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Stay tuned to PBS39 for an all new episode of Focus.
As baseball season begins,
PBS shares the life and legacy of Jackie Robinson
in a new Ken Burns documentary.
We hear from local leaders about the athlete's role
in the civil rights movement.
Plus we introduce the new soccer team in town.
Meet the Bethlehem Steel Football Club,
and hear more about the minor league sports
making a major impact on the region.
Right now on Focus.
Focus is for our community.
(Grover) Focus showcases the people.
The places.
And the issues that matter to you.
(Grover) Focus on what matters.
(Brittany) You never know what you're going to see
when you tune in to Focus.
(announcer #1) Support for Focus is provided by:
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Fellowship Community.
Continuing care with spirit.
And by viewers like you.
Thank you.
Thank you for joining us, I'm Laura McHugh
broadcasting from the PPL Public Media Center
at PBS39.
In this episode, we focus on sports,
beginning with a leader on
and off the field, Jackie Robinson.
Ken Burns' new four hour documentary
about the legendary athlete
airs on PBS39 this week.
And as the documentary states,
"If you only know the legend,
you don't know the man."
Here with a preview is Focus reporter
Grover Silcox.
Thanks, Laura.
The documentary about the legendary Jackie Robinson
offers the life story of the star athlete
who broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball
and opened the door for other African American players.
Jackie Robinson proved himself a leader
against all the odds,
on the ball field, in the march for civil rights,
and as a man of exemplary character.
(cheering)
(jazz music)
Ken Burns' most recent documentary,
Jackie Robinson, shows how this legendary ball player
stepped up to the plate and shattered the color barrier
in Major League Baseball.
(male #1) He's a trailblazer
on the vanguard of the civil rights movement.
Forward thinking.
(Grover) Jackie attended UCLA
and won varsity letters in baseball, basketball,
football, and track.
After a stint in the US Army,
he played shortstop for the Kansas City Monarchs
in the all *** league.
Later that year, he broke a 60-year color line
when he signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers farm team,
the Montreal Royals.
In 1947, he moved up to the Dodgers
as the first African American player
in Major League Baseball.
(male #2) He could hit.
For batting average, he hit for power.
He could run, he could field,
he could throw.
(Grover) Branch Rickey, president and general manager
of the Brooklyn Dodgers, saw in Robinson
a great ball player and a man strong enough
to withstand the racism he was sure to face.
Rich Westcott, author of Champions of Philadelphia
and 24 other books about the Phillies and baseball,
describes Robinson as "the right man
at the right time."
He was a good all-around athlete,
and he was smart,
and he had everything Branch Rickey was looking for.
He had an extraordinary, a superhuman constitution
for being able to deflect and absorb the hatred
that was directed his way.
(Grover) Hatred rooted in racism
that went far beyond the ball field.
John Robinson, past president
of the Easton Chapter of the NAACP,
remembers going to Philly's
Connie Mack Stadium as a child
and watching his hero at second base,
Jackie Robinson.
He chose to battle,
and he never gave up.
I don't ever recall Jackie Robinson
taking a step back.
(Rich W.) The team would go into the restaurant for a meal,
but the restaurant wouldn't accept
African American players.
They'd have to stay in the bus,
and the others would bring them their meal.
You know, and then the same would happen
with hotels.
(Grover) Growing up, Jackie pushed back
when confronted by bigotry.
He saw his older brother, Mack, win a silver metal
in track at the 1936 Olympics
and come home to a menial job
because blacks were shut out
of coaching jobs and other opportunities.
But years later, when he signed on
as a Brooklyn Dodger,
he promised to ignore the jeers and taunts.
(John) Jackie, in his quiet, humble way,
made the classic statement
and that is, "If you hit me on one cheek,
I have two."
He was gonna be able to take it,
and "whatever you did or tried to do
to prevent me from being a success
is not gonna stop me."
Jackie was in it to win it.
(Grover) Jackie showed the world what he could do.
(Rich W.) He hit over 300, uh,
I think it was, six times,
290s a couple times.
Was an MVP.
I mean, he could do everything.
He was Rookie of the Year in his first year,
and he continued to have some great years.
So, he had the numbers,
and today, I guess if you'd look at the analytics,
he would've been off the charts.
(Grover) Jackie proved his mettle in the face of bigotry,
but he also had allies
such as teammate Pee Wee Reese.
(Rich W.) Pee Wee Reese,
who was a southerner from Kentucky,
became one of the strong supporters of Robinson,
and the guy who stood up for him
against all the bigots.
(Grover) The St. Louis Cardinals were nasty to Jackie
and threatened to strike if he played.
The Phillies hurled racial epithets at him
from the dugout.
(Rich W.) It was a couple guys on the Phillies,
and not the whole team,
but they had a couple racist guys
who gave Robinson a lot of trouble,
one being the manager, Ben Chapman.
(Grover) Ironically, it was a Philly, Lee Handley,
who was the first player from an opposing team
to wish him well.
Jackie helped lead the Dodgers
to six World Series and a championship win
before retiring in 1956.
You have to go well beyond baseball
to describe Jackie Robinson's
contribution to mankind.
(Grover) Jackie was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame
in 1962,
but his legacy continued to unfold.
Dr. James Peterson, Director of Africana Studies
at Lehigh University, underscores how Robinson
continued working to level the playing field
even after he retired.
He served on the board of the NAACP,
he stayed vocal about issues that mattered
in terms of civil rights.
When you sit back and look at history
of people who make lasting contributions
to our society...
they all end up having that similar characteristic.
They gave it all.
They didn't leave anything behind.
And that's what I love
and respect so much about Jackie.
(James) We owe a debt.
And I think the way you pay that debt back
is by serving society around the same kinds
of social justice issues.
(Grover) For Jackie Robinson,
baseball wasn't just America's pastime,
it was a way to advance equal rights
for every American.
For Focus, I'm Grover Silcox reporting.
Thank you, Grover.
Jackie Robinson airs on PBS39 Sunday April 17th
starting at 7:00 PM.
We now turn to the minor league sports
making a major impact on the region.
In 2008, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs
began playing at Coca-Cola Park in Allentown.
The Lehigh Valley Steelhawks
brought arena football to the region,
and in 2014 the Lehigh Valley Phantoms
skated onto the scene.
This month, another new team joined the roster
to carry on a tradition with deep roots in the region.
For more, we turn to Focus reporter
Brittany Garzillo.
Laura, there's a new team in town.
The Bethlehem Steel Football Club
is the official United Soccer League affiliate
of the Philadelphia Union of Major League Soccer.
Though their inaugural season recently began,
their history in Bethlehem dates back to the early 1900s.
Let's take a look at this year's team
and a legacy that puts them in a league of their own.
Standing tall over Bethlehem,
these blast furnaces are a symbol
of American industry.
(male #3) Bethlehem Steel was a thriving,
thriving industry with up to 30,000 people
working here who came from all over the world.
(Brittany) But in the early 1900s,
the name "Bethlehem Steel" meant more than manufacturing.
(male #3) When these families came from all over the world,
they brought with them the culture of soccer.
(Brittany) They were known as the Bethlehem Steel Soccer Club.
For Dean Koski, head coach of
the Lehigh University men's soccer team...
Another stretch.
(Brittany) ...their legacy was one
for the record books.
(Dean) It ended up emerging as one of the best
professional team we had in our country.
(Brittany) Today, there's a new chapter to that story.
About a hundred years later,
the Bethlehem Steel soccer legacy lives on.
(announcer #2) Let's make some noise
as we welcome
your Bethlehem Steel FC!
(chanting) BS!
FC!
(male #4) There was no fluff about those people back then,
and we intend to carry on that tradition.
(Brittany) Brendan Burke is the head coach
for the Bethlehem Steel Football Club,
also known as Bethlehem Steel FC,
the new official United Soccer League affiliate
of the Philadelphia Union.
(Brendan) It's a great honor for me,
and I know it's a great honor for the players,
and we've spent a lot of time
teaching the players the history,
and trying to ingrain that in their mentality.
(uplifting music)
(Brittany) More than 3,600 fans came out to support the team
during their inaugural home opener
against FC Cincinnati
at Lehigh University's Goodman Stadium
in Bethlehem.
(male #5) There's not many teams in the US that have
a history like Bethlehem Steel,
so for us to come in and kinda, you know,
starting a new chapter in that
is pretty exciting for us.
(Brittany) Defender Ryan Richter is the team's captain.
Richter grew up in Bucks County
about an hour south of Bethlehem.
(Ryan) You know, the people that come out to see us,
they're gonna see our exciting style of soccer,
but most importantly a winning style of soccer.
(Brittany) Winning was a way of life
for the Bethlehem Steel Soccer Club in its heyday.
The team played from 1913 to 1930
with five National Cup title wins.
(sentimental music)
According to BethlehemSteelSoccer.org,
the team began as an amateur league club,
and eventually became a founding member
of the American Soccer League.
Bethlehem Steel built this field
that they played on, today known as
the Rocco Calvo Field at Moravian College.
And while it holds only distant memories
of Bethlehem Steel soccer,
a plaque on the side of the stadium
showcases its winning record.
Located about six miles away is the team's
new home turf:
Murray H. Goodman Stadium at Lehigh University.
(Dean) I can imagine that for the many families
whose grandfathers and great grandfathers
and fathers worked at Bethlehem Steel,
this has to be really neat.
(male #6) It's really exciting to be a part of this
new kind of old/new, um, in-between.
So, it's really exciting for me.
(Brittany) Boluwatife Akinyode is a midfielder on the team.
(Boluwatife) We're a young group mixed with some veterans,
and I think the energy level for us is gonna be high,
and we're gonna be looking to entertain our fans,
and play exciting soccer.
(Brittany) During the home opener, you could sense that energy
in the stands.
(chanting) BS!
FC!
BS!
FC!
(Brittany) Meet the East End Army,
the team's official supporters group.
Joined by Bethlehem's Mackay Pipe Band,
the 60-member group occupies a section
of the stands that they've referred to as The Forge.
(male #7) Without the forge there is no steel.
So, we wanted to play with that
and play it into the team name.
(Brittany) Though the home opener ended with a 2-1 loss,
for some, this team is a big win for Bethlehem.
(female #1) I mean, we have the IronPigs,
we have the Phantoms,
so now we have soccer.
So it's really great.
It means a lot that the Union decided
to put a team here.
And not only that, to honor the strong tradition
of soccer in this town by calling the team
Bethlehem Steel FC.
(Brendan) The city of Bethlehem,
I think, still embodies what we want to embody
on the field, which is a somewhat eclectic community,
and a community that when you drive through it
you can get a sense of what the people are like,
and we want our players to represent all of that.
(Brittany) Representing the tradition and pride that was,
and still is, Bethlehem Steel soccer.
For Focus, I'm Brittany Garzillo reporting.
Thank you, Brittany.
Interestingly enough,
a member of the Lehigh University men's soccer team
will carry on his soccer career
with the Bethlehem Steel FC.
Forward Jamie Luchini of Allegheny County
was recently signed by the team.
To learn more about the impact
of minor league sports on the region,
we've asked leaders of the teams to join us.
From the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, Ron Rushe,
is the director of corporate partnerships.
From the Lehigh Valley Phantoms,
Executive Vice President Chris Porreca.
From the Bethlehem Steel Football Club,
Managing Director Rich Searls.
And finally joining us from Discover Lehigh Valley
is President Mike Stershic.
Thank you each for joining us,
especially the team members.
I know you're midseason, all of you.
So we really appreciate any time that you can give us.
(Ron) Our pleasure.
(Laura) Ron, I'd like to start with you.
When the IronPigs came here in 2008,
what was the sports climate like
in the Lehigh Valley?
(Ron) You know, it was interesting.
I've been in the Lehigh Valley
for about 20-- a little over 20 years now,
and there had been always talk and discussion
about, um, "Boy, wouldn't it be great if..."
and "Wouldn't it be nice if..."
And there were a couple of almost runs
where some teams had initiated some plans,
and even began-- in one particular case--
even began to build a stadium,
but nothing ever came to fruition.
So, I think there was a lot of initial naysayers.
"It'll never get done, it'll never get built."
And I think once everybody understood,
that, hey, this was-- this was something legitimate,
this was something that was going to be real
that they could call their own,
the Valley quickly got excited about it
and began to support it.
(Laura) And so, that was in 2008.
How have attendance numbers been since then?
(Ron) Been fantastic.
We receive, uh, support at Coca-Cola Park
like almost no other organization
in Minor League Baseball.
Um, for our first eight seasons,
the IronPigs have averaged over 600,000 people,
which is by far and away, um, heads and tails
above anybody else in the country.
So, we're--we know that we're very lucky.
We receive the kind of support, um, each night,
even in April when it's gonna be a little chilly,
that, uh, most teams don't have the opportunity
to experience.
So, we're truly blessed.
(Laura) Chris, when the Phantoms opened in the Lehigh Valley
in 2014, um, what attendance figures
did you expect?
And what have-- have they brought forward?
How did they turn out?
Um, you know, you always come in
and your hopes, I guess, and dreams are that you're
gonna be sold out every night in sports.
Um, but, you know, you realize
that that might not happen,
but I think with everything that we've experienced,
the sell-outs and the amount of people
that have supported us, the same thing.
I mean, I think the Lehigh Valley
is tremendous, uh, for sports
and supporting all the teams.
I mean, there's no other place
you can really go where you're gonna have
top level sports like we have here
in the Lehigh Valley, and it's tremendous.
(Laura) Um, and so in 2014 you opened in PPL Center,
this is a brand new arena built for this purpose
in Downtown Allentown.
How many seats are in it?
We have 8,420.
So, 8,420 for a sell-out,
and then we can go into standing room.
Our largest crowd has been over 9,000,
so very happy with the support we've gotten
from the Lehigh Valley.
(Laura) And similar in size to Coca-Cola Park.
(Ron) Correct, about 8,200 fixed seats.
And we call capacity 10,100.
And we average, um, just shy of 9,000 a night
over the course of a five-month season.
(Laura) And Chris, I know you mentioned to me
that you're selling out a majority of your games still
as you enter the tail end of your second season.
Absolutely, we have a game tomorrow--
yeah, tomorrow-- and that's, you know,
we're gonna be over capacity for that game,
that'll put us above 22 sell-outs.
We hopefully will get to 25
with the remaining couple of games,
and that'll be higher than we were last year.
(Laura) So Rich...
(Rich S.) No pressure, right?
(Laura) Exactly!
Um, but over 3,000 people came to the first game.
You're only one game--home game into the season at this point.
(Rich S.) Yeah, yeah, we're very excited.
You know, we've really only been after this
for about three months.
So with the weather reports that came through for Sunday,
we were a little concerned,
but yeah, we got a little over 3,600 people in
for our first game.
Not bad.
Yes.
(Laura) And Mike, from your perspective,
what does having all these people
coming out and going to games do for the Valley?
(Mike) It's fabulous, the economic impact of this
is tremendous.
And there's a couple-- so many different levels.
The first one, and I can't speak
to soccer or hockey yet, because the numbers aren't--
aren't long enough history to be able to provide that,
but for the IronPigs,
um, with that 600,000 attendance
that they're averaging each year,
somewhere between five and eight percent of them
are visitors,
people who are coming from outside the area
and spending their money here.
And they're not just coming to the games,
they're actually coming in,
spending the night,
um, some are doing-- with their family--
doing Crayola Factory,
some are doing, uh, the Dorney Park and other--
Da Vinci Science Center and other family attractions
while they're here.
We're estimating that's somewhere between
$3 and $5 million in economic benefit each year
from those visitors coming in from outside the area.
And that's just those visitors.
You know, what we're doing
is we're actually keeping dollars here
because people aren't going to need to travel
to go see their favorite sports.
They can see all of them here,
and they'll be able to spend their money here,
and as a result, keep those dollars here.
And the other thing that's really important
to remember is,
we're a region that doesn't have a brand,
that doesn't have a brand that's on the map.
We're--our brand is not there.
So, when you have Lehigh Valley
in the crawl at ESPN,
or in papers all over the country
for the box score, um,
and you see it on uniforms in cities
all over the country,
it really helps expand the footprint
of our marketing efforts to make the brand all it can be.
(Laura) So, you're referring to the naming of the teams
as the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms
as opposed to necessarily the Allentown IronPigs,
or the Allentown Phantoms.
(Mike) Bethlehem Steel Football Club doesn't hurt,
'cause everybody knows where that is.
(Rich S.) And I think it also helped us with, you know,
when you look at partners,
you know, that's why it was vitally important for us
to partner with someone like Lehigh Valley Health Network.
You know, so now they're--we've kinda--
(Mike) Got them on their uniform.
Exactly right, so we got the best of both worlds.
(Laura) Rich, how closely did you look
at the IronPigs and the Phantoms
as you were making the decision
about where to locate this team?
(Rich S.) Yeah, it's something you look at.
You know, it's important to understand the market, um,
you know, whether it can support
multiple sports teams.
You know, it's definitely something that was in
the back of our minds.
Um, the good thing about soccer is, you know,
it appeals to a wide range of players and families
and demographics,
so the great thing about the Valley
is, you know, everyone-- there is a wide range
of folks that live here that have been playing soccer
from, you know, the time they were about
four years old, like myself.
So, it was an easy decision.
(Laura) Mike and Ron, I know you've been in the Valley
for a long time.
And when we think about where Coca-Cola Park is located
and what Airport Road looked like 10 years ago,
certainly where PPL Center is located in Downtown Allentown,
these stadiums and the teams that have--that play in them,
have really made a major change to the landscape
of the Lehigh Valley.
(Mike) They've really brought a lot of economic activity
to the area surrounding the facilities.
You look at both Coca-Cola Park
and PPL Center and you can see
a pretty significant economic impact
with new restaurants, new retail operations,
even new hotels that have-- that have been developed
right around that,
to take advantage of the traffic that's being brought
to those facilities.
(Laura) How much, um, how much are you involved
in that part of it?
Or...
(Ron) I think, you know, one of the things,
one of the best things we ever did, of course,
was being able to align ourselves
with a national brand, a world-wide brand, in Coke.
Uh, it was the first time that Coca-Cola had ever
put their brand on any, um,
any sports venue anywhere
not only in this country,
but anywhere in the world.
So, the IronPigs were very fortunate.
We had a strong champion over at Lehigh Valley
Coca-Cola Bottling Company in Joe Brake,
who felt it was important for--for them
to be involved early on in a major way.
So, just the...
really bringing those-- bringing that kind of a brand
and associating the IronPigs
with that kind of a global brand was--
It only helped us, really,
get things not only started,
but further legitimize, you know,
what we're all about.
(Laura) And Chris, the owners of the Phantoms
had been looking at the region
for close to a decade, hadn't they?
(Chris) Yeah, I think, you know, that that's a big part
of how we kind of settled on Lehigh Valley
is they looked at it, they did some economic studies,
and this was the place to put a minor league team.
And, you know, I think you see that
with all the teams in the region is,
you know, we might be minor league teams,
but really, it's a major league city,
and community, and the entire Lehigh Valley.
And I think, you know, asking everybody
who is involved with sports in the area,
it's tremendous that there's this many teams
in this area.
(Mike) I think what's critical here
is that we've built some mass.
We've really got this sports entertainment scene now
that we didn't have more than eight years ago.
And it really has added to what we have to offer,
not only to visitors, but to residents.
And it really adds to the quality of life
that we can offer our residents,
and that's important.
(Rich S.) Yeah, I agree with that.
You know, when you look back at the World Cup
viewing parties that happened right outside here, you know,
hundreds of thousands of folks that were--
came through here to watch the games.
And actually, you know, Lehigh Valley was on the map
because they did cutaways from ESPN,
they were in Chicago and New York,
and little old Bethlehem was there right there with 'em.
(Laura) And as somebody who moved to the Lehigh Valley
within the last 10 years,
I now can't imagine this community
without these teams,
and without the opportunity for, um, ticket prices
often starting around $10,
and being able to go to games
and bring your entire family
for $10 to $15 a ticket.
Mike, what kind of impact has that made overall
on sort of the morale of the region?
(Mike) I think the biggest single thing
is that it has added to the morale.
I don't think anybody really thinks about that.
When there's a pride in Lehigh Valley, you know...
People always used to complain about
there's nothing to do around here,
and look down on Lehigh Valley
'cause they felt that way.
Now, there's something going on all the time.
In fact, some weekends there's too many things
going on.
Uh, but it's been fabulous for the psyche
of the people who live here,
and they feel really good about and are proud of
Lehigh Valley.
(Laura) And I think I've heard Kurt Landes,
who's the general manager of the IronPigs,
now describe that the, um, these stadiums,
in some cases, are becoming like
the village square,
where you get to bump into your neighbors,
and see your neighbors, and connect with people.
I can't go to a game--
I haven't been--I have to admit I haven't been
to a Bethlehem Steel game yet--
but I haven't been to a game
where I haven't bumped into neighbors and friends,
and it's been a great way to reconnect with people.
(Ron) Yeah, it really has.
I mean, you can just-- baseball by its nature
is used to being a little bit more slow paced
and being outdoors across nine innings
and sometimes three, three and half hours,
you get a chance to get up, move around,
walk around a little bit.
It really does become, um,
more of a social gathering, more of an event.
Yes, there's baseball, certainly,
and everybody's excited about that,
but by and large,
it's just a great night out.
It's an alternative that we didn't have
eight years ago, nine years ago.
So, the Valley's embraced it entirely.
(Laura) And true for all the teams that are represented today.
Thank you so much, everybody, for joining us.
We really appreciate your time.
(all) Thank you.
Well, next week we'll focus on education,
and specifically on school violence,
following a string of violent incidents
involving students from across the Lehigh Valley.
We'll assess the issue with a panel of experts,
and welcome your questions.
Please look for us on social media.
On Facebook @PBS39
or on Twitter @PBS39Channel
to submit your questions
and your comments.
We certainly appreciate you
joining us tonight.
We'll see you next week.
Until then, remember to focus on what matters.
(uplifting music)