Baseball player and civil rights icon Jackie Robinson has been immortalized in many ways — movies, with a larger than life statue in Jersey City, and baseball players all wear his number 42 on his birthday.
Now, Robinson has a 500-foot New York Waterway ferry named after him, which was dedicated Tuesday. Jackie Robinson’s granddaughter, Sonya Pankey and the Robinson Foundation’s CEO of 20 years, Della Britton swung the ceremonial bottle of champagne against the side to christen the new vessel in Weehawken.
NY Waterway President and CEO Armand Pohan recalled the impression Robinson made on him as a child after seeing him play in the 1955 World Series between the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Yankees.
Robinson was the first Black player to break major league baseball’s color barrier, playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers Montreal Royals minor league club. He made his debut in Jersey City on April 18, 1946 with a 14-1 victory.
Besides Robinson’s athleticism, which included playing four sports in high school, Pohan spoke about his self-reliance and dignity in the face of insults, slurs and racism that he endured.
“He did it with incredible dignity… he exemplified the (non-violent) approach that Dr. Martin Luther King would preach,” Pohan said. ”I’m glad to be up here to honor him today.”
His words made an impression on Jackie Robinson’s granddaughter, Sonya Pankey who said she hopes future generations who see the ferry will learn about and embrace what he did for society.
“Our mission is to keep his legacy alive as he intended, ” she said.
“For Armand to remember that is special,” she said. “He went out on the baseball field under great adversity and was still able to do that job.”
Robinson was more than a baseball player, Pankey said.
“He was a great man and entrepreneur, a great father a great grandfather and a special individual,” she said. “He lived a short life but an impactful life.”
While she said the ferry christening is a bit overwhelming, “it is exactly what we want, to carry the torch forward. We’re doing that with the foundation...really contemporizing the message around Jackie Robinson for the next generation.”
The Jackie Robinson is the third large new ferry dedicated in five years. The others honored President Franklin D. Roosevelt and NY Waterway founder Arthur Imperatore, Sr.
Robinson was also commemorated with a spectacular painting done by Brooklyn Artist Oluwatobi Ayanfodun, which was commissioned by Big City Tourism, a Black-owned business that partners with NY Waterway to present New York City tours.
“We felt it would be a perfect gift,” said Ted Fields, Big City Tourism CEO. “This is the first boat named after an African American in the Waterway fleet.”
The brilliantly colored painting of Robinson with a bat on his shoulder and the Brooklyn bridge in the background looks like it is mimicking stained glass, but the artistic style has deeper meaning.
“This style is like realism with cubism, it’s called fragmented because so much of Black History is broken apart,” said painter Oluwatobi Ayanfodun. “What I like to do is take the pieces and piece it together and let it shine vibrantly.”
He said he typically uses this style to commemorate a lot of Black icons “to highlight our history being broken and having to reconstruct it.”
It will be displayed in the Jackie Robinson museum that opened in July 2022 at 75 Varick Street at the corner of Canal Street in Manhattan, in the Hudson Square community.
The painting joins 4,500 artifacts that are displayed on a rotating basis. Among them are a 1955 Worlds Series ring, Robinson’s 1947 rookie of the year award, a replica of his Baseball hall of fame plaque and a replica of Ebbets Field, where the Dodgers played in Brooklyn, said Ivo Philbert, the museum’s vice president of external engagement.
“I went to the museum and was inspired by all the work his did,” Ayanfodun said.
Robinson’s namesake ferry also has a big league job ahead in four days, Pohan said. NY Waterway is providing alternate transportation for commuters when the PATH shuts down rail service to Hoboken starting Friday morning. A $31 million rehabilitation will be done until Feb. 25.
“We have these big boats to address the challenge,” he said.
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Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on X @CommutingLarry.
Recently, Robinson received a floating honor in his home state of New Jersey, where a statue of him was unveiled in Jersey City. The statue, which shows Robinson sliding into a base, pays tribute to his trailblazing career and the impact he had on the game of baseball.
Robinson’s legacy continues to inspire athletes and fans alike, and this floating honor in New Jersey is a fitting tribute to his contributions to the sport. It serves as a reminder of the courage and resilience he displayed in the face of adversity, and the barriers he broke down for future generations of athletes. Jackie Robinson will always be remembered as a pioneer in baseball and a true American hero.
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