1964–65 Volume 89 No 1–5 - Phi Delta Theta Scroll Archive

cept this award in the spirit of Lou Gehrig."The members of the Fraternity who accompaniedJudge McKenzie and Richardson to theplate for the presentation ceremony were: Rev.Charles L. Copenhaver (Ohio Wesleyan '35),senior minister of the Reformed Church ofBronxville, one of the largest churches in suburbanNew York; Charlie Berry (Lafayette '25),long-time American League umpire who is nowon special assignment for the office of JosephE. Cronin, league president; Oliver V. Lee (Williams'20), past president of the * A e Club ofNew York, who recently retired from the NewYork brokerage firm of Merrill Lynch, Pierce,Fenner & Smith; and Chads O. Skinner (OhioWesleyan '27), chairman of the Lou GehrigMemorial Award Committee and a member ofthe public relations department of United StatesSteel Corporation.The presentation took place before the largestStadium crowd up to that point of the 1964baseball season—a crowd including a group ofsome 50 members of * A 9 living in the GreaterNew York area, along with members of theirfamilies. The Yankees won both games, andBobby Richardson's 1,000th hit was a vital sparkin a bat-around sixth inning for the Yankees,in their 6-1 win over the Sox. New York tookthe second game, 3 to 0.The presentation ceremony was arranged byRobert O. Fishel, public relations director ofthe Yankees, in conjunction with F. W. Pain(Iowa '33), current president of the * A 9 Clubof New York, and members of the Gehrig Awardcommittee.The stage was set for the presentation of theGehrig Award to Richardson by Mel (Voice ofthe Yankees) Allen, senior radio-televisionbroadcaster of the New York club.Allen reminded the crowd that Lou Gehrig,who died on June 2, 1941, of an unusual formof progressive bodily paralysis, had been one ofthe "greatest players and finest men" ever towear the pinstripe uniform of the New YorkYankees, and that he had joined * A 0 as anundergraduate at Columbia University.Allen recalled that May 2 of this year markedthe 25th anniversary of the day when Gehrig,the Yankees' "iron horse" first baseman, hadasked to be removed from the lineup "becauseI don't think I can make it any longer." Thedisease that was to take his life had alreadybegun to take its toll.On that second day of June, 1939, LouGehrig thus brought to an end what Allencalled "the unmatchable record of playing in2,130 consecutive games." Allen also recalledthe day when Gehrig's teammates saluted himBob Olen Smdioi—lieui YorkBOBBY RICHARDSON accepts the 1963 Gehrig MemorialAward from President McKenzie, as BrothersBerry, Skinner, and Copenhaver look on. Richardsonsaid he was "deeply honored to accept the award in thespirit of Lou Gehrig."on his enforced retirement—one of the mostmoving episodes in the history of Yankee Stadium.Gehrig faced an enormous crowd in theStadium, knowing that he had but a few yearsto live, at best."You have been reading about the bad breakI got." said Larruping Lou on that; occasion."Yet I consider myself the luckiest man onearth. I know I have an awful lot to live for."Bobby Richardson is cast in the Gehrigmould: a player and a man who is looked up toby his teammates and respected by his competitors.He spends a great deal of his time, inseason and out, working with boys and expoundinghis deep ^ personal conviction thatthere is nothing antipathetic between the practiceof Christian principles and playing sportswith competitive drive and unquenchable willto win.After Bobby received the Gehrig Award fromJudge McKenzie, who is a member of theSuperior Court of Georgia and who flew toNew York for the presentation, it was obviousthat Richardson's teammates were as proud asif each had won the same honor, also. Theirattitude bespoke a feeling that Bobby's receiptof the award had reflected credit on the entireYankee club.Lou Gehrig's widow, Eleanor Gehrig, wasinvited to participate in the June 12 ceremony,as she had when the Gehrig Award was presentedto Gil McDougald, but her schedule didnot permit her attendance.The New York Daily News, which has thelargest circulation of any newspaper in America,carried a picture of Richardson with the(Continued on page 9)