A sense of history gone missing

Gannett columnist Mike Lopresti came up with an interesting piece this week. He visited the tiny town of Hall, Indiana, talked to some of its residents and wrote about the place.

It seems that NASCAR is a big deal in Hall. Two of the people Lopresti interviewed were watching a race when he stopped by on a Sunday afternoon. But the most telling part of his story was this segment in the middle:

``You're in redneck country,'' Amanda Traut said.

She also had a question.

``Who's John Wooden?''

Why would she ask that? Well, that's the whole point of the story. Lopresti wrote about Hall because John Wooden was born there.

Yes it was in 1910. And he lived there only eight years. But good grief, the name John Wooden doesn't at least ring a bell? Sure he gained his fame winning 10 NCAA championships at UCLA. But Wooden spent almost 40 years in Indiana. He starred at Martinsville High School and was an All-American at Purdue. He coached high school ball in South Bend and was the head coach at Indiana State for two years before moving west. John Wooden is a Hoosier icon. He's college basketball's elder statesman, a gracious, principled man who's been quoted endlessly about the game. And to have to ask, ``Who's John Wooden?''

Sad

It reminds of a story I read about former baseball star Frank Robinson, a story he confirmed when I interviewed him a few months ago.

Robinson was managing the Washington Nationals in 2005 when one of his players asked him if he had played in the major leagues. Yep, the guy really didn't know.

Frank Robinson is the only player to win the Most Valuable Player Award in both leagues. He slugged 586 home runs in his career. He's been in the Hall of Fame since 1982, for gosh sakes.

Did he play in the majors?

Doubly sad.

An even more astounding example of someone unaware of history came during the 1985 World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and Kansas City Royals.

Jackie Robinson's widow, Rachel, threw out the first ball prior to Game Four to recognize the 40th anniversary of Jackie's signing with the Brooklyn Dodgers' organization. So New York Times columnist Dave Anderson went to several of the black players to ask what they remembered about Jackie Robinson. When Anderson talked to Vince Coleman, the Cardinals' fleet outfielder, he got this response:

``I don't know nothin' about him. Why are you asking me about Jackie Robinson?''

Well, it could be because if Jackie hadn't turned the other cheek to all the indignities heaped upon him, who knows how long it would have been before another black player was signed. He paved the way for Willie Mays, for Hank Aaron, for Frank Robinson, for Bob Gibson and yes, for Vince Coleman.

``Why are you asking me about Jackie Robinson?"

That's not just sad. It's tragic.

I love old music. I enjoy learning history, especially sports history. I also know you can't live in the past. Still, seems to me that it doesn't hurt to know at least a little bit about it.

By the way, John Wooden turned 99 today. Happy birthday, Coach.