BOB
BOB COSTAS TO COME FORWARD TO SHARE HIS
REMEMBRANCE.
REMEMBRANCE. >> I AM ALL HUNDRED, VERY
APPRECIATIVE THAT THE
WONDERFUL BILLYE HAS ASKED ME
BE PART OF THE
SERVICE.
SERVICE.
SERVICE. EVEN IF IT DOES FROM A
DISTANCE, EVEN IT
IS FROM A HOME STUDIO RATHER
THAN IN PERSON.
AS YOU
AS YOU
AS YOU CAN SEE AT LEAST IT IS A STUDIO
WITH THE IN ATLANTA
CONNECTION.
CONNECTION. THERE ARE SO MANY THINGS ABOUT
THE
THE
THE REMARKABLE CAREER IN AND LIFE
OF HANK AARON.
IN
IN
IN THIS
IN THIS CASE TIME IS LIMITED.
I WILL LIMIT MY REMARKS,
BASEBALL IT HAS BEEN SAID THAT
IS A GAME OF FATHERS
AND SONS, YOUNG HANK AARON LOVED
HERBERT BUT WAS
PAINED BY SEEING THE
ACCUMULATION INFLICTED UPON HIS
FATHER IN THE SOUTH.
PAINED TO SEE HIM STEP OFF THE
SIDEWALK, AS HE LED A WHITE
PERSON PASS.
PERSON PASS. THE
THE
THE POSSIBLE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT
DOING SO EVEN MORE
TERRIBLE THAN THE REPEATED
INDIGNITIES THEMSELVES.
INDIGNITIES THEMSELVES. BUT A CHILD STILL DREAMS.
EVEN WHEN THE DREAMS OF
HIS ELDERS HAVE GIVEN WAY TO
SOUL CRUSHING REALITY.
WENT AS A BOY TO INTO TOLD HIS
HE MIGHT WANT TO BE
AN AIRLINE PILOT THE REPLY WAS,
"NO COLORED PILOTS."
WHEN HANK SAID HE DREAMED OF
BEING A BALLPLAYER THE
RESPONSE WAS, "EIGHTH NO
COLORED BALL PLAYERS."
BUT
BUT
BUT ON
BUT ON APRIL 15TH 1947 WHEN HANK
AARON WAS 13 JACKIE
ROBINSON PLAYED HIS FIRST GAME
AS A BROOKLYN
DODGERS, MAYBE, HIS DAD HAD
BEEN WRONG.
BEEN WRONG. A YEAR
A YEAR
A YEAR LATER AS A DODGERS FARM STORMED
NORTH TO FLORIDA UP
TO BROOKLYN THEY STOPPED TO
PLAY A GAME IN MOBILE,
ON THE MORNING OF THE GAME
JACKIE ROBINSON ADDRESSED
A SMALL GROUP OF BLACK
CITIZENS, HANK AARON SKIPPED
SCHOOL TO HEAR HIM SPEAK.
LATER, LACKING THE MONEY
FOR A TICKET, HANK AARON
CLIMBED A TREE, FROM THAT
VANTAGE POINT GOT HIS FIRST ON
THE FIELD LOOK AT HIS
IDOL AND INSPIRATION.
AS IT TURNED OUT TO INTO
WOULD NOT ONLY BECOME A BIG
LEAGUE PLAYER HE WOULD
BECOME ONE OF THE GREATEST OF
ALL TIME, A MOUNT
RUSHMORE PLAYER, TAKEN ALONE
HIS MONUMENTAL
HIS MONUMENTAL ACHIEVEMENTS ON THE DOCUMENT IT
WOULD HAVE MADE HIM
UNFORGETTABLE, MADE HIM DELETE
EVEN AMONG HALL OF
FAME RISK, BUT STATISTICS ALONE
DON'T ACCOUNT FOR
THE SUSTAINED AND DEEPLY
APPRECIATIVE APPLAUSE THAT
GREETED HANK AARON EVERY SUMMER
IN COOPERSTOWN.
IN COOPERSTOWN. FOR
FOR
FOR THE
FOR THE RESPECT THAT ROSE TO
REVERENCE ARE ON FELLOW
HALL OF FAMER AS FOR THE GREAT
ADMIRATION AND REGARD
IN THE STATEMENTS THIS WEEK
FROM PRESIDENT CARTER,
CLINTON, BUSH, OBAMA IT AND JOE
BIDEN.
BIDEN.
BIDEN. THAT WAS NOT
ONLY ABOUT CHASING DOWN BABE
RUTH, IT WAS ABOUT
STARING DOWN SOME OF THE WORST
OF AMERICA IS AND
PREVAILING AS AN ENDURING
SYMBOL OF MUCH OF WHAT CAN
BE BEST ABOUT AMERICA.
ABOUT A MAN WHOSE QUIET
COURAGE WHOSE DIGNITY AND
DECENCY WHO ABIDING
COMMITMENT TO HELPING OTHERS
MADE HIM MORE THAN A
GREAT BALLPLAYER, TAKEN
TOGETHER, THOSE QUALITIES
MADE HIM A GENERALLY GREAT MAN.
A GREAT AMERICAN.
JACKIE ROBINSON SAID "A LIFE IS
NOT IMPORTANT EXCEPT
IN THE IMPACT IT HAS ON OTHER
LIVES."
LIVES."
LIVES." MORE THAN 70
YEARS AGO JACKIE ROBINSON HAD
NO WAY OF KNOWING THE
IMPACT HE WOULD HAVE ON A KID
WHO SKIPPED SCHOOL TO
HEAR HIM SPEAK IT NOT CLIMBED A
TREE TO SEE HIM
PLAY.
PLAY.
PLAY. NO
PLAY. NO WAY TO KNOW THAT KID WOULD
GO ON TO
GO ON TO
GO ON TO BECOME, IN MANY RESPECTS, THE
MOST SIGNIFICANT
MOST SIGNIFICANT BASEBALL PLAYER SINCE JACKIE
ROBINSON HIMSELF.
ROBINSON HIMSELF. THAT
THAT
THAT KID
THAT KID WOULD TAKE THE BATON FROM
HIS IDOL AND CARRY IT
SO WELL, SO HONORABLY, FOR SO
LONG.
LONG.
LONG. NOW, THAT
NOW, THAT
NOW, THAT GLORIOUS RACE HAS BEEN FULLY