Cincinnatians love sports, as does your friendly neighborhood altweekly. We’ve always kept a keen eye on this aspect of our cultural identity despite the local teams’ losing ways over the years.
We published profiles and in-depth stories on the likes of Boomer Esiason, Deion Sanders, OJ Mayo and Ken Griffey Jr. and for years featured a weekly sports column by ex-Cincinnati Post scribe Bill Peterson along with an editorial cartoon by ex-Cincinnati Enquirer artist Jerry Dowling. In 2012, we carved out a new space for Post veteran C. Trent Rosecrans. Two profiles from that year demonstrate the tenets of quality journalism and a great sports story: the complicated world of Reds fireballer Aroldis Chapman and the historical significance of UC running back Ralph David Abernathy IV.
Rosecrans worked with veteran investigative reporter James McNair on the Chapman piece, detailing the enigmatic Cuban pitcher’s complicated journey to America and a litany of legal issues he faced after just two years in the country.
National media had already heard about Chapman’s incident in Pittsburgh when a stripper filed a sketchy police report alleging someone robbed Chapman’s hotel room of $200,000 worth of jewelry. No one but CityBeat, however, had figured out that Chapman amassed six speeding in four states over two years, seeing his driver’s license suspended multiple times. The lanky Reds closer who once hit 105 mph on the radar gun had been nabbed for doing 88 in Kentucky, 93 in Ohio, 70 in Arizona and 95 in Miami.
Chapman and the Reds declined to discuss the pitcher’s legal issues, but teammates and other Cuban players described an isolated guy often alone among fellow major leaguers, even those who spoke his native language.
UC’s Abernathy put his name on the college football map in Memphis, Tenn., the same city where his grandfather witnessed the assassination of longtime friend and colleague Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. more than 40 years earlier.
Ralph David Abernathy Sr. had organized the bus boycott with King in 1955 after Rosa Parks’ arrest for refusing to move to the back of a bus in Montgomery, Ala. Abernathy was a founding member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and assumed the presidency of the organization after King’s death. He was arrested a total of 44 times as he, King and others organized civil rights protests and marches across the country.
Abernathy’s grandson helped spark the Bearcats to a 2011 Liberty Bowl victory in Memphis with a highlight kick return for a touchdown. Rosecrans’ profile described Abernathy IV as gifted athlete, thoughtful teammate and natural leader. UC’s football team finished the 2012 season 10-3, the school’s fifth 10-win campaign in six years.
Excerpts:
“Kentucky restored the license this past Jan. 11. Assume it was effective at 12:01 a.m. because Chapman was ramming his Lambo down I-95 in Miami at 6 that morning. Miami-Dade Police clocked him at 95, 40 miles per hour over the speed limit. His failure to make a March 1 court appearance in Florida triggered another license suspension in Kentucky, the one that Grove City came upon on May 21. Once Chapman made up with the Florida court and paid a $385 fine, Kentucky lifted its suspension on May 22.”
…
“There’s no hiding from the family legacy for 19-year-old Ralph David Abernathy IV. He’s has been aware of his grandfather’s accomplishments and his family’s role in the civil rights movement as long as he can remember.
“ ‘It’s been like that from day one,’ he says. ‘As far back as I can remember, I’ve seen pictures of my grandfather with Martin Luther King and my grandmother telling me stories about him and Martin Luther King, my father being arrested at a young age, things like that. I’ve always been aware of the weight of my name and what I have to carry and what I have to bare. It just makes me a better person and makes me want to strive to be a better person every day.’ ”
Today:
Aroldis Chapman has stayed out of trouble off the field, but he suffered a gruesome injury during 2014 spring training when a line drive up the middle hit him square in the face, fracturing bones in his nose and left eye. Chapman went on to recover fully, rejoining the team in May and posting another stellar season with 36 saves and a 2.00 ERA, earning a third straight All-Star Game appearance.
When UC coach Butch Jones bolted for Tennessee after the 2012 season, the Bearcats chose Abernathy IV as one of two players representing the team at a press conference announcing the departure. Abernathy spoke for the players left behind, saying they’d stick together behind their next coach.
A legitimate NFL prospect, injuries have caused him to miss time during his senior season this year, but he could apply for a medical redshirt and another year of eligibility.
As for CityBeat’s latest crop of sports reporters, they’ve moved on, too: McNair is digging up dirt on health insurance executives and political donors at the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting, and Rosecrans has been The Enquirer’s Reds beat writer for the past two years.
This article appears in Nov 12-18, 2014.
