Like most kids growing up in Edmonton, Jarome Iginla admired Oilers legends Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier. As a young Black hockey player, he paid particular attention when he saw someone in the NHL who looked like him in Grant Fuhr.
Iginla idolized Fuhr, cherishing their pictures taken together over the years, and soon will join him in the Hockey Hall of Fame. The longtime Calgary Flames captain headlined the hall's six-person 2020 class Wednesday, making it in his first year of eligibility.
Iginla will be the fourth Black player inducted after Fuhr, women’s hockey pioneer Angela James and Willie O’Ree.