A day after items of a stolen Jackie Robinson statue had been discovered burning in a trash can in Kansas, the Rose Bowl will have a good time the sports activities and civil rights icon’s a hundred and fifth birthday Wednesday at his statue exterior of the historic venue in Pasadena.
Final week, Robinson’s bronze statue at McAdams Park in Wichita, Kan., was reduce off on the ankles and stolen. Police mentioned two folks had been seen on surveillance video dragging the statue to a truck, which was later recovered by investigators.
On Tuesday morning, burned items of the statue had been discovered within the stays of a trash can fireplace seven miles away in Garvey Park.
The Rose Bowl advised The Instances in an announcement Wednesday that its statue of Robinson enjoying soccer stays beneath shut watch following the incident in Wichita.
“The Rose Bowl Stadium was saddened and angered to study of the inexcusable act of vandalism to the Jackie Robinson statue in Kansas final week,” the venue mentioned in an announcement emailed to The Instances. “Up to now, there have been no incidents, suspicious exercise or threats associated to the Jackie Robinson statue exterior of the Rose Bowl Stadium, however we’ll proceed to work carefully with campus safety and the Pasadena Police Division to make sure the statue stays safe.”
The Rose Bowl mentioned it is going to honor Robinson at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, adopted by an open home of the stadium.
Robinson grew up in Pasadena and performed numerous sports activities at UCLA. He grew to become the first Black participant in trendy Main League Baseball historical past when he signed with the Dodgers in 1947. Quite a few monuments and statues honoring Robinson stand in Southern California, together with exterior Dodger Stadium and on UCLA’s campus.
“We had been saddened to find out about this reprehensible act of vandalism,” UCLA mentioned Wednesday in an announcement to The Instances. “Jackie Robinson shouldn’t be solely one in every of UCLA’s most notable alumni, however a legend and civil rights icon for the complete nation.”
All that continues to be of a bronze statue of Jackie Robinson in a Wichita, Kan., park is the groundbreaking baseball participant’s sneakers.
(Travis Heying / Related Press)
UCLA added that there have been no incidents or suspicious exercise associated to any of the varsity’s monuments to Robinson, and that these spots, like all areas on campus, are frequently monitored for security.
The Dodgers declined to remark for this story.
Wichita Police Division spokesperson Andrew Ford described the items of the statue honoring Robinson as “not salvageable” throughout a information convention Tuesday. Ford mentioned that greater than 100 folks have been interviewed as a part of the investigation.
A statue of Jackie Robinson was erected in Wichita’s McAdams Park in 2021.
(Mel Gregory / Related Press)
“There shall be arrests, however we’re going to be sure that after we do, we may have a stable case,” Wichita Police Chief Joe Sullivan mentioned on the information convention.
As for the remainder of the statue, the Wichita Hearth Division mentioned in an announcement that these components “haven’t been recovered right now.”
“Station 22 arrived on-scene and extinguished a small residential fashion trash can that was on fireplace,” the division mentioned. “In the course of the overhaul course of, crews situated the dismantled stays of the stolen Jackie Robinson statue.”
League 42, a nonprofit youth baseball group in Wichita named after Robinson’s jersey quantity, had the statue put in exterior its McAdams Park baseball advanced for a reported $75,000 in 2021. The group intends to erect a brand new, an identical statue honoring Robinson to go in the identical spot, in addition to elevated safety across the space. Greater than $146,000 has been raised on-line, with League 42 saying on its GoFundMe web page that any additional donations will go towards the group’s operational wants.
“As legislation enforcement searches for the culprits of this crime, we stay dedicated to our mission of offering low-cost baseball and schooling alternatives for our 600 youngsters, ages 5-14,” League 42 government director Bob Lutz mentioned in an announcement on the group’s web site. “They’re as heartbroken over this theft as any of us and we’re decided to switch the statue.”
