In Black America; Baseball Legend Don Newcombe

Thank you. In Black America, reflections of the Black experience in American society. Diane Nukem, former Brooklyn Dodger baseball player, winner of the Rookie of the Year award, the Sy Young Award, and Major League Baseball's most valuable player award. Diane Nukem is the only player in baseball to win all three awards in his career. Nukem is also winner in another arena.

Alcoholism was a problem throughout his baseball career. The problem caused him to destroy his personal life, shorten his baseball career, and depleted his life savings. Today, Diane Nukem has recovered. He now represents the National Institute on Alcoholism and travels to 47 states and delivers thousands of speeches on the problem of drug and alcohol abuse in sports in our society. I'm John Hanson, and this week, our focus is on baseball legend, Diane Nukem, in Black America. I'm worried that there are more people here representing our community, and that they're willing to do something about this sickness that permeates every society where there's a concentration of Black folk all across the United States, and I'm seeing it wherever I go. And I'm seeing a lack of participation by Black folk from the Black community when programs like this are presented for their personal benefits. I'm worrying about what they're thinking and worrying about what their feelings are. I'm worried about when I get these statistics that Joe talks about in these reports in

his book. In prisons, he says, the prison population, the Black population, the Chicano population, the Indian population in the prisons because of crime related to drugs like alcohol, something like 60 to 70 percent, blacks, Chicano and Indians, because of some crime related to the use of abuse of these drugs. I'm worried about the hospitals. He said in the hospital system in New York City, the emergency rooms in the hospital awards in the drug treatment centers are full of Black folk dying every day because of the abuse of these drugs. And we sit on our hands and be so comfortable and believe that it's not affecting us. Who are we to believe that these statistics are wrong when he takes a team of professionals that goes into the city of New York and writes this report for Governor Kerry of the state

of New York? It gives these statistics for New York what leads us to believe in Austin and other parts of Texas that these same things don't exist here. Are we so cock sure of ourselves when Joe says that an alcohol, there are 13 million alcoholics. Well, I'll argue with that. I would say there's closer to 20 million alcoholics. I think he's being a little conservative there. I'm saying that my travel's in and being involved directly in the communities all across the country. I'm saying there's more than 13 million alcoholics. Out there, that's a significant amount of people. And we're talking about maybe 15 to 20 to 30 percent of being Black folk. Now that ought to be something for us to think about. We ought to be worried about in the city of Austin, there's 40, 45,000 people. If 15 to 20 percent of that populace is having problems with alcohol and yes other drugs, well then we have a problem in the city of Austin.

In the governor ought to be concerned about it. The mayor ought to be concerned about the city council, the commissioners, all ought to be concerned about it. Most certainly the people living in those respective communities ought to be concerned about it. And what are we doing? We're sitting on our collective fannies, our butts. I'd like to say another word but I can't here today. Doing nothing about it all very little. And that worries me. Now something has got to be done. Something's got to be done when you write your story. You write your story. Some people to know that Don Nukam is worried about it. Yes you stand around, you sit around and you make comments about how you respected and idolized Don Nukam when he was a baseball player. It's because Don Nukam is in Austin today, it's because he's been advertised on television and radio newspapers. That he's going to be here today is that now that's reluctant because I'm here to talk about alcohol and yes drugs. That maybe they're reluctant for me to see them. What is it? I want to know. I'm worried about that. Ladies and gentlemen, you here in the city of Austin, you, the responsible people of the city of Austin, ought to be worried about.

You heard Judge Murphy say what comes before her in her courtroom. My God that ought to be indication alone that there's a serious problem here. Don Nukam, the picture who dominated National League Baseball in the 1950s, was a member of the Old Brooklyn Dodgers. Nukam represented the mystique, a part of an American legend, in the years which have been laps since Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball. Don Nukam is the only player to stand alone in winning the site Young Award, Major League Baseball's award for its best picture, the most valuable player award, and the rookie of the year award. In his prime, the Nuk won 27 baseball games in a single season. He stands as the only player in baseball history to earn all three honors during a career. Don Nukam's loved him, batters, cursed him, and presidents toasted him. Those were the glory days for Don Nukam. Now at the age of 58, the Nuk looks back at those days and remembers the pain and ecstasy.

Alcoholism almost destroyed Don Nukam. His drink ensured his baseball career and broke up his marriage. It depleted his life savings, and he drank himself into bankruptcy in the early 1950s. Today, Don Nukam tells how he finally broke away from alcohol and that he has not touched the drop of alcohol in 18 years. He spends his waking hours helping others fight alcoholism and the effect it has on the black community, sports, and every sector of our society. As a representative of the National Institute on Alcoholism, Nukam addresses alcoholics anonymous groups all across this nation. I spoke with Don Nukam at one such meeting and asked what it was like breaking into Major League Baseball. It was a pretty tough phase of my life, John. If you can think in terms of a 19-year-old kid out of the ghetto of Elizabeth, New Jersey, never had any money, and never had any very little education, went to 11th grade in high

school, poor family, but given the God given the ability to be able to play baseball, and I didn't know how much ability I had, except that I played in the black leagues for two years, 1944 and 45. Played with a man that's in Austin, in fact, named Will Be Welles. You may know him. He was my manager at one time, in fact, and taught me a lot about pitching, I did that, but here's an opportunity that comes along at 19, where some man says, some white man says, I want you to play baseball for me, and you ask him where he wants you to play baseball, he wants you to play baseball in his organization. The man happens to own the Brooklyn Dodgers at the time, his name has to be brand tricky. It's scary. It's scary because you know there's a transition taking place in society that says that blacks are going to soon be in professional baseball, so you didn't consider a Negro baseball, professional baseball then, on the level with Major League Baseball, and they call it professional baseball, Major League Baseball.

I don't know what they call us, and what we were, John, but in any case, this opportunity came along, and I was going to be giving the chance to play with a guy named Jackie Robinson, who I knew for two years, he sprayed the Kansas City Monarchs, and Roy Campanella, I played against him for two years with a team of the Negro leagues, and here we were, we're going to break down his color barrier, it was scary because you didn't know what was going to be waiting for you. So, we had been threatened, people were going to kill us, and all kinds of dirty hate mail from people, calls all kinds of names. I was going to ask you that the reaction that the other teams towards you all when you broke your color barrier. We were not really worried about the opposing players, so we had a chance to retaliate against them, especially me, I had a baseball man, I could throw that baseball home in my hours hour, John. I didn't know where that baseball was going all the time, you see. And they thought about that, you get a bit of the bat in your hand, don't get black or white or who you are, but if you get up at that point in time, and here's a big six to four black men out there waiting, 240 pounds, throwing a baseball at you 100 miles an

hour, and nobody in that dugout that he's from going to call you all kinds of names, that the hitter is going to make him cut that noise out, and it happened in the major leagues. But we had a chance to be a pioneer, we had a chance to help black folk all over this world. You know, I had a friend named Martin Luther King Jr., are you him, Jenna? I guess you did, didn't you? He told me one night at my dinner table, a month before he died in Memphis. He said, you'll never know, Don, how easy you made it for me to do my job. You guys, you, Jack and Roy, what you did on the baseball field. And here's this great American being bitten by dogs and being beaten by rubber hoses and water hoses being shot all over and marching in the 110 degree heat down in Alabama, Mississippi, to make it right for black people. And he's telling me that we made it easy for him to do his job. How hard would it been, Job, and Martin Luther King to do his job. And we're not for Jackie Robinson, Roy Campino and Don Luther King. What kind of man was Jackie Robinson?

I lied to him. I lied to him because of his tenacity, because of his ability to upset people, make things happen on the ball club. His very tone of voice would make you mad if you've seen something. He used to make me mad all the time. He said, I'll make you a better picture when you're mad. And he's calling me all kinds of dirty names. I knew what he was doing. I never get mad enough with him fight because he'd probably beat me anyhow. You know, he was that good. But the fact is, I always idolized him because he was a man. And he did things that men do. And he helped to make me a man. I was only 19 when I first came with Philly with him and Roy. Roy was saying, wait, but he wasn't outspoken like my Jack. He was more quiet, more sedate, I don't want to use the word sedate. But he was a different kind of personality than Jackie was. How many black ball players were robbed from not having the opportunity to play in the major leagues? Must be hundreds of them. And Willie Wells, I just spoke about it.

Terris McDuffey and he Josh Gibson and Buck Leonard, who Papa Bell, God, the list goes on and on. Must be hundreds of them who had they gone back in the years in baseball, Judy Johnson. And God, who, just, just Hubbard, I think a player that, and just Hubbard recently died. He was 80, 80, 70, 80 years old. They want to pitch it. They said he was. Satchel Pays didn't get the chance to play when he should have. When he was 25, 26, maybe 30 years old, had he been given the chance to join the professional baseball at that point in time in his life? He was set all kinds of records. He was set all kinds of records. He would have made Dizzy Dean and Bob Fett on those guys with their record look foolish. As great as he was. But what they do, he did his crazy dig when he was 50 years old or more. He was a phenomenal man, that phenomenal body. God sure gave him a beautiful body. And it's just too bad that he didn't get the chance to do the things that he was capable

of doing with his ability. What did it mean to you when in the Sionel War? Well, at that point in time, it was very important because I was the first. That meant that I was the best pitcher in baseball that year. I wouldn't see like now, it's an award for both leagues. That year was one award for both leagues. That meant that I was better than Whitey Ford, I was better than Warren Spawner, I was better than Robin Roberts. My 27 wins that year. Then to be given the most valuable play award nationally, that meant that I was the best player in the national league that year. That's a significant award, John. But even more than the Sionel War, to me, the Sionel War gave itself the pitching. Here you've got the most valuable play award that covers all the players. The Jackie Robinson, the Roy Camp and all the Woody Mays, Henry Arons, Eddie Matthews and Stan Musils, all those guys in the national league. And I was better than those guys. The award proved it. Man, that made me somebody, didn't it?

I was somebody. And then I threw it all away. And you think racism still exists in professional sports? There's no doubt about it. Racism is going to be on this earth for eternity. And the care of his back against White or Red against Brown or whatever, racism is going to be here. It's going to be here in sports, it's going to be in life. There's more subtle now in professional sports and it was 20, 25 years ago. But the subtle things, sometimes the worst than the overt type of racism. The people call your names out and out and let you know how they feel about you. Now they put the armor on you and sticking the back with a knife. Is there a problem with drug and alcohol abuse in professional sports? There was no doubt about it. It cuts across a swath across the whole spectrum of professional sports. In fact, it cuts across the whole spectrum of professional life in this country. And it's about time somebody does something about it. And that's what I'm here in Austin to do. Try to focus some attention on it.

Maybe some of these information I'm giving to you through your efforts will filter down and maybe one or two half of each somewhere and maybe they'll see that they know way they're going to be a better performer. I'm worried about the hospitals. He said in the hospital system in New York City, the emergency rooms in the hospital ward and the drug treatment centers are full of black folk dying every day because of the abuse of these drugs. And we sit on our hands and be so comfortable and believe that it's not affecting us. Who are we to believe that these statistics are wrong when he takes a team of professionals that goes into the city of New York and writes this report for Governor Kerry of the state of New York? And give these statistics for New York what leads us to believe in Austin and other parts of Texas that these same things don't exist here. Are we so cock sure of ourselves when Joe says that an alcohol, there are 13 million alcoholics. Well, I'll argue with that. There's close to the 20 million alcoholics, I think he's being a little, I think he's being a little, a little conservative there.

I'm saying that my travel's in and being involved directly in the communities all across the country. I'm saying there's more than 13 million alcoholics, but there that's a significant amount of people. And we're talking about maybe 15 to 20 to 30 percent of being black folk. Now that ought to be something for us to think about. We ought to be worried about in the city of Austin as 40, 45,000 people, if 15 to 20 percent of that populace is having problems with alcohol and yes other drugs, well then we have a problem in the city of Austin. And the governor ought to be concerned about it, the mayor ought to be concerned about the city council, the commissioners, all ought to be concerned about it, most certainly the people living in those respective communities ought to be concerned about it. And what are we doing? We're sitting on our collective fannies, our butts, I'd like to say another word, but I can't hear today doing nothing about it all very little and that worries me. Now something has got to be done, something's got to be done when you write your story, you write your story, I want people to know that Don Nukkem is worried about it.

Yes, you stand around, you sit around and you make comments about how you respected and idolized Don Nukkem when he was a baseball player. It's because Don Nukkem is in Austin today, it's because he's been advertised on television radio newspapers that he's going to be here today, is that now that they're reluctant because I'm here to talk about alcohol and yes drugs, that maybe they're reluctant for me to see them, what is it? I want to know. I'm worried about that. And ladies and gentlemen, you here in the city of Austin, you, the responsible people of the city of Austin ought to be worried about, you heard Judge Murphy say what comes before her in her courtroom. My God, that ought to be indication alone that there's a serious problem here. And a significant number of those are black, am I right, Judge? In all through the prison system, in the state of Texas, I spoken in many prisons, I've been to Huntsville, I've been to all across the state speaking in the prisons in juvenile detention centers. And who are there? A bunch of young kids, a bunch of beautiful people, there because they could not control their intake of drugs and as a result, they committed a crime for one reason or other and then they've

been caught in their in jail. Now we all should be worried about that, ladies and gentlemen. Somehow we've got to get this message out. We've got to change this attitude. Attitude is what I'm worried about, attitude. We've got to change it. Joe Califano says in his book in New York, for every 2,500 black folk, there's at least one liquor dispensing entity in that in that catchment area. In the white community, he says, out and long now and the outlying areas, for every 5,000 white folk, there is one liquor dispensing entity. Now why is that? If Mr. Califano writes about that and he reports that in the book like this, and this is not the first time I've heard this report or read this report, why isn't there somebody who is going to pay attention to it? That's ladies and gentlemen, I'm an alcoholic and I know what Joe was talking about. I know what the greater Austin Council was talking about. I know what MHMR is talking about.

I know the messages they are trying to portray because the same thing happens in every city like Austin, all across this country that I'm involved with. I represent you. I represent you because I represent our federal government. I represent you because you're taxpayers. I've got to tell you the truth about my feeling. Can anybody dispute that I should be telling you about my feeling? When I stand before an audience, this room should be full of people, concerned about this problem in their respective community. Whether they're drinking or not, it concerns them. My god, ladies and gentlemen, I live in California, Los Angeles. My wife and my babies did not drink. They do not drink. They didn't then when I'm going to make a reference to. But six years ago, a young man who was drunk almost killed my wife and my babies in a drunk driving accident. This young man, 17 years old, literally climbed the trunk of my wife's car. She's making a left turn in the shopping center in the area where we live.

He's spent on a jam that 50 miles an hour. That's quite an impact, I would suspect. My wife pinned behind a steering wheel of that car, supposing that gas tank had ruptured on my car, my car caught on fire, my wife and my babies would be gone. I wouldn't be here today talking about it. At least if I were here talking about it, I surely wouldn't feel, you know, I would surely be reluctant to talk about it. Now I still suffer with a bad neck and a bad shoulder from that whiplash, from that collision. And nobody paid attention to that young man in his drinking problem. Now 23 years old, he's still doing the same things he was doing at 17. When are we going to wake up? When are we going to come to grips with this problem? What do we have to do? What has got to happen in our respective lives? Is there anybody in this audience, for instance? And I want you to show me by raising your hand. Is there anybody in this audience who has never had any contact at all with alcohol and subduces in their lives in any way? From their moms, their dads, their grandmothers, grandfathers, uncles, aunts, brothers, sisters,

I'll just go to that level. Is there anybody who has not had the kind of misery that comes from dealing with this sickness, alcoholism in their lives? Please raise your hands. There isn't one. There isn't one in this audience. Now we know in this audience what it's about. We know what it has done to our lives. When are we going to get the message out and how are we going to do it? I'd like to be a part of that. Since I'm a member of the city of Austin, I'm a citizen. Now that gives me the right. I've got the key to the city. I can go into the bank now and take all the money out of Austin if you want. Now I need to know. I want to know before I leave here. Somebody's going to give me some answers, be it the councilman or the commissioner. Somebody's going to give me some answers to people from the community, male psych, somebody. I'm going to put the ownership responsibility on somebody showed us here this morning. From this podium, I'm going to ask you, somebody give me the answers on what we're going to do and how it's going to be done then.

I like to be a part of it because I don't want it happening to my folk here in Austin. I don't want it happening to my friends. I don't want it happening and most certainly I sure don't want to happen to our young kids. My people have estimated that I've spoken to over three million male by now, three million young people in the school system. Do I know anything about speaking to kids in schools? And do I know what their feelings are after talking to them and listening about the things that go on in their homes and in their lives and that's why they drink and use drugs? Is there any reason for you to think that I should be able to maintain my sanity by listening to all of these young people, talk about their lives and how they are living with their parents who are drunks, a drunk father or a drunk mother or both, and why should they not use them because their parents are using them and there's hell going on in their lives every night, every day there's something, a fight or argument or something so they said it's nuclear, why should I use them? I got to do something to solve my problems.

How long is it going to go on like this? How long is it going to happen? Now ladies and gentlemen, we are adults, mostly in this audience, there's some young people here but most of us are adults and it's our responsibility because the kids are asking us, please leave me in the right direction, take me by the hand and leave me but don't leave me and then leave me to fend for myself because I'm depending on you. Some people are asking us and that's our responsibility. When are we going to accept our responsibility as adults? Why does the President of the wife of the President of the United States have to make the statement that we are now raising a lost generation of young people because of alcohol and drugs? Why does it have to be like that? What is wrong with these United States today? What is going on? What has got to happen?

People are involved in more than two-thirds of the nation's homicides, 50% of rapes and up to seven percent of assaults and half of child molesting. A lot of that is going on here in Austin, isn't it? Deny it, ladies and gentlemen, I want you all to deny it. Use that old common phrase that word denyel. I'll tell you about denyel. In general, denyel is the earliest, most primitive, most inappropriate, and ineffective of all psychological defenses used by man. Let me read that again. Denyel is the earliest, most primitive, most inappropriate, and ineffective of all psychological defenses used by man. I know a great saxophone player, his name is Paul Gonzalez, he's played Duke Ellington, one of the greatest saxophone players you ever want to see, and he thought by drinking he could play saxophone better and then mix cocaine and marijuana with it, and he

could up on the stage and the guys in Duke's band would laugh at him because he wasn't blowing the way he could blow when he was not drinking and using those drugs. He finally died at 52 years old in Paris a couple of years ago. Paul Gonzalez. You think professional ball pairs are overpaid today? Certainly. There's no doubt about it. There's no way that with their ability today that they worth the money that they're getting, but I'm not going to be the one to argue with it, how much they make. I wouldn't be grudging of making as much money as they can get because if somebody wants to give it to him fine, take it. I wish I were able to get it myself, I would take it too. How long has the drug and alcohol abuse problem been epidemic and professional sports into your knowledge? I think it's only reach epidemic proportions that we know about in the last five or six years, but it's been at epidemic levels for the last decade or a little series of decades, I think 25, 30, 40 years probably. Why was your professional baseball career cut short because of alcohol abuse?

I think back over my career now, I wish if God would give me a chance to do one thing over my life, John, all I would like to do is try to be the picture that I was for 10 years with the dodgers and do without drinking to see how good it could have been. What kind of work are you doing now? I have my own business. I call it Don who can enterprise out of Los Angeles, California, my wife and I run a business and I have contracts with the dodgers and the federal government. I'm in the banking business, I do a whole series of things to make a substantial living for myself and my family. You think today's student athletes putting more concentration on athletics than their studies? I think so. I think a lot of their lack for studies are being covered up by the coaches if they're an outstanding athlete. They really don't have to go to class even. They really don't have to study. They really don't have to do a lot of things as long as they get out on the football field or the baseball field and perform and they have somebody else take their test form and take their exams for them and before you know it, you've got to and any and out on the street with a degree from, say, the University of Texas and he functionally illiterate.

One final question. Your main objective is in voicing a problem of drug and alcoholic abuse in America. I think if I had an objective, it would be to get young people, get young people to understand that they need not use drugs like alcohol to make them better people. We've got to somehow get this message across in young people and we've got to literally set out to change society in this thinking about alcohol. We as long condone the use of alcohol as long as you don't use other drugs. So I'm in the midst of some other people of literally trying to change society, John. And then when that comes about, society changes their thinking about alcohol on the part of the plays in our society. Well then we can say we've done our job and we have made an impact on the thinking of people. Baseball legend, Diane Newcombe. If you have a comment or would like to produce a cassette copy of this program, write us

the address is in black America, Longhorn Radio Network, UT Austin, Austin, Texas, 78712. That address again is in black America, Longhorn Radio Network, UT Austin, Austin, Texas, 78712. For in black America's technical producer David Alvarez, I'm John Hanson. Join us next week. You've been listening to in black America, reflections of the black experience in American society.

In black America is produced and distributed by the Center for Telecommunication Services at UT Austin and does not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Texas at Austin or the station. This is the Longhorn Radio Network.