Chuck
May 17th, 2008, 12:58 PM
The Kentucky Gateway Museum Center will present a free performance by Dick Usher as Pee Wee Reese at the museum on Sunday, May 18th at 1 p.m. in the Temporary Gallery. The program is open to everyone and sponsored by the Kentucky Humanities Council Kentucky Chautauqua and Hayswood Foundation.
Pee Wee Reese is portrayed by Dick Usher, a retired professor of educational psychology at Murray State University. A veteran of many local theatrical productions, Usher has admired Pee Wee Reese since his own days as a sandlot ballplayer around Paducah.
Harold Henry Reese [1918-1999] got his nickname Pee Wee from a marble he used when he was a boy. The name fit because he was a man of modest stature, but by every measure you can apply to an athlete – teamwork, leadership, determination, winning, grace under pressure – Pee Wee Reese was a giant. In 1984, he was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.
Reese was born on a farm in Meade County, Kentucky, but he grew up in Louisville. While playing for the minor league Louisville Colonels, his skills at shortstop attracted the attention of major league Brooklyn Dodgers, the team’s record was phenomenal: first in the National League seven times, second four times, and third twice. He was there in 1955 when Brooklyn beat the Yankees for its only World Series championship.
Baseball is a game of statistics, and Reese’s weren’t that impressive, but his value as the Dodger captain and leader went far beyond the numbers. His greatest test came in 1947, the year Jackie Robinson joined the Dodgers as baseball’s first black player. Reese accepted and supported Robinson. He killed, by refusing to sign, a players’ petition threatening a boycott if Robinson played, and he famously walked across the diamond and put his arm around Robinson in response to the racist rantings of a crowd in Cincinnati. Author Roger Kahn called Reese “the catalyst of baseball integration.”
Dawn C. Browning, Director
Kentucky Gateway Museum Center
215 Sutton Street
Maysville, Kentucky 41056
606.564.5865 Fax 606.564.4372
www.KentuckyGatewayMuseumCenter.org
Mission Statement: The Kentucky Gateway Museum Center educates visitors by offering dynamic collections, exhibits, and a genealogical-historical library.
Pee Wee Reese is portrayed by Dick Usher, a retired professor of educational psychology at Murray State University. A veteran of many local theatrical productions, Usher has admired Pee Wee Reese since his own days as a sandlot ballplayer around Paducah.
Harold Henry Reese [1918-1999] got his nickname Pee Wee from a marble he used when he was a boy. The name fit because he was a man of modest stature, but by every measure you can apply to an athlete – teamwork, leadership, determination, winning, grace under pressure – Pee Wee Reese was a giant. In 1984, he was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.
Reese was born on a farm in Meade County, Kentucky, but he grew up in Louisville. While playing for the minor league Louisville Colonels, his skills at shortstop attracted the attention of major league Brooklyn Dodgers, the team’s record was phenomenal: first in the National League seven times, second four times, and third twice. He was there in 1955 when Brooklyn beat the Yankees for its only World Series championship.
Baseball is a game of statistics, and Reese’s weren’t that impressive, but his value as the Dodger captain and leader went far beyond the numbers. His greatest test came in 1947, the year Jackie Robinson joined the Dodgers as baseball’s first black player. Reese accepted and supported Robinson. He killed, by refusing to sign, a players’ petition threatening a boycott if Robinson played, and he famously walked across the diamond and put his arm around Robinson in response to the racist rantings of a crowd in Cincinnati. Author Roger Kahn called Reese “the catalyst of baseball integration.”
Dawn C. Browning, Director
Kentucky Gateway Museum Center
215 Sutton Street
Maysville, Kentucky 41056
606.564.5865 Fax 606.564.4372
www.KentuckyGatewayMuseumCenter.org
Mission Statement: The Kentucky Gateway Museum Center educates visitors by offering dynamic collections, exhibits, and a genealogical-historical library.