Trailblazer Sam Lacy covered icons
By Kaleb Barrow, N.C. A&T
Sam Lacy covered Black icons Jackie Robinson, Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali, and Jesse Owens. While young, Lacy was immersed in sports, as a ball boy for the Washington Senators and caddying for golfers. A three-sport athlete at Washington’s Armstrong Technical High School, he played semi-pro baseball and managed teams.
Lacy was a part-time sports writer with the Washington Tribune before joining the Baltimore-based Afro-American newspaper in 1943, where he remained until 2003. He covered Jesse Owens at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, and championed integration in Major League Baseball, influencing Dodgers executive Branch Rickey to sign Jackie Robinson. Lacy also covered the Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling boxing match, which had social implications.
As the first African American member of the Baseball Writers’ Association, Lacy received BJ’s Lifetime Achievement Award. He declined an offer to write for “Sports Illustrated, staying with the Afro-American, stating: “No other paper would have given me this kind of license.” Afro Publisher John Jacob “Jake” Oliver said: “Sam Lacy was everybody’s father, uncle, and coach. He knew more about 20th-century African American sports than anyone else.”
Kaleb Barrow is a sophomore multimedia journalism student from Greensboro, N.C.