Native American Trailblazer Inspires with Reflections on His Journey on the Ice and Beyond
Last month, Laurentian University (LU), a bilingual public university in Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, founded in 1960, celebrated Indigenous People’s Day by inviting Ted Nolan of the Garden River First Nation reserve. He is a Canadian Ojibwe and trailblazer for Indigenous representation, enduring racism as a professional hockey player and coach whose career marked a great example of resilience and diverse excellence.
“It’s not always right to just share our trauma,” said Dominic Beaudry, LU’s vice president of Academic and Indigenous Programs.
“We also need to begin to share some of the success stories and some of the leaders in our community and I believe Ted Nolan is an exceptional leader and wanted to ensure his story was shared here.”
Growing up in poverty, Nolan faced racial harassment but rose through hockey’s ranks. He was drafted 78th overall in the 1978 NHL Draft and played three seasons as a left winger for the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins. His playing career also spanned the Ontario Hockey League’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and a handful of minor league teams.
As coach, he led the Greyhounds to three consecutive Memorial Cup appearances from 1991 to 1993, winning the championship in his final year. He became the NHL's first Indigenous head coach, leading the Buffalo Sabres (1995–1997, 2013–2015) and New York Islanders (2006–2008). He earned the Jack Adams Award in 1996–97 for guiding the Sabres to a Northeast Division title. He also coached the Latvia men’s national team at the 2014 Sochi Olympics and briefly the Poland men’s national team (2017–18).
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The former NHL Coach of the Year recounted how his father, who passed away when he was 16, taught him to “work with what you got.” Nolan reflected on the hardships of growing up with limited resources, facing obstacles like racism and discrimination, and battling multiple myeloma, a type of cancer affecting bone marrow. He lost his mother to a drunk driver at 20, and when his professional coaching career ended abruptly, he fell into a dark place in his life.
“The rumors started percolating and a lot of them were derogatory statements about our people -- drinking and lazy and those types of things that probably hurt the most versus losing the job,” said Nolan.
“Perseverance word always sticks with me,” Nolan said.
“We gotta’ learn to fight through it and eventually you are gonna’ find that one person and that’s all you need sometimes. Just that one person who believes in you.”
(Alana Everson/CTV News)
The university presented Nolan with an Anishnaabe medallion necklace, an Indigenous heirloom with great cultural significance. The medallion honors Nolan’s perseverance and sets an example for everyone to treat others with dignity and respect.
Nolan founded the Ted Nolan Foundation in 2004 to support First Nations women’s scholarships and co-created the 3NOLANS First Nation Hockey School with sons Brandon and Jordan, both retired NHL Players. His memoir, “Life in Two Worlds” (2023), chronicles his journey and highlights his impact on and off the ice.
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