Breaking Boundaries and Baseball Records: Jackie Robinson, simply the best

If you turn on any sports event or attend any game today, it is hard to believe that African Americans were once banned from most American sports. While they did have their own ‘black teams’, they were not included in the semi pro, pro and national teams. Jackie Robinson, one of the greatest baseball players ever, was the first to break these bonds of segregation and opened the doors for the talent of thousands of African Americans everywhere.

Jackie Robinson was born in 1919 to a very poor single mother. His older brother had come in just behind Jesse Owens in the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games with a silver medal and inspired Jackie to go for his dreams. Jackie showed excellence is a variety of sports, including football. He attended University of California in Los Angeles and became the first attendee to cover four different sports and gain all varsity letters.
Continue reading “Breaking Boundaries and Baseball Records: Jackie Robinson, simply the best” →

Picabo Street: Shining waters in the world of skiing

Picabo Street has been listed as the eighth talent in the world for downhill skiing. Overcoming incredible odds, she trained with the U.S. ski team at an incredibly young age and later became the first American woman in history to achieve the silver medal in the skiing downhill competition.

It has to be admitted that Picabo had an advantage. She was born near a well known ski resort near Sun Valley, Idaho. Just having these resources available, was not only an edge, but an enticement. She really didn’t have a true name for the first few years of her life. Her family called her ‘Baby Girl’ until she was named Picabo. It is actually pronounced ‘peek-a-boo’, and is the Native American name of town close by. Simply translated, it means silver creek or shining waters.
Continue reading “Picabo Street: Shining waters in the world of skiing” →

Which electronic scoreboard is best for your school?

There is an ocean of electronic scoreboard companies out there, all proclaiming that their products are the best. If you have been given the assignment of getting your school a new scoreboard, you know the right decision can make you a hero and the wrong one can drive you out of town. Here are a few things to consider when narrowing down the field to the right scoreboard for your school.

Doing your homework on the scoreboard manufacturer is the first thing to look at. A good manufacturer should have a record of longevity. They should also offer versatility in sports venues and have a consulting group that works with you. Some may offer a no frills, lesser cost choice, but if something goes wrong, you are on your own. A reliable and well established electronic scoreboard manufacturer will work with you as you make your choice.
Continue reading “Which electronic scoreboard is best for your school?” →

Rafer Johnson: All around sports star and humanitarian

There are few athletes that have experienced intense injuries and yet gone on to an Olympic win. Rafer Johnson is one such star. Overcoming an incredible array of odds that would have removed anyone from continuing in sports, Rafer became one of the best athletes in America.

Born in 1935, Johnson and his family moved a lot, so that his father and mother could earn a living to support their family. From Texas to California, the Johnsons shared the kind of poor existence that many families experienced during those hard economic times. Rafer demonstrated at an early age that he was not only a good athlete but an excellent student. As he got older, Johnson balanced his studies with after school, weekend and summer vacations work, helping his family.

While still quite young, Rafer had a horrible accident. While playing near a plant for food packing, he got his left foot caught in a conveyor belt. The sole of his foot was pulled, eventually infection set in and it required a long period of healing. The pain of this injury would be with Johnson the rest of his life, but, he never let it get him down. It would always be the lead foot that he started out his races with.
Continue reading “Rafer Johnson: All around sports star and humanitarian” →

Meadowdale High School honors Ashley Aven with new scoreboard

In 2010, the community of Lynnwood Washington and the Meadowdale High School were devastated to learn that one of their students had succumbed to the cancer she had fought so long. In times of crisis, people will band together to try to make sense of something so tragic. They decided to honor Ashley and her fight with a new school scoreboard.

Ashley Aven was on the softball team at Meadowdale High School. She played the game she loved and was a normal teenager. With very few symptoms, she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia which is an aggressive and rare disease. Ashley was a fighter, spending almost six months in Children’s Hospital undergoing chemotherapy in preparation for bone marrow transplant. The cancer was more resilient but Ashley vowed that “the cancer doesn’t have me”. The physicians had given her only two months, but she continued to live into nine months. The softball community of Lynnwood became a supporting factor for Ashley and her family, holding fundraisers for the expenses. Jay Buhner, former Mariner player, became one of Ashley’s friends and made arrangements for her to throw the coveted first pitch at one of the Mariner games.
Continue reading “Meadowdale High School honors Ashley Aven with new scoreboard” →

Manon Rheaume: Achieving her dream in hockey

Manon Rhueme: Achieving her dream in hockey

Manon Rheaume set the standards for women in hockey, breaking many preset boundaries for the sport. As a goaltender, she played in the professional minor leagues on seven teams leading her to play on the Canadian Women’s national hockey team that propelled them to win medals in the Women’s World Championship and Winter Olympics.

Rheaume was an unassuming lady from Lac-Beauport, Quebec, Canada. But hockey was in her blood at an early age. At the age of 3, she donned her first pair of hockey skates and began dreaming of playing on a real team. Her younger brother also played hockey and Manon would volunteer in the goalie net as practice for him. As she got older, it didn’t matter how talented she was. Getting involved in any of the games was rough, simply because she was a girl.

The tenacity that Rheaume demonstrated paid off. In a 1991-1992 season, Rheaume broke all preconceived ideas about women in hockey when she played in a Junior A men’s hockey game. Her talent was apparent and she set new standards of perception when it came to the role women could play in hockey.
Continue reading “Manon Rheaume: Achieving her dream in hockey” →

Marketing and your electronic scoreboard

So you have purchased your new electronic scoreboard. The teams are ecstatic, the school is proud and the fans are looking forward to seeing your new board. If you are going to take full advantage of the benefits and potential added revenue of the scoreboard, you must now dig your head into the concept of marketing.

Marketing is a unique talent. It’s a combination of knowledge, experience and knowing what works. Your electronic scoreboard can be an incredible resource, but you have to use it wisely. If you don’t have the budget to hire a marketing company, then you will be faced with starting the project yourself.

There is a wealth of information on the internet, but you probably don’t have the time to plow through all of the articles and newsfeeds to get yourself up-to-speed on this topic. You may, however, be able to locate a few companies that specialize in marketing for your particular venue and, for a simple fee, get the highlighted tips on the protocols. This will mean you still have to do the footwork, but you will be on the right path.
Continue reading “Marketing and your electronic scoreboard” →

Serena Williams: The lady that brought pizzazz to tennis

Serena Williams: The lady that brought pizzazz to tennis The world of tennis has traditionally been more of a western sport, led by mostly those that followed protocol and propriety. While there have been exceptions to this rule, they were few and far between. Serena Williams, on the other hand slammed onto the court with a sense of style like no other and a personality that made everyone smile. As an African American woman, she changed the face of tennis and at the same time, elevated it to a sport that now had that ‘wow’ factor.

Serena’s parents moved their entire family to a suburb area of Los Angeles when she was very young. Her father was a tennis fan and envisioned his daughters to be tennis champions. He surrounded his five daughters with video tapes and books and even began teaching his wife and himself how to play, so that he could instruct his girls. Serena and Venus Williams demonstrated the most talent and Richard Williams had Serena entered into a competition when she was only four and a half years old. In the following five years she was entered into forty nine competitions, winning forty six of them.
Continue reading “Serena Williams: The lady that brought pizzazz to tennis” →

Amherst Regional High Schools scoreboard in honor of Victor Keedy, beloved coach

The softball field of Amherst Regional High School in Massachusetts will have a new electronic scoreboard this coming spring. The scoreboard would have made their coach, Victor Keedy, proud and has been purchased in his memory.

Keedy was devoted to the game and was the baseball and softball team coach at the school. His passing in May, 2010 had a devastating affect on the school, teams and the community. Since his passing, the Hurricane Boosters Club has spent the last two years working with the community, committees and town employees in an effort to get a new electronic scoreboard. The planned memorial tournament in Keedy’s honor turned out to be more than a small success and plans are being made to continue the tournament every year. Additional youth sports benefits are in the works to assist in establishing scholarships for the kids. The booster club has long been a supporter of everything sports for the kids and was a major force behind the success.
Continue reading “Amherst Regional High Schools scoreboard in honor of Victor Keedy, beloved coach” →

Althea Gibson: Breaking the boundaries in women’s tennis

Althea Gibson: Breaking the boundaries in women’s tennis Althea Gibson has her place in history as the first African American woman to win multiple international women’s tennis championships. In a time when tennis was represented by a small few, Gibson blasted forth as not only a woman of sports excellence, but an example to other African American athletes that success and achieving your dream is possible.

In today’s world, it’s difficult to believe that African Americans had such a tough road in sports. In the 1950’s, almost every state in the U.S. separated every aspect of life between ‘white and black’. African Americans were considered second class citizens and sports was no exception.

Althea’s background was from a poor Harlem family. It wasn’t until her talent was brought to the attention of Dr. Walter Johnson, an individual that promoted tennis in the community of African Americans, that Gibson saw a glimmer of hope. Dr. Johnson became Gibson’s patron and with his help she achieved some of the best tennis instruction and ability to enter higher competition levels.
Continue reading “Althea Gibson: Breaking the boundaries in women’s tennis” →

21st Century Scoreboards: The full experience

Technology is moving at lightning speed and we are in a constant run to keep up with it. Beyond just the latest gadgets, we are a society that is eager to ‘connect’ in every way possible. Some psychologists have offered views that our constant state of knowing has placed an added stress never before seen in our society. They recommend that we allow ourselves some down time. One of the most popular stress relievers remains attending a favorite sport competition. This is a time we can have a more personal connectivity and enjoy our favorite teams. The role of the electronic scoreboard has surpassed all expectations as a zone of attention and the 21st century is bringing the scoreboard to the fans as a personal experience.

Most of us take the scoreboard for granted. As the years have passed, we have seen it evolve from a hand held device to keep us updated on the teams score to a colorful LED display with automatic updates and commercials. The electronic scoreboard has entered into this century with a roar – adding visual effects, real time video, and music and offering the marketing groups a pure branding environment. The demand by our society for more continues the challenge for electronic scoreboard manufacturers. Larger sized scoreboards, coupled with high quality sound has given us an almost real-time, on the field experience. Mechanics have been replaced with programmers and graphic designers. So what do we have to look forward to in the next twenty years?
Continue reading “21st Century Scoreboards: The full experience” →

Jim Brown: Incredible athlete, actor and activist

There was a time in sports that the name of Jim Brown was a common household word. While most were familiar with him from his success as a football player, he was also known on the television and movie screen as one heck of an actor. Those that studied his past were usually astounded at the sports talent that was packed into one person. Jim has been a major force in professional sports but also in building positive relations in the world of sports.

Brown was born in 1936. The son of a professional boxer and a housekeeper, he later moved to an all African American community where he lived and was raised by his grandmother. By the age of eight, he moved to New York with his mother. Brown was an unbelievable athlete, accomplished in basketball, lacrosse and track. Jim’s sophomore year brought an array of winning scores for both basketball and track, but his decision to go to Syracuse University opened the doors to show his abilities, where he settled on the sport of football. Jim had a banner junior year which included basketball and lacrosse and by the time he was a senior has 14 touchdowns under his belt, was on the honor roll of the National Intercollegiate All-American Football Players and added his name to The Pigskin Club of Washington, D.C. Jim’s talent spanned across four different sports and he was great in every one of them.
Continue reading “Jim Brown: Incredible athlete, actor and activist” →

Electronic Scoreboards: They’re everywhere

Electronic Scoreboards You don’t have to go to Vegas to see everything in lights anymore. The truth is, the lowly electronic scoreboard has surpassed even the manufacturer’s anticipated results. We are delightfully bombarded with the latest technology in scoreboards at every turn, and the promise of the future looks like this trend will continue.

If you drive down the street of any mid-sized town or city, you are bound to see electronic scoreboards. Oh, you may not recognize them as such, but they are there. Electronic scoreboards have made a splash in the stadiums and arenas, but they have been taken into our daily lives as well. The local church has a streaming feed of congratulations to the home town high school team with their winning score of last night’s game. The stadium is lit, even in the dead of night, with the concert announcements and video of excitement to come. Sponsors of a larger sports game will have their ads beautifully lit at their location, announcing an anticipated contest for attendees.
Continue reading “Electronic Scoreboards: They’re everywhere” →

Gordie Howe: One of the best in the history of hockey

Fans of hockey are not only familiar with the name of Gordie Howe, but most know just about everything about him. Howe overcame incredible odds to become a hockey legend and set an incredible number of records during his playing era.

Born in 1928 in the midst of the depression, Gordie was from a rather poor family in Saskatoon, Canada. A hard working father set a work ethic for Gordie, but the family’s bad financial condition left Gordie as an undernourished and often ill child. Awkward and often shy, he found it difficult to deal with other people. By the time he was five years old, he got his first pair of used ice skates and fell into a love of skating that would last his entire life.
Continue reading “Gordie Howe: One of the best in the history of hockey” →

Mary Lou Retton: America’s darling gymnast

Anyone that watched the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles became absolutely smitten with Mary Lou Retton. Not only did she demonstrate a performance of pure excellence, but she represented everything that was wholesome about the United States. Her original family name of Rotundo was changed to Retton when they arrived at Ellis Island, and Mary Lou is intensely proud of her Italian heritage.

Born in 1968 in Virginia, Mary Lou developed an intense love of gymnastics are an early age. She relocated to Houston, Texas to be under the instruction of Bela Karolyi, the famed Romanian coach. Her cute perkiness, combined with a very compact and strong frame led her to wins at a variety of competitions, including the U.S. Nationals and the American Cup. Her 4’ 9” size was smaller than the standard, but every ounce of her weight was pure powerhouse toned muscle.
Continue reading “Mary Lou Retton: America’s darling gymnast” →