Wendell Smith (sportswriter)
Wendell Smith | |
---|---|
J. G. Taylor Spink Award (1993) (2014)Red Smith Award | |
Spouse |
Wyonella Hicks (m. 1949) |
Children | John Wendell Smith Jr. |
John Wendell Smith (March 23, 1914 – November 26, 1972) was an American
Life and career
A
Jackie Robinson
Smith is credited with recommending Jackie Robinson to Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey, who was searching for individuals with strong character to successfully execute the racial integration of baseball. The Courier offered to pay for Smith to travel with Robinson, who had to stay in separate hotels from his teammates due to segregation policies prevalent at the time. Smith traveled with Robinson in the minor leagues in 1946 and with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.[3] In 1948, Smith released his book, Jackie Robinson: My Own Story.
The Chicago Herald-American
Later, Smith moved on to
While at the Chicago Herald-American, Smith and writers from several other black newspapers launched a campaign to end segregation at spring training. The campaign earned its first success when Chicago White Sox owner, Bill Veeck cancelled a hotel reservation in Florida after discovering that his black players could not stay there.[6] Smith said:
Beneath the apparently tranquil surface of baseball there is a growing feeling of resentment among Negro major leaguers who still experience embarrassment, humiliation, and even indignities during spring training in the south. The Negro player who is accepted as a first class citizen in the regular season is tired of being a second class citizen in spring training. – Wendell Smith, January 23, 1961[6]
WGN
Smith moved to television in 1964 when he joined Chicago television station WGN as a sports anchor, though he continued to write a weekly column for the Chicago Sun-Times. Smith died of pancreatic cancer at age 58 in 1972, just a month after Robinson. Smith had been too ill to attend Robinson's funeral, but he wrote Robinson's obituary.[7] Smith is survived by his family now; all the boys and men named John, inspired by Smith himself. His family is located in Kansas City.
Honors
In December 1993, Smith was voted the
In 2014, Smith was the recipient of sports journalism's prestigious Red Smith Award from the Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) organization.[8]
DePaul University and the University of Notre Dame have presented the Wendell Smith Award to the best player of each game between the schools' men's basketball teams since the 1972–73 season.[9]
In popular culture
André Holland portrayed Smith in the 2013 film 42, which tells the story of Jackie Robinson's selection to play for the Dodgers, his professional ordeals, and his early minor and major league play.
Notes
References
- ^ Greenwald, Maurine Weiner, and Margo J. Anderson (1996). Pittsburgh surveyed: social science and social reform in the early twentieth century (Digital ed.). Pittsburgh, Pa: University of Pittsburgh Press. p. 282. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
- ^ Buni, Andrew (1974). Robert L. Vann of the Pittsburgh courier: politics and Black journalism. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. p. 145.
- ^ Strauss, Ben. "Friendship as Priceless as the National Pastime," The New York Times, Wednesday, August 22, 2012.
- ^ "The History of Baseball and Civil Rights in America". National Baseball Hall of Fame. National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
- ^ Litsky, Frank (May 12, 2003). "Sam Lacy, 99; Fought Racism as Sportswriter". The New York Times. Retrieved January 14, 2011.
- ^ a b "Wendell Smith and Jim Crow Florida". baseballhall.org. Baseball Hall of Fame. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
- The Los Angeles Times. Archived from the originalon April 17, 2013. Retrieved April 14, 2013.
- ^ "2014: Wendell Smith". 29 May 2019.
- ^ DePaul Basketball A-to-Z – DePaul University Athletics.
Further reading
- Biography at African American Registry at the Wayback Machine (archived March 1, 2010)
- Biography from Black Athlete Sports Network
External links
- Wendell Smith: 1993 J. G. Taylor Spink Award winner at the Baseball Hall of Fame
- Wendell Smith at the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR BioProject)