StoryCorps Griot: William and Glen Haley

From: StoryCorps
Series: StoryCorps
Length: 02:25

William Haley and his brother Glen remember their father, Joseph Howard Haley, founder of Jackie Robinson West Little League in Chicago. Read the full description.

Piece Audio

Playing: StoryCorps Griot: William and Glen Haley
From: StoryCorps

Haley_small William and Glen Haley remember their father, Joseph Howard Haley, who founded the Jackie Robinson West Little League in 1971 on the South Side of Chicago. Although the league only had one team at its inception, it fostered the talents of ballplayers who later played in the major leagues. Such players include Emil Brown, Marvell Wyne and Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett. In the 2007 season, the 12- year-old team was ranked third in the state of Illinois. StoryCorps Griot is an initiative to record interviews between everyday African Americans across the United States. In West African tradition, the griot is a storyteller who preserves cultural identity and passes it on from generation to generation. The StoryCorps Griot booth is traveling from coast-to-coast collecting these interviews, which will be archived in the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

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Piece Description

William and Glen Haley remember their father, Joseph Howard Haley, who founded the Jackie Robinson West Little League in 1971 on the South Side of Chicago. Although the league only had one team at its inception, it fostered the talents of ballplayers who later played in the major leagues. Such players include Emil Brown, Marvell Wyne and Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett. In the 2007 season, the 12- year-old team was ranked third in the state of Illinois. StoryCorps Griot is an initiative to record interviews between everyday African Americans across the United States. In West African tradition, the griot is a storyteller who preserves cultural identity and passes it on from generation to generation. The StoryCorps Griot booth is traveling from coast-to-coast collecting these interviews, which will be archived in the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Broadcast History

NPR's News and Notes October 16, 2007

Transcript

WH: I can still hear him hollering, coaching. And the kids would just be
running over the field and every kid through the league -- no matter if
he cut them from the All-Star team or if he suspended them from school
-- they respected him because he was a man of his word. And they knew he
cared truly about them as a person.

GH: Dad has been passed two years now. I can say it is a bit of a time
of transition. One day a parent came to the park and she wanted to speak
to Mr. Haley. I didn't really even know what to say because immediately
I said, 'Well, maybe she didn't know my father had passed away.'

I'm trying to think how I can redirect her. And one of the guys with me
says, 'She wants to talk to you!' So she -- you know, and it was just so
strange and the challenge for us is that we have to, um, kind of walk in
that same path.

WH: Exactly. Some things I tried to model from him.

GH:...
Read the full transcript

Intro and Outro

INTRO:

It’s time now for StoryCorps Griot. Each Tuesday we bring you a story from this project that’s recording black American’s across the country. Today, a story from the south side of Chicago. That’s where Joseph Howard Haley, an assistant principle, founded the Jackie Robinson West Little League in 1971. There was only one team that first year. But today, Jackie Robinson West is an institution with more than six hundred kids playing on thirty nine teams. Joseph Haley’s sons William and Glen recently came to StoryCorps to remember their father’s legacy.

OUTRO:

William and Glen Haley in Chicago. Five players that started in Jackie Robinson West went on to play in the major leagues. Including Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett. The StoryCorps Griot booth is currently in Mississippi. All the Griot Initiative recordings are archived at the Library of Congress, and at the African American Museum of History And Culture in Washington D.C. To learn more about how to record your interview, and for more about StoryCorps Griot, visit our website at NPR news and notes-dot-ORG