To commemorate Black History Month, we will be celebrating the achievements of Black Varsity Blues athletes, highlighting their stories, and showcasing their impact in shaping the history of U of T.
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When Darren Lowe suited up for Team Canada at the 1984 Sarajevo Olympic Games, neither Lowe nor Canada made much about him being the country's first Black Olympic hockey player.
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"There wasn't at the time, and there still isn't, a lot of press about that," said Lowe. "To be completely honest with you, it wasn't something that really crossed my mind."
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Lowe's appearance in the Winter Olympics was one of several hockey firsts for the former Varsity Blues player and coach. Â
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He became the first Black player for the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins when he signed with them after Sarajevo.
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"I had two options when the Olympics were over -- to go to New Jersey (Devils) with no guarantee of playing NHL games, just signing a two-way contract and play either in the American Hockey League or maybe the NHL," Lowe said. "Pittsburgh guaranteed me that I would play in the NHL right away. Being undrafted, being 24, I said, 'Hey, this is my chance to play in the NHL.'"
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He finished with three points (one goal, two assists) in eight games for the Penguins, who finished last in the NHL in 1983-84 with 38 points (16-58, six ties). That earned Pittsburgh the No. 1 pick in the 1984 NHL Draft; the Penguins selected Mario Lemieux.
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(Darren Lowe suited up for Team Canada at the 1984 Olympic Games)
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Lowe earned a spot on the 1984 Olympic roster with his impressive play in Canadian and U.S. college hockey. At right wing, he scored 153 points (72 goals, 81 assists) for the University of Toronto from 1981-83 and 1985-86. He scored 46 points (25 goals, 21 assists) in 34 games with U.S. International University in San Diego, then a NCAA Division I program, in 1979-80.
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The Toronto native was the fifth-leading scorer (two goals, two assists in seven games) on a Canadian Olympic team that finished fourth in Sarajevo and was stocked with future NHL talent that included forwards Russ Courtnall, Kirk Muller, Patrick Flatley and Kevin Dineen, defensemen Bruce Driver and James Patrick and goalie Mario Gosselin.
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"It was an amazing opportunity," Lowe said. "As a little kid, I thought it would be really cool to play in the Olympics. I used to listen on the radio when Canada was playing Olympic hockey. It was a dream for me, but I never thought in my heart that it would happen."
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(Lowe, second row, first from the right, and the 1984 Canadian Olympic team)
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Lowe is also believed to be the first Black Canadian to captain a national team when he helped Canada win the 1984 Spengler Cup, an annual international invitational tournament held in Davos, Switzerland.
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He retired from playing professionally in 1991 after stints in the American Hockey League, International Hockey League, Finland and Austria.
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Lowe returned to the University of Toronto as an assistant in 1992, was named the team's head coach in 1995-96 and is believed to be the first Black person to lead a Canadian college or university team, a storied one at that. Lowe's coaching predecessors include former Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, Conn Smythe, Ace Bailey, Mike Keenan and Tom Watt. He was inducted into the U of T Sports Hall of Fame in 2014.
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(Lowe behind the bench for the University of Toronto Varsity Blues | Martin Bazyl)
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Lowe stepped down in 2017 after 22 years, making him the university's longest-serving hockey coach. He finished his career 263-288-30. One of his coaching jackets and a whistle are already in the Hockey Hall of Fame, and this past summer, his Team Canada jersey got the nod.
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(Lowe's Team Canada jersey being added to the Hockey Hall of Fame | July, 2020)
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"It's actually kind of impressive -- not to be boastful or anything, but at the time, I never thought much about it," said Lowe, who still teaches at the university as senior athletic instructor in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education. "But to look at it now and to say, 'You're the first to do this, the first to do that,' well, that's kind of interesting."
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"I just think it's a pretty cool thing to have that recognition to be in a place where people got to look at the history of hockey," he said.
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Pretty cool indeed.
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Source: NHL.com / William Douglas
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