Son of George 'Shotgun' Shuba passes out posters honoring his father
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - Mike Shuba, son of George "Shotgun" Shuba is honoring the life of his father on the seven-year anniversary of his passing on Sept. 29, 2014 by distributing free posters honoring his father's legacy.
George's son, Mike Shuba wanted to use this anniversary to pass the memory of his father's legacy on to others throughout the Valley by handing out posters of a historic handshake between his father and Jackie Robinson, who was the first Black player in modern organized baseball.
The handshake took place on April 18, 1946 after Robinson hit a three-run homer during his debut game with the Montreal Royals marking the first interracial handshake on a modern professional baseball field.
The posters will be distributed in Wean Park at the site of a statue commemorating the handshake. Mike Shuba said that even if he is not present, he's left plenty of posters for people to pick up if they want them.
"I'm going to leave some here in case students get off school today and they come down. There will be plenty of them here for them to pick up," Mike Shuba said.
Mike Shuba went on to stress the importance preserving the history of the handshake and passing it on to future generations.
"For the last 25 years I had traveled across the country with my father, and we passed out a lot of these posters here today. And that was the message we were sending to our youngsters, to do the right thing and everything will work out fine. It's an important message and something we need to teach our youth," Mike Shuba said.
Mike Shuba went on to extend an invitation to local school districts to host field trips to the statue and says that he'll be there to hand out more posters.
"I would like to let know that any of the schools or teacher's can contact me at the George Shuba Facebook page, and I would be happy to set up a time and a day that you could bring your classroom down, and I will also pass out free posters to every student that day," Mike Shuba said.
You can hear more on how much his Mike Shuba's father's message meant to him and what he wants young people to take away from the moment in an this 'app extra' video.
