Boston, MA

MLB notes: Scott Yelle completes emotional ballpark tour in late son’s honor

Published

2 years ago

June 16, 2024

MLB notes: Scott Yelle completes emotional ballpark tour in late son’s honor

Before he was tragically killed in a hit-and-run accident in April 2023, Jackson Yelle and his father Scott aspired to watch a game together at all 30 MLB ballparks. They made it to 12 at the time of his passing, and this year Scott resolved to finish what they started.

Eighteen parks and less than three months later, that dream has officially come true.

Last Sunday, Scott Yelle completed his whirlwind ballpark tour in Jackson’s honor, catching the Detroit Tigers’ 10-2 home win over the Milwaukee Brewers at Comerica Park. The last stop came after he’d also seen games in St. Louis and Kansas City the days prior, and in Detroit he was joined by his wife, daughter and several others for the final game.

“It was pretty special,” Yelle said by phone earlier this week. “It was a beautiful day, good to have family and friends around, and the Tigers, as everyone has, continued to make us feel like royalty and treated us really special.”

MLB notes: Cape Cod father determined to finish ballpark journey he and late son started together

A North Eastham resident and a graduate of Nauset Regional High School, Jackson Yelle was a talented and well-regarded ballplayer who went on to play for the club team at Elon University. A 21-year-old junior, Jackson was with his team in Myrtle Beach, S.C., at the time of his accident, and in the weeks that followed his family, friends and college teammates raised money to start what eventually became the Jackson Yelle Family Foundation, a charitable organization they hoped could help support meaningful causes in his memory.

Besides establishing memorial scholarships and supporting Jackson’s former baseball programs, the Yelle family also decided to support MLB’s Nike RBI Program, which aims to provide baseball opportunities to kids in inner city communities. At every stop along the tour Yelle donated $1,000 to that club’s local program, presenting the team with a big check prior to the game.

It wasn’t long before word started getting out.

Shortly after his tour began Yelle’s story started getting picked up by local and national outlets. He became a frequent guest on MLB Network and after a while fans began recognizing him at the ballpark, often thanks to his Elon baseball hat he wore to every game.

“They’ll say, ‘Hey are you that guy?’ and start a conversation and you get to share the story and they typically want to learn more and offer their condolences and support and inspiration,” Yelle said. “It’s honestly pretty cool. Part of the sheer benefit and joy of the trip is meeting all these new people and it’s part of the therapy for sure.”

Along the way Yelle got to meet numerous baseball legends, including Mike Trout in Anaheim, Freddie Freeman in Los Angeles and Ichiro Suzuki in Seattle.

“There’s definitely some great memories from the trip that I’ll cherish for a long time,” he said.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
The Tigers welcomed Scott Yelle and his family to ballpark No. 30, finishing off the #HonoringJackson Tour.
The Jackson Yelle Family Foundation presented a $1k check for the Detroit Tigers Foundation #NIKERBI athletes‼️ 🙌 pic.twitter.com/9PT26aunV1
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— MLBRBI (@MLBRBI) June 9, 2024

Beyond making it to all 18 ballparks left on his list, Yelle also hoped to raise money to support the foundation’s efforts. As of this writing the family has raised approximately $28,000, exceeding their initial goal of $25,000, and if they can top $30,000 they hope to make 12 additional $1,000 donations to the Nike RBI Programs affiliated with the MLB clubs Jackson got to visit prior to his accident.

Yelle has also been invited to attend the Nike RBI World Series in Vero Beach, Fla., in August, and once the dust settles he and the family hope to finalize a number of other initiatives in Jackson’s honor.

In the meantime, Yelle is looking forward to what he expects will be a bittersweet but meaningful Father’s Day. The pain of losing Jackson will never fully heal, but this year there will also be a sense of pride that they were able to see his journey through to the end.

“It’s a bit surreal. It’s finally starting to sink in that we accomplished it,” Yelle said. “It’s crazy. Nine months ago it was just an idea, it wasn’t even really formulated, so to be completed, it’s obviously great. I think Jackson would be proud and thrilled at our accomplishment and getting the job done.”

Anyone interested in supporting the Jackson Yelle Family Foundation can do so by donating at https://jacksonyelle.com/.

Special Father’s Day

This season hasn’t gone the way Garrett Whitlock hoped. The right-hander got off to an outstanding start before missing several weeks due to an oblique injury, and now he’ll sit the rest of the season after undergoing elbow surgery following what was meant to be his last rehab start.

That’s not ideal, but with his first child due to arrive in about a month, Whitlock still has something to look forward to.

“It’s the silver lining for sure knowing I’m going to be there for his birth and I’m going to be around every day, I’m not going to miss any of those moments, that’s huge,” Whitlock said this week. “It’s something I’m really looking forward to in that aspect, obviously it’s not a best case scenario but it’s pretty darn good all things considering.”

Whitlock and his wife Jordan are expecting a baby boy in early July, during a stretch when the Red Sox are scheduled to be in the midst of a week-long, two-city road trip. Many ballplayers who have children during the season face the stressful prospect of rushing home at a moment’s call from some far-flung location to make it back in time when the baby comes, so the fact that Whitlock can plan on avoiding that is a blessing he doesn’t take for granted.

Beyond that, Whitlock will also have more opportunities to spend time with his growing family once his son arrives. In between his daily rehab work and time spent amongst his teammates, one of his top priorities now will be preparing for the big day.

“Getting excited for sure,” Whitlock said. “Just looking forward to it and getting the home as ready as we can and looking forward to welcoming them in here and seeing what it’s going to be like.”

Whitlock and his family plan to spend the rest of the season in Boston while he rehabs, so Jordan and the baby will never be far away, but that isn’t a luxury all ballplayers get to enjoy. Life in the big leagues often requires significant personal sacrifice, but that also makes the time spent together even more special.

Whitlock got a close look at that side of fatherhood, plus a little preview of what he can expect, when he hosted Connor Wong’s family — including his one-year-old Chandler — for a week in Fort Myers during spring training.

“It was good to lean on him and watch how he did everything,” Whitlock said.

“It was great to see them, at that point (Chandler) was walking so he was walking around the spring training agility field,” Wong said. “It wasn’t anything crazy really, we’re thankful Garrett let us stay with him and let my family come into town.”

As far as his recovery from elbow surgery, Whitlock still has a long way to go but is making good progress. The next milestone will be getting out of his heavy brace, which has his right arm immobilized and should come off in about five weeks. After that, the hope is still that Whitlock will be able to return to the mound sometime early next season.

“So far so good,” Whitlock said.

Until then, Whitlock hopes to enjoy all the curveballs fatherhood throws his way.

Devers, Houck on All-Star track

Voting is underway for the MLB All-Star Game, and at this stage of the season the Red Sox have a handful of standouts who have emerged as strong contenders to make the American League roster.

Chief among them is Rafael Devers, who should go toe-to-toe with Cleveland’s Jose Ramirez for the starting third base spot. As of this writing Devers leads all qualifying AL third basemen with a .937 OPS and 30 walks, and he also ranks near the top of the leaderboards with 13 home runs, 32 RBI, 13 doubles and even three triples.

Though fans won’t vote on the pitchers, Tanner Houck has clearly put himself in position to earn a spot on the staff, possibly even as the AL’s starter. Houck boasts an 2.08 ERA, ranks second in the AL with 91 innings pitched and has held batters to an exceptional 0.945 walks and hits per innings pitched.

Boston Red Sox pitcher Tanner Houck (89) throws in the first as Sox take on the Tigers in at Fenway on May 31. (Staff Photo By Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald)

While he probably won’t have a chance to start over Aaron Judge, Juan Soto or Kyle Tucker, Jarren Duran has still built a strong case for himself as a reserve outfielder. Duran has played in every game this season and ranks tied for third among AL outfielders behind Judge and Soto with 3.6 wins above replacement. He also leads the AL with 10 triples, has 15 stolen bases and 20 doubles, and according to Statcast, ranks as both the best baserunner in MLB and as an elite fielder.

Phase 1 of MLB’s All-Star fan vote will run through June 27, at which point the top two vote-getters at each position (top six for outfielders) will advance as finalists to Phase 2, which will run from June 30 to July 3 and determine the game’s starters. Fans can vote at https://www.mlb.com/all-star/ballot.

Keegan, Seymour soar

Two locals are making some noise with the Tampa Bay Rays’ Double-A affiliate.

Methuen’s Dom Keegan, a former Central Catholic star, came into Friday batting .285 with five home runs, 31 RBI and an .814 OPS for the Montgomery Biscuits. Meanwhile, Ian Seymour, a former Saint John’s (Shrewsbury) standout from Westborough, came into the weekend with a 5-2 record, a 2.16 ERA and 77 strikeouts over his first 66.2 innings.

Keegan and Seymour rank as the Rays’ No. 5 and 18 prospects, respectively, according to MLB Pipeline.

Some other notable local performers: Rowley’s Thomas White, a former Phillips Andover great now in the Miami Marlins system, was recently promoted to High-A. In his first two starts with the Beloit Sky Carp he’s struck out 14 batters over 8.1 innings while posting a 2.16 ERA. … Former Northeastern University aces Cam Schlittler and Sebastian Keane are both off to strong starts with the Yankees’ High-A affiliate. Schlittler, a former Walpole star, has a 2.15 ERA through his first 10 starts, and Keane, of North Andover, has a 4.85 ERA through his first 11 starts.

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Boston, MA

MLB notes: New Red Sox pitching directors looking to keep pipeline flowing

Published

5 hours ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

MLB notes: New Red Sox pitching directors looking to keep pipeline flowing

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Over the past few years the Red Sox pitching program has been completely transformed.

Since Craig Breslow took over as chief baseball officer, the Red Sox have gone from one of the worst organizations at developing young pitchers to one of the best, and now the club is overflowing with talented arms who are already making their mark in the majors.

That hasn’t gone unnoticed, and this past offseason one of the people most responsible for executing the club’s turnaround — former director of pitching Justin Willard — was hired away by the New York Mets to be their new major league pitching coach.

Now the Red Sox are handing the baton to two others, who they hope can keep the train rolling and ensure the club’s pitching pipeline keeps flowing.

This winter the Red Sox promoted Ben Buck to succeed Willard as the club’s director of pitching while also hiring away Quinn Cleary from the Seattle Mariners to serve as his No. 2. The two have already begun working to make their mark on the organization, though both emphasized that the Red Sox already have a solid foundation in place and that they plan to continue emphasizing Willard’s core tenet of “throwing nasty stuff in the zone.”

“That is the mantra,” Buck said. “Because it is simple to say, our guys remember it, and you can branch off from each one of those words and they become very complex.”

“It’s a perfect one sentence one-liner that really sums up the two big components of being a successful pitcher in the majors,” Cleary said.

Buck earned his promotion after just one year with the organization, joining the Red Sox as a pitching coordinator following the 2024 season after previously serving in a similar role with the New York Yankees. Upon coming to Boston, Buck worked closely with many of the Red Sox’s top pitching prospects, including Payton Tolle, one of the club’s biggest recent minor league success stories who rose from High-A to the majors in just his first year of professional baseball.

“The first time that I talked to him or heard him talk about pitching, I was a lot dumber then (than I am now),” Tolle said of Buck. “He’s one of the smartest guys that I’ve ever been around in the baseball world so to now have him as the head of development, it’s huge.”

Another Red Sox pitcher who Buck has worked with is Garrett Whitlock, serving as the future Red Sox right-hander’s pitching coach during his rookie ball days as a Yankees farmhand.

“I think he’s going to be great for the organization,” Whitlock said. “He’s a very good pitching mind. He’s going to bring a lot of wisdom to the table when it comes to the movement side of things, the preparation, how to build up arms, that kind of thing. He’s very, very good at that.”

Before making the jump to the professional coaching ranks, Buck spent 15 years as a college coach after playing collegiately at Lamar Community College in Colorado and at the University of Utah. He also played a year of independent baseball before spending two years away from the sport working in a poker room, first as a dealer and then as the boss.

That job prepared him for coaching in ways you wouldn’t expect.

“There are a lot of skills that I learned from poker and from running a poker room that I still use to this day,” Buck said. “We had a VIP list of something like 280 VIPs, so attributing people’s names to their faces and not forgetting. Dealing with conflict, like for them this is higher stakes, it’s win or lose money. In some regards (baseball is) win or lose money. They’re putting themselves on the line thinking in bets. What are you willing to risk? What is not worth the risk? And how aggressive are you? How unaggressive are you? All these are transferable skills to life and this job.”

Red Sox assistant director of pitching Quinn Cleary. (Mac Cerullo/Boston Herald)

Cleary’s journey to the Red Sox is equally fascinating.

Just 26 years old, Cleary is only a few years removed from his college playing days at Yale. He has quickly risen through the front office ranks since, first interning at Cressey Sports Performance before landing with the Philadelphia Phillies and then the Mariners, with whom he served as pitching coordinator.

This past offseason the Red Sox hired him as their new assistant director of pitching and head pitching strategist, specifically requesting permission from the Mariners to interview him.

“What a great hire,” Buck said. “Sharp mind, huge feel, I can’t imagine being as young as he is, as smart as he is, with as much feel as he has.”

How has he done it at such a young age?

“I think a combination of being in the right place at the right time,” Cleary said. “I’ve been able to learn from a lot of really good people at all the stops I’ve been at. I hope to continue to do that here.”

Cleary also has a fascinating family history. His grandfather, Bill Cleary, was a member of the gold medal-winning 1960 U.S. Olympic hockey team and was the longtime men’s hockey coach and athletic director at Harvard. His parents were both Harvard athletes too, and his three brothers all attended Harvard as well.

Naturally, Cleary going to rival Yale was a bit of a departure from the family tradition.

“I am like truly the black sheep of my family,” Cleary said. “We joke that I sit at a different table at Thanksgiving but other than that it’s not too bad.”

Cleary described his new role as a hybrid front office and coaching/player development role that helps with both the majors league and minor leagues. He will also be among those assisting injured big leaguers with their rehab process, and he said he hopes to add value wherever he can.

Red Sox pitching coach Andrew Bailey said Buck and Cleary have both been great to work with so far.

“It’s been fantastic, the communication lines are really solid,” Bailey said. “A lot of bright ideas and thoughts and visions, and what’s really good is the open-mindedness and the ability to listen and take in information and what’s worked and what hasn’t worked.”

With three pitchers ranked inside Baseball America’s Top 100 Prospects list and a huge crop of young arms coming up from the past two years’ pitcher-heavy draft classes, Buck and Cleary find themselves in a much different situation than the one Breslow and Willard inherited after the 2023 season. They said a lot of smart people put in a lot of work to help get the club’s pitching program on the right track, and they hope to build on that progress in the months and years to come.

“Justin did such an amazing job when he was here of laying this unbelievable foundation, things are really going in a real good direction and our job is to search for the one percents and two percents to keep improving,” Buck said. “It’s less about change and more about continuing on the path where evolution can happen.”

Red Sox right-hander Brayan Bello will take the mound in his native Dominican Republic this Wednesday ahead of the World Baseball Classic. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Bello’s big homecoming

Years from now Brayan Bello probably won’t remember his first two starts of spring training, but you can be sure he’ll never forget his next one.

This Wednesday the Red Sox right-hander will take the mound for Team Dominican Republic in a pre-World Baseball Classic exhibition against the Detroit Tigers at Estadio Quisqueya in Santo Domingo. Bello has never pitched at the historic stadium before, and getting to pitch there will mark a special homecoming for the 26-year-old.

“It’s going to be my first time after I was a big leaguer that I’m getting to pitch in the Dominican Republic in front of my friends and family, in front of my home country,” Bello said Friday via interpreter Carlos Villoria Benítez. “For me it’s going to be very emotional, I’m very excited to be able to pitch there and I’m looking forward to it.”

A native of Samana, a town roughly two and a half hours away from the Dominican Republic’s capital city, Bello hopes to help pitch his country to its second World Baseball Classic title. The Dominican team previously won it all in 2013 and this year features All-Star standouts like Juan Soto, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr., among others.

Hometown kids coming up

Almost anyone who grows up playing baseball around New England dreams of one day playing for the Red Sox, and this spring several local standouts hope to take the next step in their journey towards making that dream a reality.

Shea Sprague and Jack Winnay, both recent draft picks by the Red Sox with Boston-area ties, are among the many minor leaguers populating the Fenway South complex this spring. Sprague, a BC High alum from Hanover who starred at the University of North Carolina, is entering his second full professional season after being selected as a 13th-round pick in 2024. Winnay, a Newton resident who starred at Belmont Hill and Wake Forest, is in his first spring training after going as a 13th-round pick himself last summer.

Brian Abraham, the Red Sox’s senior director of player development, said the organization is really excited about both, noting that the pair also played for the same travel ball club as his son, North East Baseball.

Sprague appeared in 22 games in his first pro season, earning a promotion from Low-A to High-A along the way and finishing with a 3.82 ERA in 96 2/3 innings, which was the eighth-highest innings total of any Red Sox minor leaguer.

“Really good pitchability,” Abraham said of the 23-year-old lefty. “Trying to increase his fastball velo, because he already has a good pitch mix and has a good way on the mound with his mix.”

Winnay debuted as a professional weeks after being drafted and made a strong first impression, batting .321 with a home run, three doubles and 11 RBI in only 15 games at Low-A Salem. The 22-year-old infielder will be a candidate to start this season at High-A, and Friday he was among a handful of minor leaguers who traveled up to North Port with the big league club.

“Jack has been playing mostly third but can play first, has really good power, moves well, really exciting I think,” Abraham said. “A lot of tools that we like and value.”

Burt signs with Tigers

North Andover’s Max Burt, a former St. John’s Prep and Northeastern University standout, signed with the Detroit Tigers as a minor league free agent this past week. The longtime New York Yankees minor leaguer spent his first eight professional seasons with the organization, playing the majority of that time at Double-A Somerset.

According to the Somerset Patriots, Burt departs as the team’s all-time franchise leader in hits (241), runs (179) and games played (361). The 29-year-old will now get a fresh start as he looks to make a push to the majors with a new organization.

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Boston, MA

Red Sox reliever ‘fired up’ to join Team USA after dominant start to spring

Published

17 hours ago

February 28, 2026

Press Room

Red Sox reliever ‘fired up’ to join Team USA after dominant start to spring

FORT MYERS, Fla. — It’s hard to imagine Garrett Whitlock’s spring getting off to a better start. The Red Sox right-hander made it three straight scoreless outings through the first week of games Saturday by sending down the Minnesota Twins 1-2-3 in the third during the club’s eventual 13-8 win.

Now, Whitlock will get ready to join Team USA ahead of the World Baseball Classic.

“I’m stoked. I’ve been jittery the past two days, like, ‘Oh man it’s almost here,’” Whitlock said. “Now I’ve got to go home, do some laundry and do some packing.”

Whitlock and teammate Roman Anthony will fly to Arizona on Sunday to join the rest of the American squad, which features Aaron Judge, Tarik Skubal, Paul Skenes and many more of the game’s biggest stars. Team USA will play exhibitions against the Giants and Rockies this week before opening their tournament run in Houston against Brazil on Friday.

Among those Whitlock expects to be in Houston for the tournament is his father, Larry Whitlock, a veteran who saw combat during the Vietnam War. Whitlock said getting to represent his country is an amazing honor, and that sharing the news with his father that he’d been selected to the team last fall was an incredible moment for the family.

“I called him and I was just like, ‘Hey I want you to hear this from me before you hear it from anyone else, as a vet, I’m just so honored that I get to represent this country for baseball,’ and he kind of sobbed up and everything,” Whitlock said. “It was a very cool moment for me and him.”

“I’m actually the only male in my family not to serve in the military,” Whitlock continued. “My dad, my uncle, my brother, my granddad on both sides, so it’s a really truly special thing that’s close to my heart and that’s why it’s such an honor for me. Forget the stage and everything else, just to represent the country, obviously I’ll never be able to sacrifice like so many of our service members do, but the chance that we can hopefully bring them some joy in anything, it brings tears to my eyes thinking about it.”

To prepare for the tournament, Whitlock said he began his ramp up earlier than normal, throwing several live batting practices over the offseason when he’d typically wait until camp. The work was clearly evident through the first week of games, as Whitlock allowed just one hit in three innings with no walks and two strikeouts in his three Grapefruit League outings.

The next time he appears in a game the stakes will be a little bit higher, but if all goes according to plan, Whitlock won’t be back with the Red Sox for a while.

“It was funny, (USA manager Mark DeRosa) texted us like three days ago and he’s like, ‘Hey y’all better be packing for 18 days because we aren’t doing anything less.’ Kind of fired the guys up,” Whitlock said. “So I’m going to go home and you don’t realize how long 18 days is until you try to pack for it.”

Gray shaky in debut

Sonny Gray made his first start in a Red Sox uniform and wasn’t sharp, walking the first batter he faced on four pitches before ultimately allowing two runs on three hits and two walks over 1 1/3 innings. He threw 31 pitches, 13 for strikes, and allowed a solo home run to James Outman to lead off the second.

“I don’t like throwing as many balls as I did,” Gray said. “You walk the first hitter, four pitches, you know you’re not setting yourself up for success there.”

Gray escaped a potentially problematic first inning unscathed when he drew a 6-4-3 double play turned by Trevor Story and Nick Sogard to escape a bases-loaded jam. But after giving up the solo home run in the second, he allowed a single and was lifted after drawing a groundout to end his day.

Early solid again

Connelly Early took the mound in the top of the fourth for what was effectively his second “start” of the spring, and the rookie left-hander performed well again, throwing 2 2/3 innings while allowing two runs on three hits with no walks and three strikeouts.

Early posted a 1-2-3 fourth, allowed a single and an RBI double in the fifth and gave up a single before finishing his outing with back-to-back strikeouts in the sixth. The inherited runner later came around to score, giving Early the second earned run, but the lefty still threw 27 of his 39 pitches for strikes and topped out at 97.1 mph on the radar gun.

“I’m just trying to keep building the workload and I want to hold the velo going into all three innings,” Early said. “I thought I did a pretty good job with that.”

Duran homers twice

Jarren Duran has been red hot over the first week of games, and Saturday he came through again by launching two more home runs, including a two-run shot in the first inning for the second straight day.

Duran went deep to right-center field, crushing a 2-2 fastball from Twins starter Taj Bradley 401 feet for the two-run shot. He followed that up with another two-run bomb off Kendry Rojas in the fourth inning, this one going 409 feet.

The outfielder finished 2 for 2 with the two homers, four RBI, a walk and three runs scored. Duran is now batting .583 with a 2.167 OPS for the spring.

Roman Anthony and Carlos Narvaez each went 2 for 3 with an RBI, Trevor Story went 1 for 3 with a triple and Max Ferguson hit a grand slam in the bottom of the seventh.

Coming up next

The Red Sox are now 5-3 in Grapefruit League and 3-0 against the Twins. Ranger Suarez will take the mound for the second time this spring on Sunday when the Red Sox host the Baltimore Orioles. Aroldis Chapman, Justin Slaten, Wyatt Olds, Tayron Guerrero and Devin Sweet are all scheduled to pitch as well.

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Boston, MA

‘We’re honoring Black excellence’: Mass. celebrates leaders of color

Published

1 day ago

February 28, 2026

Press Room

‘We’re honoring Black excellence’: Mass. celebrates leaders of color

Applause and music echoed through the Hall of Flags at the Massachusetts State House Friday as lawmakers and community leaders gathered for the Black Excellence on the Hill and the Latino Excellence Awards.

The ceremony celebrates Black and brown residents committed to advancing economic equity.

“We’re honoring Black excellence,” said state Rep. Chris Worrell. “When we look at today, this is what it should look like. This is our house. Black people built this house, literally and figuratively.”

Honorees ranged from attorneys to former professional athletes. Nicole M. Bluefort of the Law Offices of Nicole Bluefort said she plans to use her platform to uplift others.

“I will use my advocacy skills as an attorney to move people forward,” she said.

Former NBA player Wayne Seldan Jr. talked about his journey from McDonald’s All American to a full scholarship at Kansas and a professional career.

“You always want to keep striving for continued betterment and for stuff to grow,” he said. “I don’t think there should be mountaintops. I think we should always be striving to keep building.”

The keynote address was delivered by Michelle Brown, mother of Jaylen Brown, who spoke about raising two children as a single mother and the importance of faith, discipline and education.

“There are no shortcuts. There are no guarantees,” she said. “There was faith, there was discipline, and there was a deep belief that education created mobility.”

Speakers emphasized that mobility is strengthened when communities work together for a common good. Bluefort highlighted the importance of mentorship and shared opportunity, while state Rep. Sally Kerans encouraged attendees to stand together across racial lines.

“In this moment, stand with others. Speak up. Don’t be afraid to say ‘That’s not normal.’ Be allies. Be supportive,” Kerans said.

Organizers said the ceremony was not only about recognition, but also about sustaining progress — encouraging leaders and residents alike to continue building toward a more equitable future.

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