Born near Fredericton in 1918, Manny McIntyre grew up playing ice hockey and baseball. As a child, he played shinny, a type of pick-up hockey, on frozen ponds using wooden pucks. He went on to become a professional athlete in both sports.

Vincent Churchill “Manny” McIntyre joined the Porcupine Mines Senior Hockey League, where he first teamed up with brothers Ossie and Herb Carnegie. They formed the first documented all-black line in hockey history, known as the “Black Aces.” Gaining fame in North America, the trio moved to France to play for Racing Club de Paris, becoming the first professional black players in Europe. The Black Aces attracted large crowds, including a record-setting game against the British National team with 20,612 spectators. After the season, they were offered a contract to stay but chose to return to North America, joining the Sherbrooke Saints of the Quebec Senior Hockey League (QSHL) for the 1948–49 season.

As members of the QSHL, they became the first all-black line in professional history. McIntyre later played for the Moncton Hawks of the Maritime Major Hockey League (MMHL) during the 1949–50 season, scoring a career-high 36 goals. In 1950, he was traded to the Saint John Beavers and switched from winger to defense. According to the Society for International Hockey Research, McIntyre scored 187 goals, made 278 assists, and accumulated 465 points in 468 games throughout his career.

McIntyre’s baseball career saw him play in various leagues. He started with the Fredericton Capitals of the New Brunswick Senior Baseball League before moving to Nova Scotia. As a shortstop, he achieved a career-high .385 batting average in 1943 while playing for the Halifax Shipyards. The next season, he helped the Shipyards win a Halifax Defense Baseball League championship. McIntyre played for the Trois-Rivieres team in the Quebec Provincial League in 1945.

In 1946, he signed a contract with the Sherbrooke Canadiens, a St. Louis Cardinals farm team, making him the first Black Canadian to sign a professional baseball contract. He later became the first Black Canadian to play professional baseball, hitting .310 with one home run and two doubles in 30 games, accumulating 40 hits in 129 at-bats for Sherbrooke.

After retiring, McIntyre worked at Dorval International Airport. He was inducted into the New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame in 1997 and passed away on June 13, 2011, in Quebec at the age of 92. In 2015, McIntyre was posthumously inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame.

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