0:02

Pretty much, any obituary

0:04

with the word first in its headline

0:07

is going to get a lot of cliques. Of

0:09

course it is the human drama

0:12

is baked right in. Someone doing

0:14

something unprecedented captivates

0:17

us. We can only imagine

0:19

the courage, the fortitude

0:21

not to mention the talent of Jackie

0:24

Robinson, the first black

0:26

player in Major League baseball. But

0:29

what about the black player who joined

0:31

the major leagues just eleven

0:34

weeks after Robinson. He

0:36

had the weight of an entire

0:38

raith on his shoulders along with Jackie Robinson.

0:41

Sally Ride's place in history is

0:43

secure. She was the first

0:45

American woman in space, But

0:48

what about the woman who went into orbit only

0:50

a year later? She approached

0:53

becoming an astronaut like she did everything,

0:55

She knew what she wanted and went for the

0:58

same woman who lost her life on

1:01

one of the darkest days in Nassa's

1:03

history. You saw it forty five seconds

1:05

after liftoff, a huge fireball

1:08

in the sky. And what about

1:10

the British band here they

1:12

are again? Whatever life who

1:15

landed on American shores only

1:17

a month after the Beatles and dated

1:23

day. We

1:26

love firsts so much that

1:28

we end up ignoring the achievements and

1:30

people that come after, even

1:32

right after. But those people are

1:35

essential. Without someone coming

1:37

in second and third and fourth,

1:40

the first person is more of an oddity,

1:42

a one off, instead of the beginning

1:45

of big social change. So

1:47

today we salute three of

1:50

histories. Silver medallists

1:53

from CBS Sunday Morning and I Heart

1:56

I'm Morocca and this is

1:59

mobituarymes this

2:02

moment. Second place finishers

2:05

Larry Dobie, Judith Resnick,

2:08

and the Dave Clark Five. I

2:28

love a good musical rivalry

2:31

Andy Williams versus Perry Como,

2:33

Metallica versus Mega Death. Does

2:36

anyone else remember that period in the early

2:38

eighties when it was Madonna versus Cindi

2:40

lauper Well for a good stretch

2:42

of nineteen sixty four, you were either

2:44

a Beatles person or a

2:47

Dave Clark five person. I know you thought I

2:49

was going to mention the Stones, But in nineteen

2:52

sixty four there were magazine covers

2:54

pitting the Beatles against the Dave

2:56

Clark Five. On one of them, there's

2:58

a picture of bandleader Dave Clark captioned

3:01

I'll duel with Ringo. And only

3:03

one month after the Fab Four's legendary

3:06

first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.

3:08

Here for all of you youngsters,

3:11

England's Dave Park five, Lad

3:13

all Over The Dave Clark Five

3:16

made their first appearance on the program.

3:21

The Dave Clark Five had good reason

3:23

to be feeling glad all over. Their

3:26

hit of the same name had knocked the Beatles

3:28

I want to hold your hand out of the top

3:30

spot on the UK charts. Throughout

3:33

the sixties, they would land fifteen

3:35

consecutive top twenty US hit

3:37

singles and sell one hundred

3:40

million records. You want

3:43

a pounding rocker of a record,

3:45

a rip it up song that will rattle

3:48

your world in the bedroom you share

3:50

with your dad and your brother. Tom

3:53

Hanks grew up listening to the group and could

3:55

barely contain himself during their induction

3:58

into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. You

4:01

want to hear a song that will make you feel

4:04

glad all Over by the Dave

4:06

Clark Five. After

4:09

the d C five's breakthrough with Glad

4:11

all Over saw

4:13

them score top five hits with Bits

4:16

and Pieces

4:19

and Can't

4:21

You See That She's Mine?

4:26

And because the

4:30

following year they went to number one

4:32

with Over and Over, I

4:37

said over and over and over

4:39

again, The Dead Clock five made

4:41

a joyful sound. Over and over

4:44

and over again. The Dead Clark

4:46

five made a joyful found. But

4:50

unlike the Beatles, who were determined

4:52

from their earliest days in Liverpool to

4:54

make it as artists, the Dave Clark

4:56

five started playing music to

4:59

support their soccer habit. They

5:01

had a soccer team

5:04

and they wanted to play in

5:06

a tournament in Holland, but they didn't

5:08

have the money for the passage.

5:11

This is Harold Bronson, co founder

5:14

of Rhino Records. He wrote a book

5:16

about the British invasion. So they formed

5:18

a band to make money

5:21

so that they could actually be able

5:23

to go to Holland, which they whish they

5:25

did. Their aspiration was to go

5:27

to Holland and play soccer, and

5:30

being a band was the way

5:32

they were going to pay for it was basically their survival

5:34

job, right, So it was kind of an

5:36

accident, you know that they evolved into

5:38

this really good dance band. Who are you know

5:40

making money? Mike Smith played

5:43

keyboards and sang lead. His

5:45

voice was raw, commanding and

5:47

he helped write many of the group's songs. Lenny

5:50

Davidson played guitar. Rick Huxley

5:52

was on base and Dennis Peyton the

5:54

saxophone, a wild card

5:57

that helped give the Dave Clark five a unique

5:59

sound. But

6:05

what really set the band apart was

6:07

its drummer, Dave Clark, himself

6:10

a former stunt man. He wasn't just

6:12

the band's leader, a rarity for a drummer,

6:15

he also managed the band with

6:17

a crystal clear vision of how it should

6:19

sound and look. More than anything,

6:22

he was a showman. The Dave

6:25

Clark Five probably had

6:28

the best presentation of

6:30

any of the British Invasion groups

6:33

when they came to America because Dave

6:35

was thinking more theatrical.

6:38

They looked great. I mean, these guys were

6:41

snappy dressers, matching

6:43

suits, white turtlenecks, pocket

6:45

squares. They're perfectly clean

6:47

cut hair, perfectly quaff.

6:50

I call it Fisher Price hair, like each

6:52

head of hair could snap right on and off.

6:54

Well, it's time to go on in a few seconds, so

6:57

Mike and Rick attend to their head. Nothing

6:59

fantastic, take no hint of Mercy's side,

7:01

but just the way their fans expect to see

7:04

him on stage. They were all

7:06

smiles, bobbing their heads side

7:08

to side in unison in sync

7:10

with their leader's drumbeat. Dave was

7:12

also a producer on the group's records,

7:15

A very hands on producer the

7:17

drums, for example, he made sure they

7:19

were always mixed loud

7:28

and Dave exhibited a business savvy that's

7:31

rare among new artists. He

7:33

had paid for studio recordings himself

7:35

using money from his stunt work, so

7:37

he figured he could ask for more than the standard

7:40

royalty rate, and when he went into

7:42

negotiation, he figured, okay, I'll ask

7:44

for three times as much,

7:46

and the record company basically said okay.

7:50

Even more audaciously, he asked

7:52

that the rights to the group's songs be

7:54

returned to him after ten years,

7:57

which again they said okay, because they weren't

7:59

paying for it. In rock and roll wasn't

8:01

thought to have any longevity. That's

8:03

right. The company didn't see a future

8:05

for rock and roll, but Dave Clark,

8:08

the stuntman slash soccer enthusiast

8:11

slash high school dropout, did.

8:13

Now, that's smarts. Once

8:16

the band topped the charts in the UK, it

8:18

was inevitable that America's most

8:20

important taste maker would come

8:22

calling. Hell here

8:25

he is ed

8:29

Sullivan's Variety Show had ruled

8:31

Sunday nights for decades, and

8:34

once the Beatles appeared, Sullivan's show

8:36

became the gateway, kind of the Ellis

8:38

Island for British bands who wanted

8:40

to make it in America. All

8:43

the more remarkable then that when Ed

8:45

Sullivan first invited the Baby Clark

8:47

Vive on Dave actually said

8:49

no. In today's terms,

8:51

that's like having a store on Etsy

8:54

and turning down Oprah when she calls to tell

8:56

you you're one of her favorite things. But

8:58

Harold Bronson says Clark had played

9:00

for Americans on air basis in the UK,

9:03

and well, apparently they were just too

9:06

American for him. He did not

9:08

have a good impression of Americans

9:10

and didn't want to like put himself in that kind

9:12

of rowdy, uncrewth element. But

9:15

when it's Sullivan up the anti

9:17

to ten thousand dollars, well, you

9:19

know that was a lot of money and

9:22

that made all the difference. After

9:24

Ed Sullivan introduced the Dave Clark Five

9:26

to America, they finally quit

9:28

their day jobs. They ended up going on

9:30

his show twelve times. In

9:34

November four, the group

9:36

played Anaheim, and The l A Times

9:38

described the event as a riot without

9:41

violence. The headline Britain's

9:43

find it Hard to Sing to three thousand

9:45

screaming teenagers. It was

9:47

Beatlemania level frenzy.

9:50

In fact, just one year after the Beatles

9:52

charmed audiences with their movie A Hard

9:54

Day's Night, the Dave Clark Five

9:57

start in their own film called

9:59

Catch Us If You Can. The

10:06

movie marked the debut of British director

10:08

John Boorman went on to make Deliverance

10:11

and Hope and Glory. But even

10:13

before the film came out, Borman told

10:15

the press it was a dud. The

10:18

Dave Clark Five, mainly Dave

10:20

himself, just couldn't match the

10:22

Beatles charisma. Dave

10:24

may have been cruising around in a Jaguar

10:26

in the movie, but the band's joy ride

10:29

was beginning to sputter. By

10:33

the latter half of the sixties, the Beatles

10:35

were experimenting with new sounds

10:37

and psychedelic drugs. They went

10:39

to India and studied transcendental

10:42

meditation. They released groundbreaking

10:44

albums like Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts

10:46

Club Band Critics began praising

10:49

their music as art. Meanwhile,

10:55

the Dave Clark Five were relying

10:57

more and more on covers

11:02

for the record I happen to Love their take

11:04

on put a Little Love in Your Hearts.

11:14

In seventy the Dave Clark

11:16

Five called it quits, the same

11:18

year that the Beatles broke up. Today,

11:21

more than half a century later, there

11:23

really is no competition. Culturally.

11:26

The Beatles are still playing the main stage

11:29

that Dave Clark five for a time, we're

11:31

all but forgotten. That was thanks

11:34

to a very bad business decision by

11:36

Dave himself to sit on those

11:38

rights that reverted to him for decades.

11:40

He simply refused to re release

11:43

any of the group's music. He thought

11:45

wrongly that that would make the songs more

11:47

valuable. But none of

11:49

that changes the fact that the Dave Clark

11:52

Five put out a lot of great records,

11:55

records that made a deep impact in this

11:57

country. I

11:59

want to go back to those early months of nine sixty

12:02

four when the Beatles in February

12:04

and the Dave Clark Five in March first

12:07

came to America. They

12:09

were coming to a country at its lowest

12:11

low, still traumatized

12:14

from what had happened just a few months

12:16

before the assassination

12:18

of President John F. Kennedy.

12:20

In his speech inducting the d C five

12:23

into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Tom

12:25

Hanks remembered how it felt in

12:28

November of nineteen sixty A

12:31

terrible storm pounded your

12:33

classroom, and your town and your country,

12:36

and for weeks and for months, for the longest

12:38

time, your heart and your world have

12:40

been wrapped in black, and the head of every

12:42

single person you look up to is still

12:45

bowed in mourning. It

12:47

was the bleakest winter of your

12:49

discontent. But then morning

12:53

became morning, as

12:55

the sun rose in the east

12:58

coming out of England.

13:01

For many Americans, the British invasion

13:04

was more of an intervention, jolting

13:06

this country from its sad stupor.

13:09

Music is a kind of therapy, scream

13:12

therapy. The result was

13:14

more than just audiences

13:16

filled with screaming teenagers and schoolyard

13:18

arguments over who was better this quintet

13:21

or that quartet from the northern

13:23

part of the Queen's I'll know the true product

13:26

was joy. The Dave Clark

13:28

five may have been second to the Beatles,

13:31

and only for a short time at that, but

13:34

both groups delivered joy

13:36

when people really needed it. I'll

13:38

let Tom Hanks, channeling his

13:41

eight year old self, close out

13:43

this set. Music reaches the soul.

13:46

The Dave Clark five lifted outs with

13:48

a concussive beat that commanded you

13:52

to lean over from the back seat the

13:54

moment you heard the rumbling percussion

13:56

of the Dave Clark five on the radio and

13:58

commanded you to yell your dad, turn

14:00

it out, turn it out. That this is my favorite song.

14:03

And this song, this song is

14:05

going to take our confusion and our sadness,

14:08

our loss and our despair. It's going to take

14:10

all the bleak days we've been through and all the heaviness

14:12

of our hearts. This three minute record

14:15

is taking our joylessness and

14:17

smashing it to pieces, two bits

14:19

and pieces. So turn out the radio,

14:22

dad.

14:44

Now. If you heard our season one episode

14:46

on Forgotten Forerunners, you may

14:48

remember the story of Moses fleetwood

14:51

Walker, the black baseball player

14:53

who in four joined the

14:55

lineup of the otherwise white Toledo

14:58

Bluestockings. He taking

15:00

the field outraged enough white

15:02

players that a color line was

15:04

soon drawn through America's pastime.

15:08

For the next six decades, there

15:10

was an apartheid in American baseball.

15:13

Black players had to form their own teams

15:15

and eventually their own leagues, the

15:18

Negro Leagues. Then Jackie

15:21

Robinson moved from the Negro Leagues

15:23

to a Brooklyn Dodgers farm team,

15:25

and then in was

15:28

called up to become the first black

15:30

player in Major League baseball,

15:32

a milestone that was much bigger

15:34

than baseball. There at the Negro Leagues

15:37

Baseball Museum, we make the bold as searching

15:39

that Jackie Robinson's breaking up the color barrier

15:41

wasn't just a part of

15:43

the civil rights movement, it

15:45

was the beginning of the civil rights

15:47

movement. That's Bob Kendrick, the

15:50

president of the Negro League's Baseball

15:52

Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. This

15:55

is this is well

15:57

before round versus the

15:59

Board of Education, right, this is before

16:02

Rosa Parks refusal to move

16:04

to the back of the bus. Dr Martin

16:06

Luther King Jr. Was merely

16:08

a sophomore at Morehouse College.

16:11

In essence, this is what started the

16:13

ball of social progress rotling

16:16

in our country. Baseball and

16:18

our country literally jumped on the

16:20

coattail of baseball. Kendrick

16:22

was speaking to CBS for a documentary

16:25

not about Jackie Robinson, but about

16:27

the second black player in the Major leagues.

16:30

This is the CBS New York special

16:32

presentation. Larry Dobee

16:35

second to none. My colleague

16:37

sports anchor Otis Livingston hosted

16:40

that documentary. Otis felt

16:42

it was high time that Larry Dobe

16:45

got his due because he has

16:47

his own place. Jackie, of course

16:49

is number one, first guy in but

16:52

just eleven weeks later he was

16:54

brought into this whole situation. DOBIE's

16:57

journey as the second black player in

16:59

the LB was uniquely challenging.

17:03

Is it fair to say that he suffered the same indignities

17:05

as Jackie Robinson but he didn't

17:07

get the same accolades. Oh, that's

17:09

fair to say, It's really fair. Larry

17:13

Adobe was born in

17:15

in Camden, South Carolina.

17:18

When he was fourteen, he moved to Patterson,

17:20

New Jersey, the place he would call home.

17:23

Adobie had played baseball when he was in

17:25

South Carolina, but in New Jersey

17:27

he became a star, and not just

17:30

in baseball. He played on East

17:32

Side High School's championship winning

17:34

football team. He broke a conference

17:36

record in track and field. In

17:38

fact, while he was good at baseball, he'd

17:41

later tell the Louis B. Nunn Center for Oral

17:43

History that the sport was almost

17:45

like an afterthought. Well, I

17:47

never thought that much about baseball. Even

17:50

when I was in high school, I played baseball because

17:53

there's nothing else to do. Baseball

17:55

may not have been his passion back then, but

17:57

he made the All state team two years in

17:59

a oh His high school gave him

18:01

a gold watch, naming him the greatest

18:04

east Side high school athlete of all

18:06

time, so he was used to

18:08

a relatively supportive atmosphere. Now

18:12

when Dobie was coming up, there was no explicit

18:15

rule barring black players from the major

18:17

leagues, but there was a tacit understanding

18:20

among team owners. You just didn't

18:22

sign black players. So

18:25

Dobe joined the Negro Leagues in two

18:28

while he was still in high school, and began

18:30

playing for the Newark Eagles as second

18:32

baseman. He played under the name

18:34

Larry Walker since high school students

18:37

weren't technically allowed to play. It

18:39

was his first professional contract. His

18:43

rising star was briefly interrupted

18:45

by World War Two, when Dobie was

18:48

drafted into the Navy. He wrote

18:50

a train to Chicago for basic training

18:52

along with some of his former high school teammates,

18:55

but unlike his high school, the Navy

18:57

was segregated. There's budget

19:00

is that that had played football,

19:02

met and baseball men in high school

19:05

you're in the same train. When we got to Chicago,

19:08

was in we were separated. I went to so

19:10

called Camp Robert Smallis was

19:12

a black camp, and they went to the white

19:14

camp. In

19:17

the Navy, there was an all white baseball team

19:19

called the Blue Jackets, but Doobe

19:21

and other black players could only play for

19:23

the black Blue Jackets. Jobe

19:26

later said that it was the first time he was fully

19:28

conscious of segregation, and it's

19:30

stunned. After all, he was drafted

19:32

into the Navy to fight for the country.

19:36

You became a little bit frustrated because you didn't

19:38

know what was going on, and you the same kids

19:40

as you played with in high school. All of a sudden,

19:42

you know you're not you're not

19:44

together. But by

19:46

the time Doobe left the Navy and rejoined

19:49

the Newark Eagles, change was in

19:51

the wind. Jackie

19:55

Robinson had just joined the farm team

19:57

for the National League Brooklyn Dodgers,

19:59

the first step in the breaking of the color

20:02

barrier, and some other owners were

20:04

looking to integrate their teams. One

20:06

of them was Bill vec the owner

20:09

of the American League Cleveland Indians.

20:12

Bill Veck would later be lauded

20:14

for his early role in bringing black

20:16

players into the majors. He would also

20:19

end up hiring the American league's first

20:21

black public relations officer, trainer,

20:24

and scout.

20:27

As Jackie Robinson took the field in Brooklyn,

20:30

Veck told his scouts to look for the

20:32

Negro League's player with the best

20:34

long term potential, and DOBIE's

20:36

name kept floating to the top, and

20:39

so Beck made a deal with the Newark Eagles

20:41

to bring Toby to Cleveland. But

20:44

he went about it in a much different

20:46

way than the Brooklyn Dodgers went

20:48

about bringing Jackie Robinson on. Yeah,

20:50

because they they brought him through the minor league system

20:53

and uh, you know, gave him a little bit

20:55

of an adjustment period. This was more abrupt.

20:58

In other words, Robinson's introduct to

21:00

the Major's had been carefully orchestrated.

21:03

Larrydobes was not. On

21:05

July, Adobe

21:08

played what would be his last game with

21:10

the Negro Leagues, and then he was

21:12

whisked away on a train bow for Chicago

21:15

to meet his Cleveland Indian

21:17

teammates to play against the Chicago White

21:19

Sox the next day. Because

21:21

I was leaving a bunch of guys that I played with for

21:23

a long time, so I felt a little a little funny

21:25

about that, But no, those thoughts

21:28

came into my head about the major leagues. I just

21:30

I thought more about what I'm leaving.

21:35

Adobe was newly married. He and his

21:37

wife, Helen had been looking forward to buying

21:39

a house in New Jersey Whendobe

21:41

suddenly found himself on that train headed

21:43

to the Midwest. Larrydobe

21:45

was also young. Jackie Robinson

21:48

was twenty eight when he joined the Dodgers,

21:50

so he was seasoned. He could probably handle

21:52

a little bit different. Adobe's twenty three

21:54

years old. And let's talk about that, because that's

21:57

an important distinction, and

22:00

those are two very different ages. Yes, definitely.

22:02

I mean you're a pup

22:05

twenty three. You know, you're experiencing this

22:08

stuff for the first time. Joining

22:10

the Cleveland Indians would make Adobe the

22:12

first black player in the American League.

22:15

Not that his teammates rolled out the red carpet.

22:18

What kind of a reception did he get

22:20

in Chicago on July five when

22:22

he shows up there? Okay, so I'm will receptive.

22:25

Some wouldn't shake his hands, some turned their backs.

22:27

You know, there was just a lidney of responses

22:31

when the team took to the field to warm up.

22:33

No one would even play catch with Adobe except

22:36

for second baseman and former American

22:38

League m v P Joe Gordon. Gordon

22:41

said, Adobe, Hey, rookie, you're gonna

22:43

just stand there? Or do you want to throw a little?

22:46

Adobe later said it was a moment he would

22:48

never forget. You

22:51

have to have allies when you're

22:53

doing something like this, when you've taken

22:55

on an endeavor like this, which was difficult

22:57

for him on and off the field, you

22:59

have to have somebody in your corner that's gonna

23:02

accept you and and and make it okay

23:04

or make it tolerable. Joe Gordon

23:07

side. Adobe's first major league

23:09

season was rough. He struck out

23:11

more than twice as often as he had playing

23:13

for the New York Eagles. If you

23:15

asked me as to why I wasn't

23:17

a consistent ballplayer, I couldn't give

23:19

me an answer. Now, he kid had to be

23:22

something subconsciously that I had no control

23:24

over that. Nothing but his early performance

23:27

probably had something to do with the

23:29

almost inconceivable pressure

23:31

he and Jackie Robinson were under.

23:34

Here's Bob Kendrick from the Negro Leagues

23:36

Museum. Again, Jackie Robinson,

23:39

Larry Adobe. They were carrying

23:42

twenty one million

23:44

black folks on their back. So

23:47

if they failed, an

23:50

entire race of people fail. Can

23:53

you imagine carrying

23:55

that weight in a sport that is

23:57

predicated on failure? Baseball

23:59

is a game or failure is

24:02

crooks. In other words, in a game

24:04

where striking out is the norm,

24:06

black players couldn't really afford to strike out

24:09

even under the best of circumstances. You're

24:11

under extraordinary psychic strain.

24:14

So add to that, some

24:16

people would come to the games for the express

24:18

purpose of jeering him, of insulting

24:20

him. Oh yeah, it was a

24:23

microcosm of the world itself or our

24:25

country itself. I mean that

24:27

that's what it was like at that time. And

24:29

Otis Livingston says, It's not

24:31

like things were any easier off the field.

24:34

Couldn't stay in the same hotels with his teammates,

24:36

couldn't needed the same restaurants. His

24:39

family was not there to even lean

24:41

on. DOBIE's second season with the

24:43

Indians got off to an equally rocky

24:46

start. He worried that if he didn't

24:48

turn things around, he'd be demoted and

24:50

sent to play in the minor leagues. But

24:53

in he hit his

24:55

stride and by the end of the season, he

24:57

brought his batting average up to three oh one,

25:00

one of the best on the team, and later

25:02

that year, Dobie set another milestone.

25:05

He and his teammates Satchel Paige,

25:08

who had joined the Indians from the Negro Leagues

25:10

that July, became the first

25:12

black players to make it to the

25:14

World Series. Game

25:16

four of that series between Cleveland

25:19

and the Boston Braves would be one

25:21

of the most important of his life,

25:23

and the third inning, with two outs, Adobe

25:26

stepped up to the plate. First

25:28

pitch strike, but on

25:30

the second Pitchdobe hit the ball

25:33

hard. Indiandobe

25:35

rockets stays high, fast pitch

25:37

for the kipt to mars Abi more

25:40

than four feet into the right seal

25:42

cloud. DOBIE's round trip

25:45

is the first home run of the series. Larry

25:47

Adobe became the first black player

25:50

to hit a home run in a World Series,

25:53

a game winning home run, But

25:55

what happened afterward between Doobe

25:57

and Cleveland pitcher Steve Gromick made

26:00

be even more significant. After

26:02

the game, they rush into the clubhouse

26:05

jubilant, happy, and

26:07

a photographer from the Associated

26:09

Press captures the image

26:12

of Gromic Adobe hugging each

26:14

other with big smiles on their face. It's

26:17

a completely wonderful photograph. If

26:20

you haven't seen it, I urge you to google it.

26:22

The smiles on their faces, the sheer

26:25

joy. They're like two little

26:27

boys who just couldn't be happier to be

26:29

playing with each other. Their cheek

26:31

to cheek, but also their arms

26:33

just there. They're they're intertwine,

26:37

right, is almost symbolic of becoming one

26:40

against all odds, not just the baseball

26:42

odge, but against this segregation.

26:45

The photo ran in newspapers across

26:48

the country. Americans everywhere

26:50

saw a black man and a white man

26:52

embrace in celebration. It

26:55

became a symbol of this

26:57

great experiment of getting along, playing

27:00

together, accomplishing something,

27:03

and just loving each

27:05

other for his special Otis

27:07

asked Adobe's son, Larry Adobe

27:09

Jr. About the picture. When

27:12

I see it, I just see two people who

27:14

are extremely happy they won, and

27:17

they don't care about what color

27:19

skin each one is. It's just like

27:22

they love each other for winning. One guy

27:24

picks great, one guy hit great, and they're

27:26

just overjoyed. Probably my father's

27:28

happiest moment in baseball. The

27:31

love continued as the team went on to

27:33

win the World Series

27:37

and the nine team forty eight World Series

27:39

is all over. The Cleveland Indians

27:41

take the series four games to two.

27:44

After the final out of the final game,

27:46

the players ran onto the infield. You

27:49

could see it in the video. Adobe's number

27:51

four team gets lost in the celebrating

27:54

swarm. Every

27:56

amount on the team share his credit for the clown

27:59

the weird and about it too was. Years

28:02

later, he would admit that he

28:04

really didn't think of it as a big deal. Bill

28:07

Veck kept telling him, you're gonna make

28:09

history. You're making history, You're doing

28:11

this, and he didn't really grasp it

28:13

at the time, you know, as he was going

28:16

through it. Whendobe and Cleveland

28:18

won that World Series, there

28:21

were just five black players in the majors,

28:24

less than one percent of the league by

28:26

the time Doobe retired from baseball. In

28:28

nine of

28:31

major league players or black. Three

28:35

years after the World Series win, the

28:37

people of Patterson, New Jersey, helped

28:39

pay off the rest of their hometown

28:41

heroes mortgage Jobie

28:44

burned the mortgage paperwork before

28:46

a game against the New York Yankees.

28:50

Either way. Years after he retired

28:52

as a player, Larry Adobe went on

28:54

to become the manager of the Chicago

28:56

White Sox, the second black

28:58

manager in May Your League Baseball.

29:02

Larry Adobe was seventy nine when

29:05

he died on June two thousand

29:07

three, but he lived to see

29:09

his number retired by Cleveland in four

29:13

and in in Cooperstown,

29:16

New York, he was inducted into

29:18

the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

29:21

It's a very tough thing

29:23

to look back and think

29:25

about things that we're probably

29:27

negative, because you

29:29

put those things on the back burning you're

29:32

proud and happy that you've been in part of integrating

29:36

baseball to show people

29:39

that we can live together, we can work

29:41

together, we can play together,

29:44

and we can be successful together. And

29:48

I'm very happy and proud that I've been a part

29:50

of this baseball and I'm

29:52

still a part of it. Occasionally,

29:58

during their earliest days in major

30:00

leagues, Jackie Robinson and

30:02

Larry Dobie would talk over the phone at

30:04

night after games, sharing

30:06

their experiences. It makes

30:09

sense these were two men

30:11

who, for a time were the only

30:13

ones who really understood what the

30:15

other one was going through in

30:18

a league all by themselves, both

30:21

of them history makers. Jackie

30:25

Robinson's breaking of Major League

30:27

baseball's calib area carried the

30:29

same level of euphoria

30:32

that we saw as a nation when

30:34

Neil Armstrong landed on the moon. So

30:37

for black folks, Jackie

30:39

Robinson was our Neil Armstrong.

30:41

He was the proverbial first

30:43

man to walk on the moon. Well,

30:46

Larry Dobee is our buzz

30:48

all. Speaking

30:50

of astronauts, coming up the

30:53

story of the second American woman

30:55

in space, May

31:06

I ask, is Dr Judy Resnick

31:09

nearby? Mr? President

31:12

Judy? How is it your first flight? How's

31:14

it going? Is it all that you hoped it would be?

31:18

I couldn't have picked a better crew to be flying

31:20

with. That's

31:22

President Ronald Reagan calling

31:24

the crew of the Space Shuttle Discovery

31:27

on September one, and

31:30

chatting with Judith Resnick, who

31:32

a few days earlier had become the

31:34

second American woman to go into

31:36

space. Not that Judy,

31:39

that's what everyone called her. Cared much

31:41

about the distinction of being first or

31:43

second. It's a profession for me, and

31:45

the excitement is there every day. As

31:48

she once told her father, she just wanted

31:50

to be known as an astronaut period.

31:53

In fact, she was a lot more than that.

31:57

Funny, good looking, and very sociable.

32:00

She had just incredible talents

32:03

in academics. She'd sit in class,

32:05

she would just get it, get it all and

32:08

understand it. This is a woman

32:10

who is brilliant in music. She

32:12

just loved piano and she was an incredible

32:15

pianist. And in the kitchen, the

32:17

three lessons she taught me about

32:19

cooking where you know number one double

32:21

the garlic, two half the salt.

32:24

Uh, and then stir with your right hand while

32:26

you drink with your left. That's

32:29

Mike old Dack. He met Judy in college

32:32

at Carnegie Tech today known

32:34

as Carnegie Mellon. The two would

32:36

later marry. My roommate introduced

32:39

us and and that

32:41

was it. And was there an incident

32:44

chemistry? Uh yeah, pretty

32:46

much get progress

32:48

pretty quickly. We just sort of settled in together.

32:52

Judy had grown up in Acron, Ohio,

32:55

the daughter of Ukrainian Jewish immigrants.

32:58

She was close with her father, but had a

33:00

complicated relationship with her mother. Life

33:02

at home wasn't always easy. Her parents

33:05

would divorce when she was a teen, but

33:07

that didn't seem to hold her back. She

33:09

showed so much promise as a musician

33:11

she considered becoming a concert pianist.

33:14

She was a star student, getting a perfect

33:17

score on her s A T S and graduating

33:19

as valedictorian of her class.

33:22

She had the quote brain of a scientist

33:24

and the soul of a poet, her father,

33:27

Marvin Resnick, would later say.

33:30

At Carnegie, Judy started off as a math

33:32

major, but after attending some of

33:34

Mike's classes, she switched

33:36

to electrical engineering, becoming

33:39

one of only three women in that field

33:41

at the university. Do you think she was

33:43

intimidated by being one of just three

33:45

women in the program. I don't think

33:48

she was intimidated. She just took it in stride.

33:51

Her abilities just

33:54

paved the way. After graduation

33:56

in Judy and Mike

33:59

tied the knot and both took jobs

34:01

in the Missile and Surface Radar

34:03

division of our CI. A

34:05

sidebar. I can't be the only one who

34:07

hears our CIA and insidantally thinks

34:10

of a little dog listening to an old timey

34:12

phonograph. Great logo, right well.

34:14

Our CIER was also a major defense

34:17

contractor building advanced weapons

34:19

systems. I will admit Judy

34:21

was paid more than me. It was back in

34:24

seventy We both came on as design

34:27

engineers, and she got more money

34:29

than I did, and she graduated a lot

34:31

higher than I did. Mike ended up

34:33

switching careers to law,

34:35

while Judy stayed in engineering while

34:37

also going to school, eventually getting

34:40

her PhD. She developed a few

34:42

things that our cier patented. This was

34:44

in large scale integration for

34:46

computers. She was so competent

34:49

that it didn't seem like an

34:51

effort for her. It was a busy

34:53

and exciting time. But in Judy

34:57

and Mike made the difficult decision to

34:59

end their marriage. Why didn't

35:01

the marriage work. I've heard it

35:03

described as a failed marriage,

35:06

and I reject that. I think

35:08

it's more of Judy

35:10

and I decided that we really wanted

35:13

different things out of our future. I

35:15

wanted a family, and at that point she had

35:18

changed her mind and decides she did not want a family.

35:20

You know, I always believe that not all

35:23

people in love should be married. And we sort

35:25

of let each other go and do our

35:27

own things. We stayed very close.

35:31

Judy headed west to California

35:33

and a new adventure. In nine seventy

35:36

six, NASA announced that it was

35:38

quote committed to an affirmative

35:40

action program with a goal of having

35:42

qualified minorities and women among

35:44

the newly selected astronaut candidates

35:47

for its brand new space Shuttle

35:49

program. The celebrity who became

35:51

a spokesperson for this campaign, I'm

35:54

thinking to the whole family of human

35:56

kind, of minorities and women

35:58

alive. If you qualify

36:00

and would like to be an astronaut, now

36:03

is the time. The late great Nachelle

36:06

Nichols, this is your NASA, a

36:09

space agency embarked on a mission

36:11

to improve the quality of life on

36:13

planet Earth right now, who

36:16

had famously played Lieutenant Ukura

36:19

on Star Trek Transmission to start

36:21

complete, Nichols

36:24

used her star power, so to speak,

36:27

traveling around the country to recruit

36:29

a next generation of astronauts.

36:32

Among those who answered NASA's recruitment

36:35

call, Judith Resnick, when

36:37

you're when you're a old girl growing up an acron ohio

36:40

astronauts someday. No. I really didn't

36:42

think about it until when NASA announced that they

36:44

were looking for astronauts who would

36:46

be uh engineers and scientists on Spacehell.

36:49

And then I just took a chance and applies. Making

36:51

it her goal to be the best candidate

36:53

she could be. Judy got her pilot's

36:56

license and underwent intense training

36:58

to get into physical shape. It worked

37:01

by she was in.

37:03

This is Judy Resnick, age twenty nine.

37:06

She has a doctorate and electrical engineering

37:08

and is one of America's first woman astronauts.

37:11

She in thirty four other new astronauts began

37:13

their training today at the Johnson Space

37:16

Center. In her astronaut class,

37:18

Judy was one of six women, including

37:20

Sally Ride. Judy

37:23

threw herself into the rigorous, years

37:25

long Shuttle training, but also

37:28

knew when to have a little fun. She went by

37:30

the nickname j R. Not clear

37:32

if it had anything to do with the TV show Dallas,

37:34

a huge hit at the time. A fellow

37:36

astronaut would remember Judy as

37:39

a live wire and a star

37:41

attraction during trips

37:43

and happy hour. If Judy

37:45

had any desire to become the first American

37:48

woman in space, she didn't say so

37:50

out loud. What kind of mission

37:52

do you want to fly? Do you know? I'd

37:54

like to fly any mission? Actually, um,

37:58

the intent of a mission specialist is to

38:00

train us to be generalist, since to learn a

38:03

little bit about every field, and that I would

38:05

be glad to flying anything that they let me fly. And

38:08

when the time came for crew assignments

38:10

in ninety three, it turned

38:12

out, Judy would have to wait some

38:14

u s space history is to be made

38:17

up there on launch pad thirty nine

38:19

A well, the first time an American

38:21

woman will be launched into space. Her

38:24

name is Sally Ride. Quick

38:26

history lesson here. While Sally Ride

38:28

was the first American woman in space, she

38:30

was not the first woman in space. That

38:33

honor went to Soviet cosmonaut Valentina

38:36

Tereshkova, who had soared into the record

38:38

books back in nineteen sixty three, twenty

38:40

years before Ride, and as

38:42

the first ever space girl, Valentina

38:45

teres Cova is one of place in history.

38:47

What a triumph for Russian science. Now,

38:50

Sally Ride's ride was still

38:52

a very big deal, and just

38:54

one year later it was Judy's

38:56

turn. She was a mission specialist

38:59

on the base Shuttle Discovery that

39:02

existent and we have lipped off, lipped off

39:04

and missing ploty. One day the first

39:06

flight of the Abit of Discovery and the Shuttle

39:08

has cleared the power. As the Shuttle

39:11

went into orbit, Judy radioed

39:13

back to mission control that Earth

39:15

looks great. She had serious

39:17

work to do, but in photos and videos

39:20

from the mission she looks like she's having

39:22

the time of her life. She holds

39:24

up a sign that reads hi Dad. In

39:26

the background you can see an I heart

39:29

Tom Selleck sticker slapped

39:31

onto her locker. This was in his magnum

39:33

p I Heyday. At one point

39:35

she dawns Aviator sunglasses.

39:38

Now, Judy had become the second American

39:40

woman to go into space, but she was

39:42

also the first Jewish astronaut

39:44

to go into space. It's another

39:46

distinction she wasn't vocal about. But

39:49

her former husband Mike Oldack says,

39:51

there's more to the story. I think that's

39:54

misconstrue that she

39:56

had given up her Judyism,

39:58

and I think anything but Judy

40:01

did not want to be known as the first

40:04

Jewish astronaut. As she said

40:06

directly to me, I'm an astronaut

40:08

who happens to be a woman who

40:10

happens to be Jewish, who happens to have

40:12

brown hair. She was very firm in

40:15

saying that's who I am. She

40:17

didn't want the other labels Jewish

40:19

woman, brown hair. Well.

40:22

The only issue I have with that, if

40:24

I may, is

40:26

that she had amazing hair. Yes,

40:32

she really did. Yes, Yeah,

40:35

that was the first real hair in space.

40:41

I think most of those other astronauts

40:43

were former air Force pilots and

40:45

had buzz cuts. Discoveries

40:48

mission went off without a hitch.

40:50

Of course, the first landing to Discovery Actor,

40:52

a maiden flight that's been termed a major success.

40:55

If flying into outer space made Judy

40:58

nervous, she didn't sound like it. As

41:00

she told one writer, it does not enter

41:03

any of our minds that it is dangerous.

41:05

The world might think it is, we don't.

41:08

I think something is dangerous only if you're

41:10

not prepared for it, or you don't have

41:12

control over it. Less

41:14

than two years after Judy's voyage

41:16

on Discovery came her next mission,

41:19

aboard the Challenger and

41:22

lift off. Lift off

41:25

the twenty five Space Shuttle mission. And

41:27

it is clears the tower. Where

41:30

did you watch the launch from?

41:33

I actually was at my office and

41:35

uh, we didn't really have too many

41:38

TVs there. And I got a call from

41:40

my mother, uh in tears, telling

41:44

me that the shovel blown

41:46

up. On

41:50

the morning of January,

41:53

the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded

41:56

seventy three seconds after liftoff, killing

41:58

all seven crew members a board, including

42:01

civilian astronaut and teacher Kristi McAuliffe

42:04

and Judith Resnick By

42:07

controllers here looking very carefully in the situation

42:11

obviously a major malfunction. It

42:13

happened to be my seventeenth birthday.

42:16

I was a junior in high school, and

42:18

I can still see the student who ran into

42:20

the cafeteria at lunch and told us

42:23

I just remember. I couldn't believe it.

42:27

The crew of the Space Shuttle Challenger honored

42:29

us with the manner in which they lived their lives. We

42:32

will never forget them, nor the last

42:35

time we saw them this morning, as

42:37

they prepared for their journey and waved

42:39

goodbye and slipped

42:42

the surly bonds of Earth to

42:45

touch the face of God. An

42:47

investigation would later determine that

42:50

unexpectedly cold temperatures

42:52

had impacted the O ring seals

42:54

in one of the rocket boosters, causing

42:56

an explosion. I think a lot

42:58

of us have forgotten that space travel could

43:00

be dangerous. The Shuttle was just

43:03

so sleek on TV. It

43:05

looked almost like a high tech toy.

43:07

It didn't seem risky at all, but

43:10

of course it was. In

43:13

the years after the explosion, the US

43:15

government and Morton Thaia call, the

43:17

manufacturer of the rocket boosters, would

43:20

attempt to settle with the families of the Challenger

43:22

crew. The initial offers

43:24

were calculated with the formula factoring

43:27

in whether a crew member was survived by a

43:29

spouse and her children. Judy's

43:31

former husband, Mike Oldak, by then

43:34

a practicing attorney, didn't think

43:36

this was fair and took legal action

43:38

on behalf of the Resident family. Each

43:41

spouse would get X, each

43:43

child would get Why, Oh,

43:46

Judy is not married and didn't have many kids.

43:48

Too bad, We'll give her, you

43:50

know, just a small amount. And I said no.

43:53

Finally, after about

43:56

a year and a half, settled with

43:59

Martin Ya Cale for exactly what Judie's

44:01

father and brother wanted. What

44:04

was motivating you when I

44:06

decided that engineering

44:08

made a better hobby than a profession.

44:11

Uh, And I became a full time law

44:13

student, and so she was a big breadwinner

44:16

in her family. Judy

44:18

put me in law school. I felt I owed her family

44:21

and I wanted to do it. How

44:25

will you remember Judy? If there's one image

44:27

that pops into your mind when you think of her,

44:29

what is it? Probably just

44:32

smiling? I mean, she

44:34

was a very happy person and smiled

44:36

a lot. And uh, I knew

44:39

what she wanted. Judith Resident

44:41

wasn't the first woman in space She's

44:44

probably not the first name that comes to mind

44:46

when you think about the crew of the Challenger.

44:49

She probably would be fine with that number

44:52

one, number two. They

44:54

were just numbers to her. She

44:56

wanted to do something significant,

44:59

not necessarily be someone significant.

45:02

Judy was an astronaut. She was

45:04

also an exceptional human being

45:07

who deserved all the recognition she

45:09

never quite received. I

45:22

certainly hope you enjoyed this mobituary.

45:25

May I ask you to please rate and review

45:27

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45:29

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45:31

and you can follow me on Twitter at Morocca.

45:35

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45:43

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45:53

episode of Mobituaries was produced

45:55

by Jay Harper, Zoe Marcus

45:57

Morocca, Aaron Shrank, and will

46:00

Go Martinez Cacero. It was

46:02

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46:04

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46:06

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46:11

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46:13

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producers for Mobituaries include Steve

46:34

Raises and me Morocca. The

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series is created by Yours truly

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and as always, undying gratitude

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to Rand Morrison and John carp for

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helping breathe life into Mobituaries