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Wheeler becomes the second Black player in the ECHL Hall, joining Joel Martin, a goalie who got the call in 2022. Martin is in his second season as coach and director of hockey operations for Kalamazoo, the Vancouver Canucks ECHL affiliate.
“It’s not the NHL, it’s not the NFL, it’s not the NBA, but this means a lot to me and to the people that played and knew how hard it was and the successes and failures that we had at our level,” said Wheeler, now a pharmaceutical executive sales rep in Charlotte. “I’m an individual that played hard and could mix it up a little bit and had my cup of coffee at the next levels, which helped develop the league.”
Wheeler had four points (three goals, one assist) in 21 games with Maine, Hershey and Providence of the American Hockey League from 1991-96, and nine points (six goals, three assists) in 45 games with Peoria of the International Hockey League in 1992-93.
Born in Mount Vernon, New York, and raised in Canada, Wheeler spent his formative years playing hockey in Toronto and Fort McMurray, Alberta, where his mother moved the family to find work in the oil industry.
“She couldn’t land a job at Syncrude or Suncor,” Wheeler said, “so she drove taxis and had owned three, four or five, I can’t remember how many cabs. She busted her butt and put them on the road, and that paid our bills.”
Wheeler developed into a high-scoring junior player, with 115 points (66 goals, 49 assists) in in 97 games with Hobbema of the Alberta Junior Hockey League from 1984-86.
He went on to play for the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, an NCAA Division III school that heavily recruited him.
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