Commencement speakers Will and House promote individualism

The Red Sox could have won a World Series and two pennants had they listened to a man named Sam Lacy and focused on talent rather than tradition, Commencement speaker George Will told an audience of graduates, family members and friends at Nickerson Field Sunday.

Using baseball — his and many Bostonians’ favorite pastime — to illustrate his point, Will entertained the crowd of roughly 20,000 people who attended the university-wide graduation ceremony.

The class of 2003 should strive to create a society based on individual talents and free from prejudice, favoritism and preference, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist said.

Will, whose syndicated column appears twice weekly in newspapers nationwide, is well known for his writings on baseball, a sport he acknowledged is “always on my mind.”

Will told the story of Lacy, a sports journalist, an African-American and an idealist, who Will said “few, if any of you, have ever heard of.”

But Lacy played an integral part of the American civil rights movement by insisting on integrating Major League Baseball, Will said.

Lacy focused on the talent of the players, and knew that for the “color line” to be erased in baseball, the sport would have to be considered as a meritocracy that judged players based on their skills on the field, he said.

“Sports are meritocratic because competence and excellence are measured relentlessly — play-by-play, day-by-day, in wins and losses,” Will said. “Particularly in baseball — the sport of the box score — that cold retrospective eye of the morning after.”

Will drew the crowd’s attention to a glaring blight on the Red Sox record — one that may have contributed to their shabby pennant and World Series-winning record today. The Sox, unreceptive to the idea of integration, refused to consider signing African-American players — going so far as to leave a workout, orchestrated by Sam Lacy, that showcased talented African-American players.

In the end, the Brooklyn Dodgers broke through the color lines first, Will reminded the crowd.

“The Red Sox might have won a World Series and two pennants with Jackie Robinson in the lineup,” he speculated. Will warned the crowd against the “historical amnesia” that might stand in the way of achieving progress.

Competition based on merit made sense in baseball more than 50 years ago, as it makes sense in today’s society, Will said. He called his theory “the core principle of an open society — the principle of careers open to talents.”

And like a baseball season, which is comprised of 162 games, life is long, Will continued.

“In the end, the cream rises — quality tells,” he said.

Crowd members were thrilled with Will’s speech, which they said made a long ceremony bearable.

“He kept 20,000 people’s attention without any boos,” said Bill Manniel of Connecticut, who came to see a family friend graduate. “He was able to tap into the people’s minds to call attention to a lot of important things.”

HOUSE TELLS GRADUATES NOT TO CONFORM IN BACCALAUREATE ADDRESS

Baccalaureate speaker Karen Elliott House also emphasized individualism in her baccalaureate sermon, given before about 100 people in Marsh Chapel Sunday morning. House, also an accomplished journalist, as well as publisher of The Wall Street Journal and vice president of Dow Jones ‘ Co., shared stories from her childhood in the tiny town of Matador, Tex.

In Matador, where going against the grain was a rare feat, House’s father encouraged her to remain steadfast in her personal convictions, she recalled, cautioning the graduates not to succumb to convenience, cowardice or conformity.

House, who won a Pulitzer Prize for her coverage of the Middle East in 1984, praised two controversial men who she said rarely compromise their convictions: Chancellor John Silber and President George W. Bush. In running the university and in leading the country, both men have made some unpopular decisions, House conceded.

However, they have shown “clarity, consistency and political courage,” she said, something all people in all professions should strive toward. House specifically mentioned journalists, who she said have developed a tendency to “move en masse” and “to lose individual judgment.”

College of Communication graduate Elizabeth Smallcomb said she was inspired by House’s address.

“I came just to hear her speak,” Smallcomb said, adding that House’s assessment of human nature being inclined to follow the crowd was accurate.

Both Will and House received honorary degrees at Sunday’s ceremony.