Dr. Herbert Carnegie

Dr. Herbert Carnegie

Dr. Herbert Carnegie

By Francine Buchner

Dr. Herbert Carnegie founded the first organized hockey school in North York, Canada in 1955 and called it Future Aces, “it’s the best card in the deck. If anyone calls you an ace, smile and say, thank you because they are telling you that you are really a nice person. 

A year later he wrote the Future Aces Creed, a code of ethics, a character guideline that helped Carnegie heal his soul and take a proactive approach to life’s challenges, “I will develop a positive attitude toward all people and toward my work. I will co-operate with and respect others by seeking understanding will all people, regardless of race, gender or beliefs. I will show empathy and consideration by advancing the values that are important to me and others.

I will be of service to others. I will because I’ve got to change myself. No one will change me,” said Carnegie. In 1987 Dr. Herbert Carnegie founded the Herbert H. Carnegie Future Aces Foundation, a non-profit, registered, charitable organization. Their mandate is to foster self-esteem and ethical behaviour through the application of the Future Aces Creed and to assist youth and adults to attain the highest level of achievement within their capabilities.

Dr. Carnegie achieved all this because of and in spite of having his dream of playing in the National Hockey League (NHL) stolen from him in his prime, because he is a black man, it was the 1940’s in Canada and racism was very much alive.