‘It’s inspirational to all of us’: League 42 set to debut Jackie Robinson statue
League 42 will debut the Jackie Robinson Pavilion, complete with a life-sized sculpture of the baseball legend that will be unveiled in a ceremony at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at McAdams Park.
It marks the culmination of a project that has been years in the making for the nonprofit youth baseball league operated by Bob Lutz.
“At one of our early meetings maybe in the second or third year, I mentioned that I thought it would be cool to have a Jackie Robinson statue because he’s our namesake and the guy who inspired it all,” Lutz said. “I thought it was going to be a pretty simple thing. I had a buddy who is a sculptor, so let’s just call him and get this thing done. But it was not quite that easy.”
First, Lutz wanted to make sure he had a blessing from the family. After months of trying to track down two of Robinson’s children, Sharon Robinson, Jackie’s daughter, finally responded and seemed enthused about the idea.
Once he had Sharon’s approval, Lutz next had to go through a Chicago firm that represents Jackie Robinson’s likeness. But that wasn’t the final step.
When John Parsons, the sculptor Lutz enlisted for the project, began to make models of the statue in clay, he would send pictures of them to Sharon, who would then show them to her mother, Rachel Robinson, Jackie’s widow. The first three renditions of the statue were rejected by Rachel.
“I stared at the statue for the longest time and tried to think about what I could do differently,” Parsons said. “I went through all of my reference pictures and in about 95% of them, Jackie had a smile on his face. Originally, I had more of a neutral face on the statue. So I gave him a little bit of a smile and that was the one (Rachel) signed off on.
“It was a real neat experience getting to talk with Sharon. She was so kind and understanding. Getting the likeness down right was very important to them and going through that process with them definitely made it a better sculpture.”
Once Parsons, a professional sculptor who works out of Derby, began working on the final version, he estimates it took him somewhere around 10 months to complete the project.
The bronze statue will highlight major renovations that League 42 has spurred at McAdams Park and the 17th Street area in general. Just across the street, at 1212 E. 17th St., construction is underway on an indoor baseball training facility that will also house an after-school tutoring program specializing in reading and math.
“Jackie’s eyes will be focused on what will be a building that will house after-school tutoring programs,” Lutz said. “We think it’s pretty cool that Jackie will be looking directly over that building. It’s kind of inspirational to all of us.”
Ultimately, Lutz hopes Robinson’s statue serves as a reminder for why the league is called League 42, a reference to Robinson’s playing number during a career that saw him become the first African-American player to break the color barrier and play in Major League Baseball for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.
League 42 is a community baseball program that focuses mostly on serving inner-city and low-income youth. Registration is only $30 per family, which covers a full uniform, a baseball glove and access to catcher’s gear, bats and balls. The league runs mostly on donations and the generosity of others, as donations can be made on the League 42 website.
Lutz believes the statue of Robinson will help carry on his name and promote his legacy for Wichita’s youth.
“He persevered through difficult times and became successful not only in baseball, but in business and in life,” Lutz said. “He had great passion. He had great vision. And he knew he wanted to be special. Those are all things we want to instill in our kids.
“That’s why we ask our kids to study Jackie Robinson and get to know who he was and what he was about. I think our kids take pride in Jackie Robinson. We want the lessons that he taught to be lessons that they deem valuable.”
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