Sharp Edge · Issue 03
Originally published May 4, 2026
In 1978, a kid in Springdale, Maryland asked his dad a question.
Dad, why don’t you coach hockey here?
Neal Henderson had grown up in St. Catharines, Ontario, where his father served in the Merchant Marine during World War II. Born in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. Raised on Canadian ice. He fell in love with what he called the language of stick and puck.
After playing semi-pro in Utah and Baltimore, Henderson settled in Maryland and worked full-time as a supervisor at the D.C. Department of Motor Vehicles. When his son and the neighborhood kids wanted to learn the sport, he flooded his driveway in winter and built them a rink.
Fort Dupont
That same year, Henderson founded the Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club at an aging rink in Southeast Washington, D.C. He coached on nights and weekends. When the National Park Service threatened to close the rink in 1996, he rallied parents and volunteers to take it over and keep it alive.
Henderson did not measure success in wins.
He measured it in tucked-in shirts, respectful language, and good grades. Those were requirements to play.
47 years, 1,500 players
Over nearly five decades, more than 1,500 kids came through his program. They became doctors, teachers, and military officers. Fort Dupont alum Duańte Abercrombie became the first Black head coach hired for an NCAA Division I hockey team, at Tennessee State University.
In 2019, at age 82, Henderson became the first Black person inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame.
When the Washington Capitals won the Stanley Cup in 2018, Alex Ovechkin brought the trophy to Fort Dupont so Coach Neal and his Cannons could touch it.
The building we work in
District Ice Rink runs its Learn to Skate program at Fort Dupont Ice Arena, the same building Neal Henderson kept open in 1996 and built a community inside for 47 years.
We are a different organization with a different focus. We teach Basic 1 to 6 and Adult Learn to Skate, and we do it in partnership with DC Parks and Recreation.
But we work on his ice.
If you have been watching from the sidelines, your time is now. The door is still open.