A group of journalism students at Duquesne University have put together a new documentary about Negro League star Josh Gibson. The documentary tells of Gibson’s legendary baseball accomplishments, one of them being whether he actually hit a home run out of the old Yankee Stadium in 1934, but it also tries to make the case that his drinking was a result of the brain tumor that eventually killed him.

Back in January NYBD on WGBB caught up with Josh Gibson’s great grandson, Sean, on Super Bowl Sunday. He talked about the Josh Gibson Foundation and the memories of his grandfather. Later in the season historian Larry Lester talked about the East-West Negro League All Star Games on WGBB and mentioned that he is working on a comprehensive Negro League encyclopedia.

The student’s film is in contrast to how the 96′ film Soul of the Game portrayed Gibson as an emotional drunk.

I always say you can’t erase history. When the NCAA strikes championships from the books because of off the court violations I laugh and wonder if they will request the fans who watched the team to receive a lobotomy. Often I feel we don’t discuss the Negro Leagues because of the black scar of segregation in America. It happened, it was wrong, and why don’t we just move on and learn from it versus hiding. Hopefully more research will continue to be done to enlighten us on the league and its players so we can have better information about the history of the game. Learning from history and improving is what makes us grow as individuals. It seems like the students at Duquesne University are doing just that.

I have enclosed links to download the interviews with Sean Gibson and Larry Lester from my personal radio archive. Also check out a short trailer about the film.

DOWNLOAD THE INTERVIEW WITH SEAN GIBSON

DOWNLOAD THE INTERVIEW WITH HISTORIAN LARRY LESTER

Mike Silva is a freelance writer and radio host since March of 2007. This website is his own personal "digest" of New York Baseball He's also hosts NYBD Radio on Blog Talk Radio and 1240 AM WGBB. Check out his sports media commentary at www.sportsmediawatchdog.com. Check out his official website, www.mikesilvamedia.com

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Tags: Duquesne University, Josh Gibson, Josh Gibson Foundation, Larry Lester, Negro League, Sean Gibson, Yankee Stadium