David Jackson’s Legacy of Love
Built One Dollar at a Time
One day during the summer of 2017, I drove out to the Georgia State University Baseball Complex. A friend had told me about Mentoring Viable Prospects (MVP), an enormously popular baseball tournament serving primarily Black high school baseball players that had been in existence since the turn of the century. Teams traveled from Virginia, Florida, Texas, Chicago, California, and Detroit to showcase their skills to primarily black college baseball recruiters.
At the time, the national narrative spun a tale that Black young men were not playing baseball, and I wanted to write about those playing the game on a high level. When I walked into the press box that day, a youngster, who I believed to be about 15 years old, was lying on the floor taking a nap.
“Oh, that’s Dave, don’t disturb him. He runs things around here,” Marque Denmon, the Public Address announcer, said.
A short while later, Dave woke from his nap; seeing me for the first time in his life, he asked me for a dollar. My hands searched my pockets while my eyes searched Dave’s face. There was a special gleam in his eyes. Finding no cash, I told the young man I would have a dollar for him the next day.
Everyone in the press box assured me that Dave would look for me to make good on my promise. The press box…
