The Oklahoma Warriors mourn the unexpected loss of owner and governor Mary Anne Choi, who passed away on Sunday, November 19, 2023 in Oklahoma City.
A hockey mom turned trailblazer and championship owner, Mary Anne built the Warriors organization from the ground up and fostered a culture centered around doing business the right way, culminating in a Robertson Cup title in their third year. She guided the Warriors through the challenges of expansion–then a sudden relocation–with confidence and grace.
Choi, who conducted herself with an unmistakable ambition and passion, joined the hockey community as a parent. She watched as her son, Eric Huss, competed through three full North American Hockey League seasons. Huss finished his junior career with the Lone Star Brahmas, just across the metroplex from the family home in Dallas.
After observing just how much the league prepared Eric for the Division I level–Huss now attends the U.S. Military Academy–Choi decided to take the leap of faith and approach the league about owning an expansion franchise. After countless meetings and convincing, the NAHL announced Choi as the owner of its new team in Wichita Falls, Texas on October 15, 2019. She would become a hockey mom in a much different way. For Mary Anne, the new title did not change anything: the players came first.
“Mary Anne has been family to me from the moment I met her,” Garrett Roth, the only head coach and general manager the organization has had, said. “The way she treated my family and cared for the players was second-to-none. She wanted to take care of people and was always willing to make sacrifices to do so. I admired her drive and willingness to fight for what she felt was right. Her passion and love for the organization was immeasurable and the part that made her a tremendous leader.”
That message resonated with Roth the most when he first talked with Choi over the phone in 2020. Choi offered the job to Roth, who had spent the prior eight years as an assistant coach with the Bismarck Bobcats, and they both took on the challenge of building a team from scratch.
“I was immediately excited about getting an opportunity to work for her,” Roth recalled. “She had a vision that coincided with my beliefs on what is the most important part of junior hockey: the players being number one and the staff balancing winning with development on and off the ice. She was highly competitive, but understood how important it was to build relationships and make the organization thrive off more than just on-ice success.”
Choi saw her vision come to life on October 24, 2020 at Kay Yeager Coliseum in Wichita Falls when the Warriors hosted the Odessa Jackalopes. The new team re-energized locals who had been without a hockey team, many of whom have continued their support to the team after their move to Oklahoma City.
Choi surrounded herself with great people from the very first season. In only three full years, an impressive and growing list of players and employees have moved up from the Warriors organization to the Division I and professional ranks. More than 20 players have gone on to compete at the top level of college hockey. Ryan Kelsey, who signed on as equipment manager in 2020, is now an assistant on the San Jose Sharks’ equipment staff. Keenan Kelly, the team’s first assistant coach, just coached the ECHL’s Idaho Steelheads to the best record in league history in 2022-23. Several broadcasters have also graduated into professional jobs.
“Mary Anne was more than an owner to me,” said Wade Chiodo, to whom Choi awarded the role of Team President in July. “She was a mentor, friend, and someone I called for life advice. I always appreciated her insight and guidance on not only how to handle business but my own journey. She cared about me as a person and would frequently ask me about my life outside of hockey. She was very proud of her family, too, and would want to let me know what was going on in their lives.”
The solid foundation led to promising results right away. The inaugural team won 30 games, qualified for the Robertson Cup playoffs, and swept the 38-win Lone Star Brahmas out of the first round. In 2021-22, the Warriors improved on their record with 35 victories and another playoff appearance.
Then, after only two seasons, Choi and her organization battled adversity and the unknown once again. After mutually agreeing to part ways with the city of Wichita Falls, Mary Anne set off to find a new home for her burgeoning hockey team to continue operations. Just as she convinced the league to give her a shot at ownership, Choi persuaded the management at Blazers Ice Centre in Oklahoma City to open its doors for NAHL hockey, a first in the metro area of 1.5 million people.
“What Dr. (Jan) Voda (the owner) and I saw in her was her passion and what she cared about,” Larry Donovan, Blazers Ice Centre’s rink manager, said. “She cared about the players and she cared that they had goals and aspirations. Not everyone in all levels of junior hockey cares about the kids–it is a business and they run it like a business–but she cared about the kids, and that is what won us over.”
Oklahoma’s remarkable success in its third season–and first in a new city–left even the unflappable Choi astonished at how quickly her team transformed into a championship contender. With a group of talented veterans, many of whom had also experienced the uncertainty of a relocation, the Warriors blazed through the schedule with a 44-win regular season, the NAHL’s best record. In the playoffs, the group did not lose a single game, the first team in 19 years to do so. On May 23, 2023 in Blaine, Minn., Choi watched a dream only four years in the making play out in front of the hockey world. She had officially transformed from hockey mom into championship owner.
“She committed to building a championship organization from day one, and she did that,” Chiodo said. “She made sure every level of the organization was taken care of. She wanted excellence and would do whatever to make sure that was accomplished.”
From the moment the Warriors took their moving trucks up I-44 into Oklahoma City, Choi made growing the game of hockey in Oklahoma City a priority. Warriors players regularly attend youth practices and immediately stepped in as role models for the young skaters. In turn, with a quality team in their backyard to root for, the youth program grew. Prior to the 2023-24 season, the Oklahoma City Oil Kings program became the Oklahoma Jr. Warriors, one of Choi’s proudest moments as owner.
Choi awarding a custom Warriors jersey to Dane Rumpf, Oil King of the Year in 2022-23. (Photo: Les Stockton)
“The contribution to the game and having it here in Oklahoma City,” Donovan comments on Choi’s legacy. “Having all the youth hockey players from six years old up to 18 look up to the kids who play here and this organization. The youth organization changed their logo and jerseys to match the junior team. That is where kids want to get to, and that connection is impressive.”
Choi’s hard work and dedication all revolved around helping young hockey players achieve their goals, as a hockey mom would. Mary Anne reflected on that in an April interview with the NAHL’s Short Shifts podcast.
“When you have the one kid who has been going through (hockey) year after year and not getting attention suddenly get schools looking at him, and he gets his Division I commitment, It almost brings me to tears,” Choi said. “Those are the moments that just make this worthwhile and special. That is what I love … I was in anesthesia and there was nothing in anesthesia that made me feel quite the same way as being able to help somebody who is just like your own kid. I feel like all (24) players are, in a way, my son, and I am trying to help these kids the way I would my own son.”
Choi embraced the unconventional hockey mom to owner route. As the only female majority owner in the NAHL, and with no prior experience, she entered the field with the odds stacked against her. That did not sway her. In fact, she could have run off that singular source of motivation alone.
“I was just a hockey mom. I had no experience in anything like this,” Choi told USA Hockey Magazine in August. “But the more they questioned it, the more driven I was to prove I could do it.”
Choi’s effect on the North American Hockey League, Oklahoma City’s hockey scene, and every player, employee, and fan her contributions touched will be felt for a lifetime.
“Mary Anne gave my family an opportunity to be a part of this amazing organization and I will always cherish the relationship that we had,” Roth said. “She was not just an owner to us, she was family, and that is something I will dearly miss.”
Choi grew up in northern New Jersey to Korean parents. She graduated from Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in 1991, then moved to Dallas where she and her husband, Michael Huss, both worked as anesthesiologists.
She is survived by her husband, daughter Chelsea, and son Eric. She was 58 years old.
The family kindly requests that all donations in Mary Anne’s honor be sent to Dallas Animal Services.
