Dan Lovallo

In 1983, while broadcasting baseball games for the Kinston Blue Jays of the Carolina League, I had the chance to interview Buck Leonard, one of the greatest baseball players. Leonard was a Negro League star on the Homestead Grays from 1934 to 1950. He was also a teammate of the great Josh Gibson. Both he and Gibson would be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972. In 1999, The Sporting News ranked him number 47 among the 100 greatest players to play baseball. Leonard was 75, when I interviewed him. We talked about his career, Jackie Robinson and so much more. Leonard died at the age of 90 on Nov. 27, 1997.