Barrier Breakers Monument Unveiled Commemorating Historic Baseball Game

ORLANDO, Fla. (FNN Sports) – This “Barrier Breakers Monument” was unveiled and dedicated today at Orlando’s Lake Lorna Doone Park. The statue honors players who were part of the 1955 first interracial Little League baseball game in the South. The bronze monument features two 12-year old boys representing the Orlando Kiwanis and Pensacola Jaycees teams. The story of that 1955 game is chronicled in the documentary, “Long Time Coming.” Several of the players from that historic game were in attendance and spoke at today’s ceremony.

This piece is the final work of artist and former NFL Football player, George Nock, who broke barriers as a member of the 1966 Morgan State University football team that won the Tangerine Bowl in Orlando, becoming the first historically Black college team to win an integrated bowl game. His wife, Mary, spoke on his behalf, today. “We each can be barrier breakers by being the best versions of ourselves.”