photo by steed media service

The incredible legacy of baseball great Jackie Robinson lives on through his only daughter, Sharon Robinson. A role model in her own right, she too has achieved excellence in Major League Baseball as its director of educational programming for the office of the commissioner of Major League Baseball. Robinson works to ensure that her father’s impact on the sport is universally appreciated at events commemorating his groundbreaking achievements.

Robinson reminds fans that her baseball Hall of Famer father’s greatness extended well beyond the diamond, as he cleared the path for other players to follow. “It took a while for baseball players or professional athletes to understand that they have a responsibility beyond the playing field,” said Robinson following the second annual Baseball and Civil Rights and Baseball roundtable discussion in Memphis, Tenn. “But these men [like] Hank Aaron and others, have dedicated their lives to reaching young people.” Robinson acknowledges that dedication and the courage to commit his life to lifting up others is what was most remarkable about her father.

The younger Robinson recalls her father putting his life in danger so that his three children could enjoy ice skating during winter trips in Stanford, Conn.

“It was always amazing [to me] that my father would go out and take that risk because it was [my father] who couldn’t swim,” says Robinson. “But it was really sort of how he felt about his role in breaking the color barrier in baseball, that he wanted to step out there. He was willing to step out there. He had the ability to step out there and be successful as a baseball player and as a man.”

In her memoir, Promises to Keep: How Jackie Robinson Changed America, baseball fans and sports enthusiasts can take a deeper look into the life of an extraordinary man through the eyes of his adoring daugher. – -janaya black and roz edeward

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