Angela James

Angela Diane James (born December 22, 1964) is a Canadian former ice hockey player who played at the highest levels of senior hockey between 1980 and 2000.

James was born on December 22, 1964, in Toronto, Ontario.

She is the daughter of Donna Barrato, a white Canadian from Toronto, and Leo James, a Black American from Mississippi who came to Canada to escape racial segregation.

She has two half-brothers and two half-sisters on her mother's side.

Her father, who was involved with a Toronto nightclub, estimates she has at least nine half-siblings by him, though Angela believes the number is closer to 15.

Among them is National Hockey League (NHL) player Theo Peckham.

A single mother, Donna raised Angela and her two half-sisters with the help of government assistance.

They lived in a subsidized townhouse in the Flemingdon Park neighbourhood of Toronto.

Donna worked as a bookkeeper and at the concession stand of the local arena.

She battled depression and mental illness and her eldest daughter, Cindy, worked two part-time jobs at the age of 16 to help the family meet financial obligations.

Angela was closest to her sister Kym, though the two often fought as children.

Her father never had a consistent place in her life growing up and did not provide financial support to the family, but was available if she needed him.

As one of few Black children in Flemingdon Park, Angela often faced insults, particularly over the fact that she was a mixed-race child with a white mother and sisters.

She often got into fights over the slurs, forming a combative attitude she carried into the game of hockey.

Her maternal grandparents never accepted Angela as a child, though they treated her sisters well.

James quickly developed an interest in sports.

Her godfather gave her a baseball bat and glove to celebrate her first holy communion.

She excelled at hockey, baseball, and synchronized swimming as a young child.

Her mother wanted her to focus on swimming due to the lack of opportunities for girls in hockey in the 1970s.

Her passion was for hockey, however, and she was constantly playing ball hockey with the neighbourhood boys from the time she was in kindergarten.

James first played organized hockey in a Flemingdon Park boys house league at the age of eight, and then only after her mother threatened legal action as officials opposed her inclusion.

James dominated the Flemingdon Park league.

She started in the novice (7–8 year old) age group, but her skill level was so much higher than her peers that she was moved up to atom and then peewee (11 and 12-year-olds).

James's participation in the Flemingdon Park league ended partway through her second year due to jealousy from the parents of the boys in the league.

The president's son was on James's team, and was particularly offended that his boy was being overshadowed by a girl.

He ordered a change in the league's policy to forbid girls from playing.

She was a member of numerous teams in the Central Ontario Women's Hockey League (COWHL) from its founding in 1980 until 1998 and finished her career in the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL).

She was named her league's most valuable player six times.

James is also a certified referee in Canada, and a coach.

She lives in Richmond Hill, Ontario.

Internationally, James played in the first women's world championship, a 1987 tournament that was unsanctioned.

She played with Team Canada in the first IIHF World Women's Championship in 1990, setting a scoring record of 11 goals and leading Canada to the gold medal.

She played in three additional world championships, winning gold medals in 1992, 1994 and 1997.

Controversially, she was left off the team for the first women's Olympic hockey tournament in 1998.

She played in her final international tournament in 1999.

Considered the first superstar of modern women's ice hockey, James has been honoured by numerous halls of fame.

She was one of the first three women inducted into the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Hockey Hall of Fame in 2008 and one of the first two inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2010.

She was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2009.

James was named to the Order of Hockey in Canada in 2021.

As of 2022, James serves as co-owner of & General Manager for the Toronto Six of the Premier Hockey Federation, as well as the Senior Sports Coordinator at Seneca College in Toronto.