Bill Riley (ice hockey, born 1950)

Did You Know?

• Riley was roommates with Dave Feamster, and together they once poached a deer to provide meat for Riley and his family.
• Riley's son, Billy Jr., was killed in a motor vehicle accident in 2011 in Moncton at age 35.
• In 2017, after seeing a segment on Hockey Night in Canada about Bill Barilko, Riley sent his daughter to clean Barilko's tombstone.

Early life

Bill Riley grew up in a home where money was tight. His mother cleaned houses, and his father earned $1.25 an hour, the minimum wage at the time. Despite the financial strain, his parents sacrificed to buy him the gear he needed to start playing peewee hockey. He kept with the sport even though there were very few Black players to look up to. After two seasons with the Amherst Ramblers—a team he would later coach—he had no dreams of turning professional. In 1973, while working at a factory and playing senior hockey for the Kitimat Eagles in British Columbia, Riley caught the attention of Tom McVie, a future NHL coach who was building up the Dayton Gems of the International Hockey League. McVie spotted Riley after he had racked up 206 points over 80 games in two seasons. Riley tried out for the Gems and made the team in 1974.

Career

Riley was given a tryout with the Washington Capitals during their inaugural season in 1974-75 and played just one game on December 26, 1974. In that game, he shared the ice with Capitals left winger Mike Marson, making the duo the first black teammates in the NHL. Riley spent the rest of that season and the next in the minors with Dayton, where he was reunited with and played under future Capitals coach McVie. He was signed as a free agent by the Capitals during the 1976–77 NHL season and played for the team in parts of the next three seasons. Riley was claimed by the Winnipeg Jets in the 1979 NHL Expansion Draft, but played only 14 games before being sent to the minors. He played for the New Brunswick Hawks, Moncton Alpines, and Nova Scotia Voyageurs until retiring after the 1983–84 season. Riley was captain of the 1981-82 Hawks team that won the AHL's Calder Cup championship. He later returned to the ice as player-coach and captain of the St. John's Capitals of the Newfoundland Senior Hockey League for three seasons during the late 1980s.