The 27th annual Jackie Robinson night paid tribute to the efforts of the GW Baseball program’s efforts to commemorate Jackie Robinson’s memory Thursday night.
The baseball program began its affiliation with the project 25 years ago when then Head Coach Tom Walter agreed to host a commemorative home game for Jackie Robinson. This year the Jackie and Rachel Society honored junior shortstop Steve DiTomasso with the Jackie and Rachel Robinson Society Community Recognition Award – given to a GW baseball player whose qualities on and off the field best reflect those associated with Jackie Robinson – and honored Head Coach Greg Ritchie for his lifetime commitment.
“It’s a long standing commitment to understanding what Jackie Robinson and Rachel have done for the world and the amount of change that happened because of their courage to step forward and say things and do things, and to show the actions of what it means to have justice in social justice,” Head Coach Greg Ritchie said in an interview after the award show.
The program, created in 1996, leads events that focus on Jackie Robinson’s impact on baseball and the civil rights movement. Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of the Jackie Robinson Project Dr. Richard Zamoff visits schools across the country to host lectures about Robinson and to gather funds from donors in and out of the University.
In 2018, University officials announced the termination of the then-22-year-old program citing financial strains, but students around the University launched a petition to dissuade the administration which proved successful.
Zamoff said students and members of the Jackie Robinson project must keep in mind the difficult history of the project because its very existence was threatened by the GW administration. He said this danger is present at the MLB level where the Houston Astros and Philadelphia Phillies World Series Final was the first final “since 1950, in which neither team had on [its] roster, a single African American player born in the United States.”
“We cannot pretend, nor should wait, that those years did not occur, nor should we delude ourselves that those challenges have disappeared, there are decision-makers at GW who simply do not value what we do,” Zamoff said.
Zamoff said the baseball program has been a great resource for society as it has allowed them to institutionalize Jackie Robinson’s legacy with the annual game and award show as a celebration for the entire GW community. He said during the COVID-19 pandemic the project was unable to host any events but the baseball program proved to be “a valuable liaison” to connect the project to the student community and helped them plan the award show.
“I want to thank you, the Jackie Robinson project staff and the students in the Jackie and Rachel Robinson society, for getting off the sidelines and honoring Jackie’s life and legacy in such a meaningful way on the GW campus,” Zamoff said.
Zamoff then presented the Jackie Robinson Direct Appreciation Award to the baseball program while honoring Head Coach Ritchie for his commitment to continuing the relationship with the Jackie and Rachel Robinson society.
“And as I said in my messages inviting members of the GW community to tonight’s program, there is no entity on the GW campus that has come close to GW baseball in supporting the goals and objectives of the Jackie Robinson project and the Jackie Rachel baseball society during the past 25 years,” Zamoff said.
In the final minutes of the award ceremony, the baseball program gave its own recognition award to Zamoff for his years of service to the Jackie Robinson program. He said he wanted to honor Zamoff’s 25-year involvement with both the project and society in educating students about the importance of Jackie Robinson’s impact on race relations within baseball.
“It has been our distinct honor, and I’m very, very humbled in this award for all the people past, but it goes without saying that this would not be something so specific in this world were not for Jackie and Rachel Robinson,” Ritchie said. “And also bringing that to fruition to everybody to hear to see and be educated about, through our young men aspire to be exactly, honoring our men throughout the years has been something very special.”