ATLANTA - Morehouse School of Medicine President Dr. John E. Maupin Jr. received one of four inaugural Willie O'Ree National Hockey League (NHL) "Black Ice" Diversity Awards. Maupin accepted the award on Friday, Jan. 25, 2008 at the Westin Peachtree Hotel in downtown Atlanta. The awards were presented to Atlanta-area leaders who are trailblazers in diversity.

In 1958, Willie O'Ree became the first black player in the NHL, when he played for the Boston Bruins in a game against the Montreal Canadiens. Fifty years later, O'Ree is still involved in hockey as the director of youth development for the NHL's diversity program. In the past 10 years, he has helped expose more than 40,000 boys and girls of diverse backgrounds to hockey, while stressing the importance of essential life skills, education, and the core values of hockey: commitment, perseverance and teamwork.

Other award recipients include Frank McCloskey, vice president of Diversity and Inclusion at the Georgia Power Company; Eric W. Norman, vice president of Network Services, Ricoh America's Corporation; and Jackie Parker, vice president of Global Inclusion and Diversity at Newell Rubbermaid. Along with O'Ree, special guests for the 11:30 a.m. luncheon included former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young and NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman.

The event also featured George Fosty, hockey historian and documentary filmmaker, presenting parts of his upcoming documentary film with Darril Fosty, Black Ice: The Lost History of the Colored Hockey League.

Net proceeds from the luncheon will benefit NHL Diversity, which provides support and programming to not-for-profit youth hockey organizations across North America. Money raised also will go to the Atlanta Thrashers Foundation in support of several initiatives designed to engage diverse youth groups in the sport of hockey.

The 2008 NHL All-Star Weekend in Atlanta will feature live national broadcasts of the Dodge/NHL SuperSkills event on Saturday, Jan. 26 and the NHL All-Star Game on Sunday, Jan. 27 on VERSUS in the United States and CBC and RDS in Canada. NASN and other international broadcasters will provide live coverage of both the Dodge/NHL SuperSkills event and the NHL All-Star Game to more than 115 countries and territories in Europe. NHL RADIO on Westwood One will provide exclusive national radio coverage, which can be heard on stations around the United States and Canada a well as on XM Satellite Radio's NHL Home Ice