Separate but equal

The all-American blood pulsing through Bob Motley's veins inflamed an affair of a lifetime with a sweetheart called baseball.

The Kansas City father spent the precious moments of this affair in travel with teams like the Kansas City Monarchs and the Memphis Red Sox. He would get on buses and go wherever his love went.

"He loved baseball. He wanted to play baseball, he just wasn't good enough," said his son Byron Motley. "He wanted to stay involved in the game. Umpiring was where he found this."

Motley has been able to pinpoint for sure that his father, who is still alive, spent the late 1940s as an umpire in the Negro baseball leagues.

"Umpiring was more of a side job for my father," Motley said. "Matter of fact, most of the guys, they still had to work regular jobs when the season was over. They had to work as bartenders. Some were lucky enough to be coaches, some had to work in factories. They started to work other jobs to supplement their incomes."

On Friday, Motley will tell of the Negro baseball leagues, his father and related stories in a talk scheduled for 7 p.m. in Marlette Hall of Western Nevada Community College. The talk is three of five in a series called "Faces, Voices & Stories," sponsored by the Student Activities Office and United Students Association.

"We've done events like these before, but never a series," said Sean Sever, public-information officer for the college. "The purpose of (the series) is to enhance student life and also the community culture, which is one of our strategic goals at WNCC."

Upcoming events in the series include "Art and Archeology of Ancient Peru" scheduled for April 7 and the "Cultures around the World" multicultural festival scheduled for May 13.

Motley, a musician, performer, lecturer, singer, photographer and filmmaker from Los Angeles, hopes to produce a Negro baseball leagues documentary compiled from 60-plus interviews with widows and children of league players, his father and others.

"(My dad) had a great time (umpiring)," Motley said. "He lived through a lot. He lived through the woes of segregation, and there's not a drop of bitterness from him or the other men I've interviewed throughout the years."

The first black baseball league was started in 1920 by the owner of the Chicago American Giants team. The Negro National League was formed in 1933. and the Negro American League in 1937. By the early 1950s, they had both disbanded.

Jackie Robinson, who was the first black to sign to the white major leagues, played with the Kansas City Monarchs of the American Negro League in 1945.

"I really honor my father and the other people throughout the times who paved the way, who were all pioneers without realizing what they were doing for future generations," Motley said.

-- Contact reporter Maggie O'Neill at moneill@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1219.

If you go

WHAT: "Oh How They Lived" talk about the Negro baseball leagues by Byron Motley

WHEN: 7 p.m. Friday

WHERE: Marlette Hall in the Cedar Building of Western Nevada Community College, 2201 West College Parkway

ADMISSION: Free

CALL: 445-3324