‘Unfathomable and unbelievable’: Jackie Robinson statue cut away, stolen from Wichita park

All that’s left of a several-hundred-pound bronze Jackie Robinson statue at McAdams Park is the feet.

The statue, valued at $75,000, was taken overnight by vandals who pulled up in a truck, cut the statue at the feet and made off with it. The statue was paid for by fundraising efforts and is the centerpiece of League 42, which serves several hundred inner-city and low-income youth in its baseball league each year.

“This league has struck a chord which is why the fallout from this will be profound,” executive director and founder Bob Lutz said. “I have no idea what the motive was ... Whatever it was was misdirected and shameful.”

The statue was stolen around midnight Thursday. A dark-colored, short-bed pickup truck was used in the theft.

“It’s unfortunate, it’s disheartening that we have people out here who would do something like this,” Wichita police spokesperson Andrew Ford said. “We’re just asking for help from our community and citizens out in the area ... who may have video cameras or video surveillance along this area that may have that dark-colored pickup truck on their cameras.”

Lutz said a video camera on League 42’s building across the street caught the heist. The league, now in its 11th year, has already filled its slots for summer with a maximum 600 children on 46 teams.

“We are serving kids and families,” Lutz said. “Jackie Robinson was a symbol of that. He symbolized what League 42 is doing in this community.”

Robinson, who wore number 42, was the first Black player to break the color barrier and play in Major League Baseball for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.

Lutz estimates the statue, built by Lutz’s lifelong friend and sculptor John Parsons, weighed 300 to 400 pounds. There are other posters and signs at the park that point to Robinson, but the statue had been a focal and gathering place since it was installed in 2021, Lutz said.

“Everything about our league is in honor of him and there is no price tag you can put on the statue,” he said. “It was our sacred place. It’s unfathomable and unbelievable to us that someone could do this.”

Police are asking anyone with information to contact detectives at 316-268-4407, the See Something Say Something hotline at 316-519-2282 or Crime Stoppers at 316-267-2111. Callers can remain anonymous with Crime Stoppers.

This story was originally published January 25, 2024 at 3:40 PM.