EVENT: Sharon Robinson, daughter of the late Jackie Robinson and an educational consultant for Major League Baseball, and Branch B. Rickey III, grandson of the late Branch Rickey and president of the Pacific Coast League, will speak as part of a forum for The University of Texas at Austin College of Communication‘s Texas Program in Sports and Media.
The forum will be moderated by Sports Illustrated Senior Editor Kostya Kennedy, and the discussion will address the cultural legacies left by Branch Rickey and Jackie Robinson. Seating is limited and is open to the public.
“We’ll discuss baseball’s role in society and politics, and how baseball extended beyond the game through Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickey,” Kennedy said. “Baseball touches a nerve and has an effect on people’s lives, even if they aren’t baseball fans.”
Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, bringing an end to segregation in professional baseball. Branch Rickey was the general manager of the Dodgers who recruited and signed Robinson to the major leagues.
WHEN: 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 7
WHERE: The Atrium Room, Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum, 2313 Red River St.
Sharon Robinson
Robinson oversees school and community-based educational programs for Major League Baseball. She is also the author of “Jackie”s Nine: Jackie Robinson’s Values to Live By” and “Promises to Keep: How Jackie Robinson Changed America.” Before joining Major League Baseball, Sharon Robinson worked for 20 years as a nurse-midwife and educator. She has taught at Yale, Columbia, Howard and Georgetown universities.
Branch B. Rickey III
Rickey has served as a league president in Triple-A Baseball leagues for more than 20 years. Before joining the Triple-A Baseball leagues, Rickey served as director of player development for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Cincinnati Reds.
Kostya Kennedy
Before joining Sports Illustrated, Kennedy served as a staff writer for Newsday and contributed to The New York Times and The New Yorker. He earned a master’s degree from Columbia University where he received a Pulitzer Fellowship. He has taught journalism at Columbia and NYU. He wrote “56: Joe DiMaggio and the Last Magic Number in Sports,” which was published in 2011. He also edited Sports Illustrated’s best-selling “The Hockey Book,” which was published in 2010.
Founded in 2009, the Texas Program in Sports and Media addresses the confluence of sports, media and society. A former president of the Texas Rangers and the Dallas Stars, as well as a professor in sports management at New York University, Michael J. Cramer is the founding director.
