Page 25 - NYLS Magazine • 2015 • Vol. 34, No. 1

You currently work as a federal prosecutor in Philadelphia. What kind of cases do you prosecute?
Over the years, my cases have largely focused on violent gangs and organizations, but I have also prosecuted my share of other crimes including official corruption, civil rights violations, and various white-collar frauds.
How did you come to write a book about hockey? And specifically, the story of Val James?
For years, I was a volunteer coach in the Ice Hockey in Harlem program. While spending time teaching hockey to the kids in that community, I became curious about the experience of the relatively few black hockey players who had made it to the pinnacle
of the sport. Val James was a fellow New Yorker who I had rooted for as a kid, so he was someone I wanted to learn more about.
What was your process for working with Val James on his autobiography?
I tracked down Val in Canada, where he had settled after retiring from hockey almost 30 years ago. He is a very private person, but we became fast friends. Val felt that it was time to tell his story. We spoke each weekend
by telephone, and I followed up with other interviews in the evenings. His memory is outstanding, and he tells a great story.
Has being an attorney helped you in the writing process? If so, how?
A prosecutor is frequently called upon to investigate and corroborate facts. These same skills came to good use in the writing of this book. Witnesses had to be located. Recollections had to be recorded. Memories had to be tested and double-checked. That’s all in a day’s work for a prosecutor.
Did your education at NYLS help you become a better writer? If so, were there professors who were particularly influential?
On the technical side, I am grateful to Professor B.J. George, who was my faculty advisor and who walked me through the nuts and bolts of my NYLS research thesis. I also learned from Professor Robert Blecker
how an enthusiastic and compelling telling of the facts can go a long way to supporting a particular legal argument.
Inevitably, a main focus of the book is the ugly, racist behavior of other players and fans. Val James says in the book, “When I started skating,
I set out to be a hockey player, not
a black hockey player. However,
the two concepts quickly became intertwined. And not by choice. From early on, there were some people who were determined to prove that being black and being a hockey player were mutually exclusive. And I was just
as determined to prove them wrong, by any means necessary.” When you spoke to him about the book, were you surprised to hear about how in the late ’70s and early ’80s, more than three decades after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball, racism was so rampant?
I was surprised both by the regularity and the recency of the abuse to which Val
was subjected. I suspected that a black man trying to break into a traditionally white sport had a tough time of it, but the slurs and the taunting were almost a daily occurrence on the road. Sadly, this isn’t as far back in the history books as might be expected. It took a very strong person to endure and succeed the way Val James did.
And now it’s more than three decades after Val James joined the NHL, yet racist behavior persists in the sport. The book mentions that someone in the stands threw a banana at Wayne Simmonds of the Philadelphia Flyers as recently as 2011. Despite incidents like that, has the NHL become a more welcoming place for black players in the past 30 years?
We still hear about incidents from time to time, but they are far fewer nowadays and they are universally condemned when they do occur. That is a big change from Val’s time. One reason hockey has been inaccessible to some communities is based on economics; ice hockey is an expensive sport.
For many kids, the lack of black players also meant a lack of potential hockey heroes
who looked like them. That is changing. The NHL has established a diversity office that is actively growing the sport in the inner city. Professional teams are supporting youth teams around the country. An enormous, privately-funded project is under way, which will put the world’s biggest ice hockey complex in the heart of the Bronx. It is a changing landscape since Val’s time.
What lessons, if any, have you taken away from working on the book and with Val James?
It is a good lesson about a young man who overcame tremendous obstacles to achieve a dream he was told was impossible. Val’s courage and resilience are inspiring.
Val’s capacity to forgive is remarkable. The abuse he endured stayed with him for many years. He couldn’t watch a hockey game without reliving these ugly episodes. He loved the sport and he endured so much to play it, and then he consciously avoided it for years because of the pain that was part of his hockey experience. He forgets nothing but he forgives all.
The book was published in early February. What kind of press attention have you received so far?
The press coverage has been terrific. It certainly didn’t hurt that, the day after the book was released, The New York Times did a positive feature on Val. That was followed by interviews and stories on NPR, BBC, ESPN, MSNBC, among many others.
Are you still a hockey fan? If so, what is your favorite hockey team?
Let’s go, Rangers! •
MEET THE AUTHORS 23
it is a good lesson about a young man who overcame tremendous obstacles to achieve a dream he was told was impossible. Val’s courage and resilience are inspiring.