Tag: Willie O’Ree

In the movie, 42, Branch Rickey tells Jackie Robinson that he is medicine. Actually, the exact quote is: “You’re the one living the sermon. In the wilderness . . . 40 days . . .all of it. Only you. . . .You can get out there and hit. You can get on base and score. You can win this game for us. We need you. Everybody needs you. You’re medicine, Jack.”

It’s true. Jackie Robinson was medicine. When Branch Rickey was trying to help Major League Baseball integrate, Robinson was the right man for the job. There have been many who felt it should have been Satchel Paige who was asked to leave the Negroe Leagues to play in Major League Baseball. However, everyone needs to remember the character and temperment of the individual players. Paige was an excellent pitcher, but he was hot-headed. Robinson had the right temperment and skill to show the world what African American baseball players could play in the MLB.

The world changes . . . sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. Luckily, sports has been there to help guide the changes. Sports figures have been medicine for nearily a century. Muhammad Ali was medicine. Billie Jean King is medicine. Amy Trask and Jeanne Buss are medicine. Pam Oliver, Jayne Kennedy and Lesley Visser are medicine. Willie O’Ree is medicine. The previous trailblazers showed the world that stereotypes weren’t necessarily the truth. They also taught us that the world may say no but there is still hope.

There is a hope that we can learn from each other about life inside and outside of sports. They taught us that we can take a stand for what is right . . . that women aren’t inferior to men . . . that African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Arabs, Jews and Native Americans have and will continue to contribute to this world . . . that individuals with physical and mental disabilities are not helpless . . . that everyone is equal and fighting for one’s happiness and freedom is fighting the good fight.

Today, we have children fighting to survive a day in school. There are still little girls hoping to prove they are not inferior to boys overseas. Minorities face police brutality with little remorse. In these times, it seems like the world is changing for the worse. But we have new sports figures that are fighting to give us our medicine–You Can Play, Right To Play, the NFL players protest, and the Bell Let’s Talk as well as several athletes’ charities like Torrey Smith Family Fund, the Janis Foligno Foundation and Steve Nash Foundation.

Medicine is created to heal. In this case, it is listening, opening our eyes, and trying to understand one another. It is about the necessary discussions that need to take place to make the world better for our children as well as ourselves. It is about progress instead of the recent regress. These brave individuals and organizations are fighting to give us medicine, but the question remains whether we will take it and get well.

Source: Jason Grzybowski (From the movie, 42)