In the presence of Giants
Decades before Jackie Robinson became the first Black man to play in the major leagues, the Foundry Giants—a team of Black players working in the Studebaker factory’s foundry—were making a name for themselves as one of the strongest independent baseball teams in the Midwest.
The South Bend team played in Studebaker’s otherwise all-white industrial league in the 1920s and 1930s and saw about a half dozen of its players go on to play in the Negro Leagues.
Now, nearly a century after John “Big Pitch” Williams faced down his last batter and Dusty Riddle and Alonzo Poindexter cracked their last singles and doubles, the Giants are inspiring a new generation of ballplayers at Foundry Field.
Scheduled to open this summer, Foundry Field is a new public-access baseball field in Southeast Park and a collaborative community project led by the Sappy Moffitt Field Foundation, the University of Notre Dame’s Center for Social Concerns, the Indiana University South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center, and South Bend Venues Parks and Arts.
Latest ND NewsWire
- Notre Dame marks another year of unprecedented research successDuring the 2024 fiscal year, researchers at the University of Notre Dame submitted 1,310 proposals for external research funding for a total amount of $1.016 billion — the first time the University has surpassed the billion-dollar mark for proposals. In addition, the University received 829 separate awards — the largest number on record. With $223 million in total funding, these awards propelled the University past the $200 million mark for the fourth straight year.
- Notre Dame President Emeritus Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., visits key sites in Lviv, UkraineRev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., president emeritus of the University of Notre Dame, recently visited the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) and key sites in Lviv, Ukraine, as a sign of Notre Dame’s continued support for the university and its students. It was his first international trip on behalf of Notre Dame since stepping down from the presidency at the end of the 2023-24 academic year.
- Notre Dame partners to grow Indiana’s mental health workforceThe University of Notre Dame is part of a statewide effort to address the mental health workforce shortage. In partnership with WISE Indiana, the University is contracted to help enhance the recruitment, retention and quality of Indiana’s behavioral health workforce.
- Notre Dame ranked among state’s top employers by ForbesForbes magazine’s annual survey of America’s best in-state employers has ranked the University of Notre Dame the leading employer in Indiana’s education sector and second among all of the state’s large organizations. “Being…
- Virtual learning detrimental to school attendance, especially in districts with higher poverty rates, study findsSince the COVID-19 pandemic, rates of chronic absenteeism have nearly doubled across the nation for students in kindergarten through grade 12. This increase was tied to the mode of instruction during the early years of the pandemic. In particular, schools that employed virtual learning as the primary teaching mode during the 2020-21 school year experienced a greater increase in chronic absenteeism in the following year. That increase was significantly greater in school districts with higher levels of poverty, according to new research from William Evans, the Keough-Hesburgh Professor of Economics and co-founder of Notre Dame’s Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities.
- Alumni Association and YoungND honor 2024 Domer DozenThe Notre Dame Alumni Association announced its 2024 Domer Dozen cohort, honoring 12 graduates ages 32 and younger for excellence in their contributions in faith, service, learning or work — the core pillars of the association’s mission.