1. Slide 1
Roberto Clemente
What grown-ups do you look up to? Who do you want to be like? What makes that person special?
When Roberto Clemente was a young boy growing up in Puerto Rico, he played baseball every chance he could get. Roberto and his friends did not have much money, so they made their own baseball equipment. They wound tape around rolled-up socks to make balls. They made bats out of tree branches or old brooms.
Baseball was a very popular sport in Puerto Rico. Roberto admired baseball players. They were his heroes. He couldn’t have known back then that one day he would become a great baseball player as well as a true hero.

2. Slide 2
Roberto Clemente (Cont.)
By the time Roberto got to high school, he was an excellent baseball player and played on the school team. He was also a star on the track team because he was such a fast runner. Roberto’s parents were hoping that he would become an engineer, but that was not to be.
One day, when Roberto was playing baseball, a man named Pedro Zorilla was watching him and thought he was very good. Pedro owned a baseball team in Puerto Rico and offered Roberto a place on his team, the Santurce Cangrejeros, or Crabbers.
While playing for the Crabbers, Roberto caught the eye of a scout from the Brooklyn Dodgers. A scout is someone who looks for new baseball players. In 1954, the Dodgers offered Roberto a place on their team, and he accepted. So after graduating from high school, Roberto left Puerto Rico for the United States.

3. Slide 3
Roberto Clemente (Cont.)
Roberto played with the Brooklyn Dodgers for a short time. Then he joined the Pittsburgh Pirates, where he played for the rest of his career.
Roberto’s early years in baseball were very challenging. He spoke Spanish and knew very little English. He was a black Latino, and at that time in the United States, black people did not have the same rights as white people. Sometimes Roberto was not allowed to stay in the same hotel as his white teammates. But he did not give up. Roberto focused on playing baseball well.
Roberto’s efforts paid off. Soon he was considered to be one of the best players in baseball. He won awards for his batting and for his fielding. Roberto was selected to be the National League Most Valuable Player in 1966 and the World Series Most Valuable Player in 1971 after the Pittsburgh Pirates won the World Series.

4. Slide 4
Roberto Clemente (Cont.)
Roberto was a great baseball player, but he was also known for his charity toward others. He wanted to help the children of Puerto Rico achieve their dreams just like he had. He raised money to build a sports center in Puerto Rico, where boys and girls could play different kinds of sports. He never had the chance to build it, though.
In 1972, Roberto heard about an earthquake that hit the city of Managua in Nicaragua. Thousands of people were killed and thousands of others were hurt and homeless. Roberto wanted to help, so he boarded a plane to bring supplies to Managua. But a few minutes after take-off, the plane crashed into the ocean. Sadly, Roberto and the other people on the plane died.
People honored Roberto in many ways. The people of Pittsburgh built a statue of him and named a bridge after him. He was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. There was also a special award created in his honor. Each year, the Roberto Clemente Man of the Year Award is given to the baseball player who does the most to help others.
But best of all, the sports center that Roberto dreamed of opened in Puerto Rico. At Roberto Clemente Sports City, children of all ages have a place to play sports. Roberto Clemente would be proud.
Unit 1, Week 5
Roberto Clemente
1. What kind of invitation would you be happy to accept?
2. Who do you admire and why?
3. Where do people go to board an airplane?
4. What things have you done that you found challenging?
5. What are some different ways that charity can help others?
6. What activities do you focus on after school?
7. Who is your hero? Why?
8. What do you do to show that you honor your parents?
9. How have you offered to help others?
10. Do you have the right to sleep all day? To scream in the library? To go to school?