My last semester in college I took a class called Jackie Robinson: Race and Sports in America. It was a great class. I learned all about the life of Jackie Robinson and the contributions he made to society. A key player in the Jackie Robinson story was Branch Rickey. Rickey was the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers who made the decision to sign JR to his team in the late 1940s. At that time there were no Blacks in major league baseball, which made Rickey's decision a huge historical landmark. He saw something in Jackie that no white man was willing to see at the time. He gave him the hope and courage to persevere past all the racism and bigotry that was going on in the sport of baseball at that time. Jackie is quoted saying many times that had it not been for Rickey's unwavering support towards him and his family, he would have never lasted in the major leagues.
In one of the books we were reading I saw a picture of Branch Rickey that really caught my eye...so as the queen of procrastination I started sketching it during one of my study sessions. After continuing this during several study sessions to follow, I ended up with the picture you see above. Not many people know who he is or what he looked like, so here he is Sketching was the original way I started developing my artistic abilities as a child, but my focus has since moved towards painting. It was fun to experiment and get back into it.
