Sunday, June 12, 2022, 3:00 p.m.
Green Room, Veterans Memorial Building
Glenn Burke, a pioneer in the national LGBTQ community, played for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Oakland A’s in the late 1970s before being banned from the game because of his off-field sexual preference. Filmmaker Doug Harris teamed with Comcast SportsNet/NBC Universal as a producer/director for this critically acclaimed 2010 documentary about Major League Baseball’s first openly gay player. The documentary was nominated for an Emmy Award by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in San Francisco, and also for the national G.L.A.A.D. Award.
Burke was a basketball star at Berkeley High School, leading the Yellow Jackets to an undefeated season and the 1970 Northern California championships and was named Northern California’s High School Basketball Player of the Year.
Doug Harris, who co-produced the documentary, will introduce it and be available for Q & A following the showing. Harris is a former All American college basketball player and coach who was drafted by the Golden State Warriors (1983), and was the former executive director of Athletes United for Peace (AUP), a Berkeley-based nonprofit committed to promoting peace, education and friendship through sports and media programs. His career in the media began after establishing AUP’s media division. He strives to uncover the stories of pioneering African Americans through extensive research and his warm and unique style of storytelling.