Background
Born in Detroit, Michigan, on June 27, 1914, Smith was raised in a white community. His mother, Gertrude Thompson Smith, was American; his father, John Henry Smith, hailed from Canada and cooked for automobile entrepreneur Henry Ford.
Portrait of American journalist Wendell Smith
(L - R) Jackie Robinson, Wendell Smith, Duke Slater, Ralph Metcalfe
Wendell Smith (left) and Jackie Robinson
Wendell Smith (left) and Jackie Robinson
Institute, WV 25112, United States
In 1937, Smith graduated from West Virginia State College (now West Virginia State University) with a Bachelor of Arts in physical education.
3030 Fairview St, Detroit, MI 48214, United States
Southeastern High School in Detroit, where Wendell Smith was educated
(As the first African American player in major league base...)
As the first African American player in major league base-ball, Jackie Robinson had the eyes of the nation upon him. The pressure was incredible; not only did he constantly face prejudice - from ignorant fans, malicious players, and even bigoted sportswriters - but he also carried the hopes and expectations of all those who were rooting for him. Most mortals would have been crushed, but Jackie Robinson was no ordinary man. Maintaining both his dignity and calm while under attack, Robinson handled the stress heroically and delivered top-notch performance. In Jackie Robinson: My Own Story, Robinson’s experiences both on and off the field are presented in his own words.
https://www.amazon.com/Jackie-Robinson-My-Own-Story/dp/1626549400/?tag=2022091-20
1948
Born in Detroit, Michigan, on June 27, 1914, Smith was raised in a white community. His mother, Gertrude Thompson Smith, was American; his father, John Henry Smith, hailed from Canada and cooked for automobile entrepreneur Henry Ford.
Wendell was the only African American student at Southeastern High School in Detroit, but he did not encounter bigotry there. After a high-school baseball playoff game in 1933, in which Smith pitched a shutout, Smith watched two white players receive professional contracts with the Detroit Tigers. The scout, Wish Egan, lamented to Smith that he wanted to sign him, but could not. This experience galvanized Smith’s desire to change the discriminatory policies in baseball.
Smith was a very active student at West Virginia State College (now West Virginia State University). He was team captain in two sports, baseball and basketball. According to those who watched him on the court, Smith was the first person to perform a jump shot with one hand. In his third year of college, he also began to work for newspapers, both on and off campus. Smith majored in physical education and graduated in 1937.
Smith’s first job after college was with the Pittsburgh Courier. He spent his first year learning the newspaper trade and earning seven dollars per week. In his second year with the paper, Smith advanced to assistant sports editor and also city editor. Then, Smith was made sports editor in 1940.
During the war years, Smith encountered roadblocks in his efforts to integrate baseball. The president of the Pittsburgh Pirates, William Benswanger, gave Smith the impression that he would hire a number of black ballplayers. Smith was ecstatic, until he learned that Benswanger merely wanted to appease the staff of the Daily Worker, and never followed through with an actual tryout. Smith’s attempts to gain President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s support were unsuccessful. Additionally, Afro-American league team owners refused to release their players. A promising meeting of black leaders with Kenesaw Mountain Landis (commissioner of baseball) led nowhere. Smith came close to success in 1945, when a Boston politician named Isadore Muchnick followed Smith’s advice and organized a boycott of major league baseball in Boston.
Smith sent three talented Afro-American leaguers, including Jackie Robinson, to try out for Boston area teams. Unfortunately, the tryout with the Braves was canceled; the one with the Red Sox was deliberately delayed. The Red Sox did eventually watch the three play, but no one was signed. After a defeat, Smith effectively used his column as a bully pulpit. At about this time, Smith learned that Brooklyn Dodgers’ general manager Branch Rickey had the intention of forming the United States League, which would consist of six Afro-American League clubs. Reporters were unaware that Rickey planned to use the league to recruit African American athletes. A meeting between Rickey and Smith resulted in Smith’s recommendation of Jackie Robinson for the major leagues. Smith then exercised restraint, refusing to divulge what he knew of Rickey’s plan.
The following spring, Smith scouted for Rickey and watched over Robinson in Florida. Robinson played on the minor-league Montreal Royals, and Smith roomed with Robinson over two consecutive spring trainings. The spring of 1947 saw Jackie Robinson in the lineup as a Brooklyn Dodger, and Smith was there for his first exhibition game in April. As Robinson played his first arduous year in the majors, Smith portrayed him in his column as a normal, good-natured, appreciative rookie. That same year, Smith took a position at the Chicago American.
Smith also finished his biography of Jackie Robinson, subtitled My Own Story. Though crafted to look like a first-person narration, Smith’s style shines through the book. Smith may have also ghostwritten biographies of other popular ballplayers. Smith continued to write passionately about civil rights in the arena of baseball. Besides writing about Negro League teams such as the Homestead Grays and the Pittsburgh Crawfords, Smith wrote about boxing, another sport on which he was an authority.
Smith shifted to television in 1963, joining WBBM as sports editor. One year later, he moved to WGN as an on-air reporter for the Sunday program “People to People.” In addition to his television work, Smith wrote a weekly column for Chicago Sun-Times and contributed freelance pieces to several other publications. Smith died of cancer in 1972, only two days after the passing of Jackie Robinson.
(As the first African American player in major league base...)
1948Smith advocated social change in his column, "Smitty’s Sport Spurts." He was particularly interested in baseball’s color barrier, and he took a novel approach to the situation. Rather than appealing to club owners, he addressed African Americans who continued to attend major league games. Smith knew that a boycott would be highly effective, and he also understood that some people clung to erroneous opinions about black athletes. He set out on an interviewing campaign to demonstrate that African American ballplayers were worthy of the major leagues, and that white athletes were willing to have black teammates. Though not granted access to the local stadium, Forbes Field, Smith managed to speak with every National League manager and over three dozen white players. His results were encouraging: approximately three out of four players were willing to play with blacks.
In 1939, Smith perceived a connection between Nazism and American society, particularly the management of American baseball. He hoped that this parallel would encourage white Americans to support the desegregation of professional athletics. Smith called for an organization to help the cause of the black ballplayer, for he felt that it was time for black people nationwide to unify and support the integration of the major leagues.
Quotations: "It was then that I made the vow that I would dedicate myself and do something on behalf of the Negro ballplayers."
Wendell Smith was a member of the Baseball Writers Association of America and Chicago Press Club.
Quotes from others about the person
"Smith was assuming his role as watchdog of the integration movement: fiercely protective of black players overcoming the color line, he was equally fierce in criticizing black ballplayers who did not, in his eyes, uphold the sacred trust that their race had placed in them."
"I never would have made it to the Brooklyn Dodgers without the help of Wendell Smith." - Jackie Robinson
In 1947, Smith married Wyonella Hicks.