A big year for Jesse Solis got even bigger when he was honored with a seat in Kauffman Stadium dedicated to Negro Leagues legend Buck O’Neil.
Since O’Neil’s death in 2006, the Kansas City Royals have accepted nominations for people to sit in the Buck O’Neil Legacy Seat, the now-specially marked seat where O’Neil sat at every Royals home game. The Royals look for “a member of the community who, on a large or small scale, embodies an aspect of O’Neil’s spirit.”
Solis’ son, Larry Bradley, felt that the Emporian activist fit that description and nominated him this summer. The Royals awarded Solis the seat for the Sept. 18 game, and that day, sitting from O’Neil’s perch and accompanied by a brother, a cousin and a friend, Solis watched the Royals clobber the Seattle Mariners 12-0. A presentation on the Royals’ CrownVision video board highlighted some of Solis’ accomplishments, such as his work to honor Lyon County’s Hispanic veterans of World War II.
“They gave me (O’Neil’s) book, they gave me a Kansas City Monarchs hat, and they gave us some money to spend, some cards that were worth money,” Solis said. “We had a good lunch, and we bought some baseballs. It was just a wonderful afternoon.”
Solis had already won two major honors this year. In January, during Emporia State University’s events to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Solis received the Outstanding Citizen of Emporia award. Just before his trip to Kauffman Stadium, he received a Hispanic of the Year award from Hispanics of Today and Tomorrow.
Bradley, a longtime Royals fan who now lives in Omaha, Neb., had heard about the Legacy Seat while watching Royals games on cable. O’Neil, the former Monarchs player and manager, became famous for his enthusiastic promotion of Negro League heritage and for serving as chairman of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City.
“(I thought), ‘Who did I know in the state of Kansas that would fit the mold that Buck O’Neil had set or exemplified?’” Bradley said. “I thought about my dad and all that he’s been doing, certainly in recent years. (He was) trying hard to win a political office, but overall, many times you do things not for the notoriety or victories. You just do them because it needs to be done. So the things that he’s done, I thought, stood out, and he works hard and tries to make a difference.”
A veteran of the U.S. Army and a commander of a veteran’s post in Omaha, Bradley is especially proud of his father’s work to establish the Mexican-American World War II Veterans Memorial.
“What he did to help point out (the service of) the World War II veterans, Hispanic and Latino veterans of Lyon County, when they had that memorial — I thought that stood out, definitely,” Bradley said.
Receiving the O’Neil seat made Solis want to learn more about the history of black baseball.
“The next thing I’m gonna do is go up there and go to the Negro hall of fame and read some more about (it),” he said.
Comments
We allow registered users to post comments on this Web site. To learn more about our posting policies please read our User Poster Agreement Policy.
Posted by UsayULoveGod (anonymous) on October 7, 2008 at 2:45 p.m. (Suggest removal)
You are a good man Jesse !!! We love you!
Posted by slimbolen99 (anonymous) on October 8, 2008 at 10:59 a.m. (Suggest removal)
My wife and I were at that game and it was great to see an Emporian honored for all the work he does. He got more exposure than the gazette article acknowledges -- the standing ovation from the crowd was amazing!
Post a comment
We allow registered users to post comments on this Web site. Our goal with this feature is to encourage thoughtful discussions about the news stories. Using the comment feature to make random attacks on people is not acceptable. Emporiagazette.com neither endorses nor guarantees the accuracy of any user contribution. Responsibility for what is posted or contributed to this site is the sole responsibility of each user. To learn more about our posting policies please read our User Poster Agreement Policy.
(Requires free registration.)