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The National Hockey League revealed Monday that Detroiter Jason McCrimmon is one of three candidates in the United States for the 2023 Willie O'Ree Community Hero Award. The award is presented "to an individual who has positively impacted his or her community, culture, or society through the sport of hockey."
McCrimmon is the president and founder of Detroit Ice Dreams, a 501c3 nonprofit dedicated to introducing more children from Detroit and metro Detroit communities to ice sports, especially hockey, by making them more available and cheap. The winner of the Willie O'Ree Community Hero honor in the United States, as well as the winner of the honor in Canada, will each receive a $25,000 reward to be given to the recipient's choice of charity. The four surviving candidates from the United States and Canada will each receive a $5,000 reward to be given to a charity of their choice.
"I'm beyond grateful to be mentioned in the same sentence as Willie O Ree, let alone have the opportunity to win an award that has so much meaning to the game of hockey and community impact," said McCrimmon, who is one of three finalists for the United States version of the award, along with Karen Ota-O'Brien of Coconut Creek, Florida and Marty Richardson of Littleton, Colorado. "Our program has the potential to gain a larger platform that will allow us to truly showcase what we do for our community and the game." And I have such a wonderful team around me, including our program manager Cynthia Wardlaw and my mother, Barbara Nelson, who have enabled us to do everything we do to make a difference."
McCrimmon listed Wardlaw and Nelson, as well as Stamina Brooks, Jennifer Poole, Edna Walker, and Noreen Adams, as members of the "moms club" who influenced him during his junior hockey days at the Jack Adams Memorial Arena, in a May 7, 2022, Free Press article. These ladies, he says, continue to inspire him to be "a positive influence for kids in the city of Detroit."
A judging team and a public fan poll will decide the winner of the Willie O'Ree Community Hero Award in the United States, which starts Monday and runs through 1 p.m. April 16 at NHL.com/OReeAward. Residents of the United States, aged 13 and up, may vote for any finalist in the United States, with a maximum of one ballot per individual per day. The victor for the United States will be revealed on June 26 at the NHL Awards in Nashville.
The Willie O'Ree Community Hero Award recognizes the guy who became the NHL's first Black athlete on January 18, 1958. O'Ree, who lost sight in his right eye at an early age, played professional hockey for 21 years in various divisions. O'Ree has been the NHL's Diversity Ambassador for over two decades, and he was admitted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2018.
Daniel Weinman was crowned winner of the 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event on Monday, taking home a record breaking $12.1 million in winnings. Weinman had to outlast the other 10,043 entrants to take home the prize and get his hands on his share of live poker’s largest ever prize pool – a staggering $93,399,900. As well as taking home the prize money, 35-year-old Weinman also got his hands on the WSOP Main Event bracelet. The huge bracelet contains 500 grams of 10-karat yellow gold, as well as 2,352 various precious gemstones.
Daniel Weinman won the World Series of Poker's main event world championship on Monday in Las Vegas, earning $12.1 million along the way. Playing in the tournament for a 16th year, Weinman was tops in a deep pool of 10,043 players vying for $93.39 million. His victory came after just 164 hands at the final table. "I was honestly on the fence about even coming back and playing this tournament," the 35-year-old Atlanta native told reporters afterward. Weinman's final table featured Jan-Peter Jachtmann, who landed in fourth place and took home $3 million, as well as Toby Lewis, who finished seventh and secured $1.42 million. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the main event's entry pool far outpaced the previous record of 8,773 set in 2006. "I've always kind of felt that poker was kind of going in a dying direction, but to see the numbers at the World Series this year has been incredible," Weinman said. "And to win this main event, it doesn't feel real. I mean, [there's] so much luck in a poker tournament. I thought I played very well." Steven Jones finished second, securing $6.5 million. And Adam Walton settled for third and a $4 million prize.
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