Sam Lacy By Kaleb Barrow

Sam Lacy, an avid athletic turned sports writer was an influential figure in the sports writing world and has a lasting legacy that is still felt today.

Mr. Lacy wrote on many notable athletes careers and even experienced many break barriers such as Jackie Robinson, Joe Louis, Muhamammad Ali and Jesse Owens just to name a few.

As young kid Sam Lacy was very intrigued to be around sports from being the ball boy for Washingtion Senators to being a caddie for golfers his efforts were acknowledged that he earned a $200 tip from “Long” Jim Barnes a British golfer. He was also a three sport athlete at highschool at Armstrong Technical High School in which played baseball, football, and basketball. After Highschool he would go on to play semi pro and then also managed and coach teams

Became a sports writer for the Washington Tribune as a part time job then got a job for the Afro American Newspaper as editor and was there from 1943-2003.

He was also able to cover major stories such as Jesse Owens at the 1936 Berlin Olympics little before World War two was on the way. He Advocated for integration in MLB in which he influenced Brooklyn Dodger executive Branch Rickey to sign Jackie Robinson which broke the color barrier. Even Joe Louis v. Max Schmeling boxing match which highlighted social and political issues between America and Germany.

First African American member of Baseball Writers association and Lifetime Achievement Award from National association of Black Journalists (NABJ).

Did not graduate at Howard was acknowledged in his autobiography that he didn’t Didn’t know his mother was a full-blooded Shinnecock and member of Mohawk Nation until he was 50. He turned down Sport Illustrated offer to stay with Afro Newspaper claiming “ No other paper in the country would have given me this kind of license. I’ve made my own decisions. I cover everything I want to”. A controversial column that cost Wilemth Sidar-Singh a two sport athlete at Syracuse acknowledged that he was in fact “black” and not Hindu or Indian which many assumed forcing him to sit out in games.

Even with Sam Lacy dying over 21 years ago his impact is felt. John Jacob “Jake Oliver says it best about his impact saying “Sam Lacy was everybody’s father, everybody’s uncle, everybody’s coach. He was the man who taught a whole generation of our writers here at the [Afro-American newspapers] how to be journalists … he probably [knew] more history about what 20th century African-American sports was about than anyone else … We can never say enough about Sam Lacy.