Sports Stories
Journalism Scholarship in Honor of Late “Hall of Fame”
By ROBERT McG. THOMAS Jr.
DaimlerChrysler Corporation Fund Donates Funds to the NNPA to Establish the Scholarship
WASHINGTON, D.C., October 2, 2003 — The Chrysler Group recently partnered with the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) to celebrate the life and contributions of Sam Lacy, former sports editor of the Afro American newspapers for nearly 60 years. Chrysler Group honored the sports-writer legend and acknowledged the importance of diversity during the annual conference of the Congressional Black Caucus in Washington, D.C.
“Sam’s life was a life of firsts, but his biggest “first” transcends all others,” said Frank Fountain, Chrysler Group Senior Vice President, Government Affairs and President of the DaimlerChrysler Corporation Fund. “Sam used the power of the pen to chip away at the wall of racism that kept African-American players out of the big sports leagues.” Lacy died earlier this year at the age of 99.
Fountain noted that Lacy was the first African-American member of the Baseball Writers’ Association -- he was inducted into the writer’s wing of the baseball Hall of Fame in July 1998; and the first African-American inductee into the Maryland Media Hall of Fame.
“Lacy’s life was a success both on and off the sports pages,” said Fountain. “His pen left an indelible mark on the consciousness of this nation and will become part of our national record. His character and conviction will never be forgotten by those who knew him and admired his work.”
Born October 23, 1903, and raised in Washington, D.C., Lacy was a pioneer and trailblazer for journalists of color. His crusade impacted the integration of major league baseball when he championed for Jackie Robinson, the first African-American to integrate major league baseball. Lacy chronicled Robinson’s ongoing battle to gain acceptance in the major leagues.
Lacy covered Jesse Owens’ historic track and field performance in Germany during the 1936 Olympics, as well as Joe Louis’ famed career in the boxing ring. And, he was a strong and vocal supporter of Arthur Ashe in his struggle to break the color barrier in the world of tennis.
“Sam personified the highest quality of professional journalism more than anyone else that I know,” said John “Jake” Oliver, publisher of the Baltimore and Washington Afro-American newspapers and Chairman of the NNPA Foundation. “His sensitivity to African-American issues particularly over the many years of his reporting, will serve as a high standard for all journalists, but more particularly to the up-and-coming young African-American journalists of the future.”
The National Newspaper Publishers Association, also known as the Black Press of America, is a 62-year-old federation of more than 200 Black community newspapers from across the United States. Since World War II, it has also served as the industry's news service, a position that it has held without peer or competitor since the Associated Negro Press dissolved in 1970.
Now in its 50th year, the DaimlerChrysler Corporation Fund is the primary source of charitable grants made by DaimlerChrysler Corporation. The Fund annually supports hundreds of charitable organizations with an emphasis on community growth, arts, and education, throughout the United States and increasingly throughout the world.
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