his mother’s death in 1939.
Following his father’s untimely death in 1920, Taffy used some of his earnings to financially care for his little sister and mother. This is the uncle Taffy Jones remembers so fondly.
“We would travel from our home in Illinois to the Sault in the summers to see Taffy and Aunt Tracy,” said Jones, recalling childhood memories. “Other times, they would come to my family home. I was four-years-old in 1954. I remember him until he passed away when I was 14 in 1964.”
As a boy, Jones loved football and had the perfect role model to teach defence.
“Taff showed me the ‘Forearm Smash,’ ” said Jones. “My specialty in amarteur college fraternity football was the ‘Forearm Smash. I knew how to knock someone out with my forearm.”
“You have to be in the business of winning,” Jones said, repeating his uncle’s mantra.
As a player, Taffy spent a fair share of time in the penalty box, but those closest to him only saw a good person.
“I remember my mom always telling me that my aunt and uncle would invite her to Chicago,” said Jones. “Taffy was treated like royalty in Chicago. But during the depressed economic times of the Great Depression, my mother didn’t have a good winter coat. My uncle bought her one. The key thing I remember is that he was a great man. He was great in terms of being considerate, kind and helpful.”
Jones shared a story about a couple minors who were caught sneaking into the liquor store to buy booze.
“Some kid was buying bottle liquor,” said Jones. “He found out about it and counseled them. He also held charity benefits for native causes and mentored native youth.”
Nine years after passing, Taffy was posthumously inducted into the United States Hall of Fame in 1973.
The 4,000-seat home rink for Lake Superior State University’s Central Collegiate Hockey Association program is named after Clarence John “Taffy” Abel.
According to Jones, thieves broke into Taffy’s home sometime after his death. The Olympic silver medal was stolen, along with a scrapbook and pictures. These items have not been recovered.
