Source: Jon Wefald, President of Kansas State University
RADIO REPORT: K-State President Jon Wefald Instrumental In Bringing Movie About Negro Leagues Baseball to Television
1
Wrap
1 Actuality
You have selected a report on Kansas State University President Jon Wefald’s efforts to bring a movie about the history of Negro Leagues Baseball to television. The wrap and sound bite come in 3,2,1…
WRAP
1: Former Black athletes believed in a better future
TIME :60
SUGGESTED INTRO: Imagine being one of the best baseball players in the country, but being treated like a second class citizen just because of the color of your skin. Thanks to the efforts of Kansas State University President Jon Wefald, the world will see what life was like for those athletes in a television miniseries produced by Warner Brothers chronicling the history of Negro Leagues Baseball. Lanice Thomson reports. . .
IT ALL STARTED AS A TRIP BY K-STATE PRESIDENT JON WEFALD TO THE NEGRO LEAGUES BASEBALL MUSEUM IN KANSAS CITY. HE WAS SO IMPRESSED BY THESE ATHLETES THAT HE WROTE A PAPER ON THE HISTORY OF SOME OF THESE TEAMS AND PLAYERS FROM THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY. THAT PAPER WAS THEN PICKED UP BY WARNER BROTHERS TO BE MADE INTO A TV MINISERIES. THE MOVIE WILL HONOR THE LEGACY OF THOSE PLAYERS WHO HAD TO ENDURE DISCRIMINATION BECAUSE THEY WERE BLACK. WEFALD SAID THOSE ATHLETES WERE ABLE TO CARRY ON BECAUSE THEY HAD HOPE FOR THE FUTURE OF AMERICA. . .
(Wefald :16 “These teams, and especially the players and their owners and their managers, they didn’t sit around and complain. They knew there would be a better day. They knew America was a country based on hope and progress, and someday they would overcome.”)
THE MOVIE WILL FEATURE FORMER BLACK BASEBALL STARS BUCK O’NEIL AND TED “DOUBLE DUTY” RATCLIFFE. WARNERS BROTHERS HOPES TO AIR IT IN NOVEMBER OF 2006. LANICE THOMSON, KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY.
ACTUALITY
1: Heavy-hitters are expected be a part of the upcoming television
miniseries featuring the history of Negro Leagues Baseball
TIME : 31
A paper written about the history of Negro Leagues Baseball by Kansas State University President Jon Wefald has been picked up by Warner Brothers to be turned into a four-hour television miniseries. Wefald says he was inspired to write the paper after visiting the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City several years ago and became good friends with former Kansas City Monarch Buck O’Neil. He says he expects many heavy-hitting actors will be a part of this production. The sound bite is :31 and the outcue is “in this film.”
(Wefald: 31 “They’re hoping to get Sydney Poitier to play Buck O’Neil who is 93 now and a legend here in Kansas and in Kansas City. They’re hoping to get Ozzie Smith to play Ted “Double Duty” Ratcliff. They’re both alive, they’re both well over 90 years of age and they were wonderful players for various teams in the 30s and the 40s. So they’re looking at some major league actors to play in this, plus some major league players. I think there’s going to be a lot of heavy-hitters in this film.
The movie will be produced by Emmy Award-winner Suzanne de Passe, who also produced “Lonesome Dove.” Expect to see it on TV in November of 2006.