Sam Lacy

Samuel Harold Lacy

• Born October 23, 1903 in Mystic, CT USA
• Died May 8, 2003 in Washington, DC USA

Biographical Information

Sam Lacy was a print journalist for over 70 years. He began his career writing for the Washington Tribune. While in Washington, Lacy tried to persuade Senators owner Clark Griffith to integrate. After World War II, he privately met with Branch Rickey. He consulted with Rickey over the selection of Jackie Robinson as the player to break the color line.

Most of Lacy's work was done at the Baltimore Afro-American. He was sports editor at the paper from 1945 until his death in 2003. In his 90s, Lacy would drive himself to work before dawn and pen his column before anyone else arrived at the paper. He wrote his last column from his hospital bed.

Sam Lacy won both the Red Smith Award and the J.G. Taylor Spink Award.

Related Sites

• Sam Lacy at the SABR Bio Project