First published by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Feb. 17, 2022, by Jason Mackey
More than 100 miles separate downtown Pittsburgh from Edinboro University. It’s a trek Sean Gibson made countless times in the early-to-mid 1990s, traveling up and down interstate 79 with his grandfather, Josh Gibson Jr., the two men discussing their family legacy and the importance of honoring not only a Negro Leagues legend but one of baseball’s greatest players.
It was during these long drives where Sean Gibson began to think differently about the criminal justice degree he was pursuing. Listening to his grandfather tell stories of Josh Gibson’s might — the gaudy batting averages, home run totals, the one ball that sailed completely out of Yankee Stadium, the whizzing missiles he’d uncork from behind home plate — Sean Gibson’s focus shifted.
“My grandfather always told me, ‘The most important thing you have in life is your name,’ ” Sean Gibson said. “I took that to heart.”
“Big Josh,” as the slugging catcher is known by family and fans alike, would be plenty proud of the work Sean Gibson, 53, has done to promote his legacy and leverage his great-grandfather’s platform to help area kids through the Josh Gibson Foundation, which Josh Gibson Jr. started in the late 1990s.
