Sam Lacy facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Sam Lacy
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Lacy at his 99th birthday party
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| Born |
Samuel Harold Lacy
October 23, 1903 |
| Died | May 8, 2003 (aged 99) Washington, D.C., US
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| Education | Howard University |
| Occupation | Sportswriter, editor, TV/radio commentator |
| Years active | 1920–2003 |
| Spouse(s) |
Roberta Robinson
(m. 1927–1952)Barbara Robinson
(m. 1953–1969) |
| Children | 2 |
Samuel Harold Lacy (born October 23, 1903 – died May 8, 2003) was an African-American and Native American sportswriter. He was also a reporter, columnist, editor, and TV/radio commentator. Sam Lacy worked in sports journalism for almost 80 years! He helped change sports by pushing for racial equality. In 1948, he became one of the first black members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA). Later, in 1997, he won the J. G. Taylor Spink Award for his amazing baseball writing. This award placed him in the writers' and broadcasters' part of the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1998.
Contents
Growing Up and Early Life
Sam Lacy was born on October 23, 1903, in Mystic, Connecticut. His father, Samuel Erskine Lacy, was a law researcher. His mother, Rose Lacy, was a full-blooded Shinnecock person. When Sam was young, his family moved to Washington, D.C..
As a boy, Sam fell in love with baseball. He spent a lot of his free time at Griffith Stadium. This was the home field for the Washington Senators baseball team. His house was only five blocks from the stadium. Sam often ran errands for the players. He also chased down baseballs during batting practice.
Facing Racism as a Child
When Sam was young, he saw how his family was treated unfairly because of their race. This happened while they watched the Senators' team parade. His elderly father was cheering and waving a special flag. Sam later remembered what happened:
Fans like my father would line up for hours to watch their heroes pass by. And so there he was, age 79, out there cheering with the rest of them, calling all the players by name, just happy to be there. And then it happened. One of the white players—I won't say which one—just gave him this nasty look and, as he passed by, spat right in his face. Right in that nice old man's face. That hurt my father terribly. And you know, as big a fan as he had been, he never went to another game as long as he lived, which was seven more years. Oh, we've come a long way since then. But we've still got a long way to go.
This event deeply hurt his father. It made Sam see the unfairness of racism. He later worked at the stadium as a food seller. He sold popcorn and peanuts in the stadium's separate section for black people. This was due to Jim Crow laws. Sam also worked as a caddy for golfer Jim Barnes in 1921. When Barnes won, he gave Sam a big tip of $200.
Education and Sports
Sam graduated from Armstrong Technical High School in Washington. He played football, baseball, and basketball there. He then went to Howard University. In 1923, he earned a degree in physical education. He thought this might lead him to a coaching job.
After college, Sam played semi-pro baseball as a pitcher. He also refereed high school and college basketball games. He coached and taught youth sports teams too.
Starting His Writing Career
While still in college, Sam Lacy started writing about sports part-time. He wrote for the Washington Tribune, a local African-American newspaper. After graduating, he kept writing for the paper. He also worked as a sports commentator for radio stations in the early 1930s.
In 1926, he joined the Tribune full-time. Soon after, he became the sports editor. He left for a summer in 1929 to play semi-pro baseball. But he returned to the paper in 1930. By 1933, he was again the sports editor.
Covering Big Sports Moments
During his time at the Tribune, Sam Lacy covered many important events. He reported on Jesse Owens winning medals at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. He also covered boxer Joe Louis's world heavyweight title fights. This included Louis's famous win over Max Schmeling. Sam also wrote about the rise of stars in the Negro leagues, like Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, and Cool Papa Bell.
Pushing for Change in Baseball
In 1936, Sam Lacy started asking Clark Griffith, the owner of the Washington Senators, to consider adding black players from the Negro leagues. He especially wanted players from the Homestead Grays, who played at Griffith Stadium. He finally met with Griffith in December 1937. Griffith listened but did not want to change things. He worried about conflicts and that it would hurt the Negro leagues.
Lacy argued that ending segregation would help baseball. He famously wrote, "When Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, he put 400,000 black people out of jobs." This showed his strong belief in equality.
Breaking a Major Story
In October 1937, Lacy broke his first big news story. He reported the true racial background of athlete Wilmeth Sidat-Singh. Syracuse University had said Sidat-Singh was from India. But Lacy revealed he was born to black parents in Washington, D.C. This news caused a big stir. When the University of Maryland refused to play if Sidat-Singh was on the field, Syracuse removed him. This led to a lot of anger about unfair rules. The next year, Sidat-Singh was allowed to play against Maryland and led Syracuse to a huge win. Some people criticized Lacy for sharing this information. But he believed that honesty was needed for racial progress.
The 1940s and Integration
In August 1941, Lacy moved to Chicago to work for another black newspaper, the Chicago Defender. He tried many times to talk to Major League Baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis about ending segregation in baseball. He wrote many letters, but got no answers.
Lacy also spoke out against some black owners in the Negro leagues. Some of them wanted to keep baseball segregated because they made money from it. Lacy wrote that no one's personal gain should stop qualified black players from advancing.
Joining the Afro-American
On January 4, 1944, Lacy moved back East. He joined the Afro-American newspaper in Baltimore as sports editor and columnist. He kept pushing for baseball to be integrated through his articles. Many other black newspapers joined him. In 1945, Lacy wrote:
A man whose skin is white or red or yellow has been acceptable. But a man whose character may be of the highest and whose ability may be Ruthian has been barred completely from the sport because he is colored.
Things started to change after Landis died in late 1944. Lacy began talking with Brooklyn Dodgers owner Branch Rickey. The new commissioner, Happy Chandler, also supported the idea. This led to Jackie Robinson signing with the Dodgers' minor league team, the Montreal Royals, on October 23, 1945. This was also Lacy's 42nd birthday!
Covering Jackie Robinson
Lacy spent the next three years covering Jackie Robinson's journey. He traveled with Robinson to games and training camps. He saw firsthand the challenges Robinson faced. Like Robinson, Lacy also experienced unfair treatment. He was not allowed in some press boxes. He ate at the same segregated restaurants and stayed in the same "blacks only" boarding houses as Robinson.
Jackie Robinson finally broke MLB's color barrier in 1947 with the Dodgers. But Lacy always remained fair in his reporting. He even criticized Robinson in print for being overweight and not playing his best. He also shared details about Jackie and his wife Rachel's daily lives.
Lacy did not want his own struggles with racism to be the main story. He kept the focus on the athletes. He reported on how Robinson felt, saying Jackie sometimes wondered if he could keep going because of all the abuse.
Lacy made sure to cover all sides of the race issue. In 1947, he wrote about a white player and a black player sharing a towel. This showed a small step towards acceptance. In 1948, when Babe Ruth died, Lacy wrote about Ruth's personal behavior, not just his fame. He said he didn't want his son to look up to Ruth, just as he wouldn't want him to look up to black boxer Jack Johnson, showing his focus on character over race.
In 1949, Lacy covered the first college football game in Maryland between a black team and a white team. He wrote about it as a sign of progress.
Later Career and Continued Fight for Fairness
Sam Lacy didn't stop after black players reached the major leagues. He started pushing for equal pay for black athletes. He also wanted an end to segregated hotels and travel for teams. He convinced New York Giants general manager Chub Feeney to change team accommodations. Lacy pointed out that star black players were staying in small hotels while other players stayed in fancy ones. Feeney agreed and changed it right away.
Advocating for Black Representation
For many years, Lacy pushed for deserving Negro league players to be in the Baseball Hall of Fame. He later criticized the Hall for putting these players in a separate section. He also urged national TV networks to hire more black broadcasters. He called out Major League Baseball for not having black umpires. He also highlighted the lack of black head coaches in the National Football League.
Lacy covered many important stories. He wrote about Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe winning Grand Slam tennis titles. He reported on Wilma Rudolph winning three gold medals at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome. He also covered Lee Elder playing in The Masters golf tournament in 1975, as the first black golfer there.
In 1954, Lacy questioned why Milwaukee honored Braves outfielder Hank Aaron so early in his career. He believed players should earn special attention through consistent performance.
Working and Writing Until the End
Lacy also worked as a television sports commentator for WBAL-TV from 1968 to 1976. He stayed with the Baltimore Afro-American for almost 60 years. He was known for his "A to Z" columns and his constant fight for racial fairness. When he got arthritis in his hands, he wrote his columns by hand. Even in his 80s, he woke up at 3 A.M. three days a week. He drove from Washington to Baltimore, worked eight hours, and then played golf. After a stroke in 1999, his son, Tim, drove him to work. Tim also became a sportswriter for the Afro-American.
In 1999, Sam Lacy wrote his autobiography, Fighting for Fairness: The Life Story of Hall of Fame Sportswriter Sam Lacy. He wrote his last column just days before he died in 2003, from his hospital bed. He explained why he stayed with the Afro-American even with other offers:
No other paper in the country would have given me the kind of license. I've made my own decisions. I cover everything that want to. I sacrificed a few dollars, true, but I lived a comfortable life. I get paid enough to be satisfied. I don't expect to die rich.
Personal Life
Sam Lacy married Alberta Robinson in 1927. They had a son, Samuel Howe (Tim) Lacy, and a daughter, Michaelyn T. Lacy. Sam and Alberta divorced in 1952. Sam then married Barbara Robinson in 1953. Barbara passed away in 1969, and Sam never remarried.
As of December 2010, his son Tim Lacy was still a columnist at the Afro-American. Sam's grandfather, Henry Erskine Lacy, was the first black detective in the Washington, D.C., police department.
Death
Sam Lacy passed away at age 99 on May 8, 2003. He died from heart and kidney failure at Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C. He had been in the hospital for a week. He was survived by his two children, four grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. His funeral was held on May 16, 2003, in Washington, D.C. He was buried at Lincoln Memorial Cemetery in Suitland, Maryland.
Awards and Honors
Sam Lacy received many awards and honors for his work:
- In 1948, he became one of the first black members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Wendell Smith was the first in 1947.
- In 1984, Lacy was the first black journalist to be honored in the Maryland Media Hall of Fame.
- In 1985, he was inducted into the Black Athletes Hall of Fame in Las Vegas.
- In 1991, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Black Journalists.
- In 1994, the Washington chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists chose him for their Hall of Fame.
- In 1995, he was among the first writers to receive the A.J. Liebling Award from the Boxing Writers Association of America.
- In 1997, on the 50th anniversary of Jackie Robinson's major league debut, Lacy received an honorary degree from Loyola University Maryland. He was also honored by the Smithsonian Institution. That season, Lacy threw out the first pitch at a Baltimore Orioles home game at Camden Yards.
- On October 22, 1997, Lacy received the J. G. Taylor Spink Award for outstanding baseball writing. This award led to his induction into the writers and broadcasters wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame on July 26, 1998.
- In 1998, he received the Frederick Douglass Award from the University System of Maryland. The United Negro College Fund started a scholarship program in his name. He also received the Red Smith Award from the Associated Press.
- In 2003, the Sports Task Force of the National Association of Black Journalists created the Sam Lacy Pioneer Award. This award is given each year to sports figures who have made important contributions to their careers and communities.
Lacy also served on the President's Council on Physical Fitness. He was also on the Baseball Hall of Fame's committee for selecting Negro league players.
