Henry Boucha, Ogichidaa: ‘You made others better’
Editor's Note: Dan Ninham, a longtime educator and coach from Minnesota who writes regularly for ICT, was asked to give a eulogy for U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame player and Olympian Henry Boucha, who died Sept. 18, 2023, at age 72. This is the speech Ninham delivered at a remembrance celebration on Sept. 29 in Warroad, Minnesota.
Dan Ninham
Special to ICT
Shekoli swakwek. Yawʌta nawʌ ni yu kyats. Owʌtsya Onʌyoteakʌ. Otha hyun nitalotʌ.
I speak my Oneida language when I introduce myself to others.
Greetings, I’m Dan Ninham, I’m Oneida and I’m from the Wolf Clan.
On behalf of my bride Susan, who is Anishinaabekwe, an Indian woman from Red Lake where we live, and I, we give our condolences to the Henry Boucha family.
I’m honored to have been asked by the Henry Boucha family to be a speaker at his funeral ceremony.
Related story:
—Hall of Fame hockey player Henry Boucha dies at 72
Bangii eta go ninitaa-ojibwem. This means, “I only speak Ojibwe a little bit.” As a non-Ojibwe I believe we should speak Ojibwe among Ojibwe people. This means we respect Ojibwe people.
Mikwendaagozi. This means “he is remembered” in the Ojibwe language. I remember a few years ago I visited Henry in the hallway at the Minnesota American Indian Chamber of Commerce gathering at the Mystic Lake Casino. He talked about his passion of recognizing other Indigenous Olympic medalists in a film project. He also talked about his own book that he especially was proud about.
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I believed we were eye-to-eye. I know Henry was six feet tall and I’m 6-foot-10, but Henry appeared to be eye-to-eye with me, and I even looked up to him. I’ve looked up to Henry for many years and a few decades.
Henry and I shared a passion of showcasing Indigenous athletes. We talked about him being inducted in the North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame that my bride and I direct. Henry is the elite of the elite, as all of our inductees are. Henry planned to be at the recent banquet at the Canterbury Park Expo Center in Shakopee. A few days before, he texted me he couldn’t make it because of his health. We and others wanted to see Henry there and also understood.
Henry is among other Indigenous Olympic medalist inductees and in 2024 we’ll have most of the Indigenous Olympic and Paralympic gold medalists from Canada and the U.S. in our Hall of Fame.
Henry will be recognized at two banquets in 2024, with one in Green Bay, Wisconsin, at the Radisson Inn on March 16 and the other in Bemidji, Minnesota, at The Sanford Center on Aug. 3.
When I think about Henry, I think of one of the seven grandfathers’ teachings of the Ojibwe. It is the teaching of humility. Henry has been humble as an athlete and a leader. A person of humility strives to do good things for his family and community.
Traditional Ojibwe people may have more than one Indian name. I understand one of Henry’s Indian names is rightly so, Ogichidaa … Warrior or Veteran. The warrior is not only the image of someone on horseback in regalia and holding a weapon. A warrior provides for and protects his family and community.
I think of Henry not only in the number of goals he scored. I found out he had almost as many assists as he had goals in his NHL career. When you have an assist before a goal in team sports, that means you are making others better.
Henry made others better. Miigwech.
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