May 03
by Jeff Fannell in Baseball, MLB, Sports Issues, What's Up With That? 0 comments tags: Adam Jones, Boston Fans, Boston Redsox, Jackie Robinson, Race

Standing with Adam Jones

On April 27, 2017, I had the privilege of attending the groundbreaking ceremony for the Jackie Robinson Museum in lower Manhattan.  The museum, which will open in 2019, has been in the works for decades.  In addition to housing baseball memorabilia, the museum will focus on Jackie’s life on and off the field, including his contributions to the civil rights movement. Among my personal highlights at the groundbreaking ceremony was the opportunity to meet Jackie’s widow, Rachel Robinson, who is known to some as the First Lady of Baseball.  In addition, I had the opportunity to chat with noted civil rights attorney Norman Siegel, who shared how the Dodgers moving out of Brooklyn played a role in stoking his passion for justice and equality.  According to Siegel, the Dodgers helped forged friendships between blacks and whites who shared a common interest in cheering their team on.  When the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles, many of those bonds were broken, which ultimately led Siegel on a life-long crusade against any barriers that would tend to create racial divides. Thoughts of Jackie, Rachel and Norman returned to the fore as baseball ushered in its second month of the season with the story […]
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Mar 01
by Jeff Fannell in Olympics, Pioneers of the Game, Sports, Track & Field 0 comments tags: Herb Douglas, Jesse Owens, Movie, Olympics, Race

INTERVIEW WITH HERB DOUGLAS: OLYMPIAN, BUSINESSMAN, HUMANITARIAN

On February 19, 2016, Focus Features released the motion picture Race, a biographical film about Jesse Owens, who won a record-breaking four gold medals in the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. Owens was a childhood idol and later a close friend of Herbert P. Douglas, Jr., who, himself is an Olympic medalist and former corporate executive. Born on March 9, 1922 in Pittsburgh, PA, Herb starred in high school in gymnastics, basketball, football and track & field. Later, he attended the University of Pittsburgh, where he captured three AAU and five intercollegiate championships and set a Pitt long jump record that lasted for 23 years. At the 1948 London Olympics, Herb won a bronze medal in the long jump, becoming the first Pittsburgh native to capture an Olympic medal. After graduating from Pitt with a master’s degree in education, Herb began a career in corporate America working first for Pabst Brewing Company, and later Schieffelin & Co., distributors of Hennessy Cognac and Moet & Chandon Champagne. While at Schieffelin, Herb founded the International Amateur Athletic Association, Inc. and created the Jesse Owens International Trophy Award and the Jesse Owens Global Award for Peace in honor of his hero. Recipients of […]
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Jan 29
by Jeff Fannell in Football, NFL, People, Sports Issues 0 comments tags: Cam Newton, Carolina Panthers, NFL, Race, Sports, Super Bowl

Not Mad at Cam

Brother’s been busy and had been planning to get with you in a minute, but this Cam Newton thing has compelled me to the keyboard. Cam spoke out the other day about being an African-American quarterback who “scares” some people and that he receives some of the criticism because he’s black. On cue, scores of people became uncomfortable, defensive and downright silly, as is often the case when the subject turns to race. Why are you bringing up race? This is about football! This is about the N-F-L!! Well, I’m with Cornell West on this one – race matters. Always has, always will. How it matters may differ, but it always matters, and we should be mature enough at this point to be able to have an intelligent discussion about what remains a sensitive topic for many, particularly in the sports world. Instead, as it relates to Cam, we hear: He dances too much. The theory is Cam gets criticized not because he’s African-American, but because he celebrates too much. He claims he’s all about the team, the argument goes, but he just brings attention to himself. Really? I’m old enough to remember Mark Gastineau of the New York Jets, […]
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