Blue Wahoos To Honor Jackie Robinson's Legacy, Historic Moment In History With Special Movie Night 

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The Blue Wahoos are honoring a historical moment Friday in American history with an event paying tribute to Jackie Robinson, arguably the nation’s most transformational sports icon.

On the same day known as Juneteenth – the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the abolition of slavery (June 19, 1865) – the movie “42: The Jackie Robinson Story” will be shown Friday night beginning at 7 p.m. at Blue Wahoos Stadium for a charitable cause.

The two-hour film, celebrating Robinson’s life and his eventual push to become the first African-American player in Major League Baseball, will be followed by a fireworks display. All proceeds from the ticketed event will benefit the Southern Youth Sports Association.

The SYSA is a Pensacola non-profit organization formed decades ago to benefit children through sports and education.

Tickets for the event are $5 general mission, $4 for youths, seniors and active military. Gates will open at 6 p.m. Blue Wahoos team owner Quint Studer arranged for the Friday movie and showing of “42” as way for the entire team organization to provide additional benefit in the community.

Friday’s movie event begins a full weekend of events at Blue Wahoos Stadium in celebration of Father’s Day on Sunday.

“We knew as an organization we needed to support the community and this was a way for us to get together and do that,” said Shannon Reeves, the Blue Wahoos’ events sales manager. “It is a way for us to show our appreciation as well as do something positive for the community.”

In all, the Blue Wahoos are hosting two movie nights, two fireworks shows, plus a Father’s Day brunch on Sunday.

“Our stadium is a large community space and we are treating it that way,” Reeves said. “We’re excited for all the dads to bring their kids this weekend. No matter who you are, or what your preference is, we feel like we have got something for everyone.”

Though Jackie Robinson did not play in Pensacola, he stayed overnight on March 1, 1946. He was on his way to spring training in Daytona Beach for the Montreal Royals, then affiliated with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

His plane flight from Los Angeles eventually stopped for refueling in Pensacola. In the book, “Baseball in Pensacola: America’s Pastime and the City of Five Flags” author Scott Brown chronicled how Robinson and his wife were bumped off the plane for white passengers.

They were denied accommodations, Brown wrote, before a hotel bellman suggested a black family he knew in Pensacola. Robinson later retold the story and thanked the kind-hearted family for allowing a place to sleep before he was able to board a bus from Pensacola to Daytona Beach.

It was part of Pensacola’s many connections to yesteryear stars of baseball that Brown wrote about in his book, published in 2013.

Robinson, who was born in Cairo, Georgia in 1919 in a family of sharecroppers, rose to become one of America’s all-time sports figures.

He grew up in the Los Angeles area, after the family moved to California. He developed into a multi-sport athlete and played four sports in college at UCLA.

After serving in the Army, he began playing professional baseball for the Kansas City Monarchs in 1945. Later that year, Brooklyn Dodgers president Branch Rickey signed him to a contract, setting a path toward Robinson breaking baseball’s color barrier in 1947 when making his Major League Baseball debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Robinson died in 1972, but his legacy has been celebrated for the past 70-plus years in America.

WANT TO GO?

WHAT: 42 The Jackie Robinson Story

WHEN: Friday, gates open at 6 p.m., movie starts at 7 p.m.

WHERE: Blue Wahoos Stadium.

ADMISSION: $5 general admission each night. $4 for youths, seniors, active military. children 3-under free.

CONCESSIONS: Open on stadium concourse and on-field vendors.

FIREWORKS: Following movie

NOTE: No lawn chairs, folding chairs, or strollers are permitted on the field. Movie goers are permitted to bring a blanket or picnic cover to sit on the field.