William James Riley (20 September 1950 – 29 March 2026) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player, and was the third black player and first of African Nova Scotian descent in the National Hockey League (NHL). He played 139 games for the Washington Capitals and Winnipeg Jets between 1974 and 1980. The rest of his career, which lasted from 1974 to 1989, was spent in the minor leagues.

Early life Riley's mother worked as a cleaning lady, while his father earned the minimum wage of $1.25 per hour. With limited finances, they made the necessary sacrifices to outfit their son with the required equipment to play hockey starting in peewee. Riley stuck with the game in spite of the absence of many black role models in the sport. After two seasons with the Amherst Ramblers, a team he would go on to coach many years later, he held no aspirations of pursuing hockey as a big-league career.

In 1973 while working in a factory and playing senior hockey with the Kitimat Eagles senior team in the Pacific Northwest Hockey League in British Columbia, Riley was discovered after putting up 206 points in 80 games across two seasons. Future NHL coach Tom McVie was in the process of fortifying his lineup for the Dayton Gems of the International Hockey League (IHL). He discovered Riley in Kitimat and invited him for a tryout. Riley accepted and made the club in 1974.

Career Riley was given a tryout with the Washington Capitals during their inaugural season in 1974-75 and played just one game on 26 December 1974. In that game, he shared the ice with Capitals left winger Mike Marson, making the duo the first black teammates in the NHL. Riley spent the rest of the season and the next season in the minors with Dayton. It was during this time that he was reunited with and played under future Capitals' coach McVie. He would eventually be signed as a free agent by the Capitals during the 1976–77 NHL season and played for the team in parts of the next three seasons.

Riley was claimed by the Winnipeg Jets in the 1979 NHL Expansion Draft, but only played in 14 games before he was sent to the minors, where he played, with the New Brunswick Hawks, Moncton Alpines and the Nova Scotia Voyageurs, until he retired following the 1983–84 season. Riley was the captain on the 1981-82 Hawks teams that won the AHL's Calder Cup championship.

Riley was back on the ice as player-coach and captain of the St. John's Capitals of the Newfoundland Senior Hockey League for three seasons during the late 1980s.

Coaching career After retiring from professional play, Riley returned to coaching in 1989-90, when he landed a head coaching position with the Amherst Ramblers of the Maritime Junior A Hockey League. Later, he was the head coach, general manager and director of player personnel of the Miramichi Timberwolves of the Maritime Junior A Hockey League. He also served as head coach of the Moncton Wildcats during the 1996–97 season, finishing with a 16–52–2 record.

Personal life and death Riley was roommates with Dave Feamster, and together they once poached a deer, to provide meat for Riley and his family.

Riley's son, Billy Jr., was killed in a motor vehicle accident in 2011 in Moncton at age 35.

In 2017, after seeing a segment on Hockey Night in Canada about Toronto Maple Leafs player Bill Barilko, Riley sent his daughter, who lived in Timmins, to the site of Barilko's grave to clean his tombstone.

Riley died from cancer on 29 March 2026, aged 75.James William "Bill" Riley

Awards and honours

Calder Cup (As a player) - 1982 Callaghan Cup (As a coach) - 1990 Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame - 1998 Number 8 jersey retired by Amherst Ramblers - 2013

Career statistics Regular season and playoffs Regular seasonPlayoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1968–69 Amherst Ramblers MJHL 48 32 32 64 — — — — — — 1969–70 Amherst Ramblers MJHL 30 34 28 62 — 1 0 0 0 0 1970–71 Amherst Square M's MJHL — — — — — — — — — — 1971–72 Kitimat Eagles BCSHL — — — — — — — — — — 1972–73 Kitimat Eagles BCSHL 40 56 32 88 — — — — — — 1973–74 Kitimat Eagles BCSHL 40 76 42 118 — — — — — — 1974–75 Washington Capitals NHL 1 0 0 0 0 — — — — — 1974–75 Dayton Gems IHL 63 12 16 28 279 14 5 0 5 29 1975–76 Dayton Gems IHL 69 35 31 66 301 15 6 10 16 54 1976–77 Washington Capitals NHL 43 13 14 27 124 — — — — — 1976–77 Dayton Gems IHL 30 19 15 34 69 — — — — — 1977–78 Washington Capitals NHL 57 13 12 25 125 — — — — — 1978–79 Washington Capitals NHL 24 2 2 4 64 — — — — — 1978–79 Hershey Bears AHL 51 15 15 30 118 4 1 0 1 8 1979–80 Winnipeg Jets NHL 14 3 2 5 7 — — — — — 1979–80 Nova Scotia Voyageurs AHL 63 31 33 64 157 4 0 0 0 2 1980–81 New Brunswick Hawks AHL 46 12 25 37 107 12 3 3 6 49 1981–82 New Brunswick Hawks AHL 80 32 30 62 104 15 8 8 16 6 1982–83 Moncton Alpines AHL 73 33 30 63 134 — — — — — 1983–84 Nova Scotia Voyageurs AHL 78 24 24 48 79 12 2 5 7 8 1986–87 St. John's Capitals NFLD 44 29 33 62 — — — — — — 1987–88 St. John's Capitals NFLD 37 39 63 102 43 — — — — — 1988–89 St. John's Capitals NFLD 29 25 36 61 — — — — — — AHL totals 391 147 157 304 699 47 14 16 30 73 NHL totals 139 31 30 61 320 — — — — —

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