Roberto Clemente Walker

Roberto Clemente (http://espn.go.com)

Roberto Clemente was born on August 18th 1934 in the town of Carolina Puerto Rico. He was one of seven children in his family. During his childhood he went to school, assisted his father at a grocery store, and played baseball. Clemente was so talented at baseball that upon graduation from high school he went to Brooklyn New York and played for the Brooklyn Dodgers minor league team. The next season (1955) he signed with the Pittsburg Pirates. He went on to play all eighteen of his major league seasons with the Pirates. His career was nothing short of extraordinary. He led the Pirates to two world series championships (1960, 1971), he collected 3,000 hits and he won 12 Gold Gloves. His accomplishments on the field earned him selection into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Matching Clemente’s skill on the baseball field was his commitment off the field to the care and well being of others. In Puerto Rico and in other Latin American countries, Clemente frequently gave away baseball supplies, food, and other aid to those in need. At Christmas in 1972, Clemente helped organize a relief effort to help the victims of an earthquake in Managua, Nicaragua. However, Clemente found out that his aid was being diverted away from the victims by corrupt officials. To help ensure the delivery of the aid, Clemente decided to accompany one of the relief flights which crashed into the ocean off the coast of Puerto Rico.

After Clemente’s death, his story became widely known and his dreams were carried on. In his home town of Carolina, a sports center was built for the youth of the town to learn and practice sports. It was called the Roberto Clemente Sports City. In major league baseball, the Roberto Clemente award is given to a player who exemplifies Clemente’s example of humanitarian work. At Clemente’s hall of fame ceremony, commissioner of baseball Bowie Kuhn said, “He was so very great a man, as a leader and humanitarian, so very great an inspiration to the young and to all in baseball, especially to the proud people of his homeland, Puerto Rico."

Roberto Clemente is important to me and to many other people because of how good a person he was. He demonstrated moral courage and compassion for those in need. Even with his fame and success he did not consider himself superior to others. He was humble when it would have been easy to be proud. Clemente showed love to everyone. He showed love to strangers and to those closest to him. As a Christian, his life and faith serve are inspiring to me.

Roberto Clemente