Jackie Robinson statue found dismantled and burned in Wichita park
WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) - 11:10 a.m. Update - Wichita police say pieces of a stolen statue of Jackie Robinson were found in a trash can on fire at Garvey Park on Tuesday. Arson investigators are pursuing the case while police search for suspects in the theft.
Among those who spoke at the briefing were City Councilman Brandon Johnson, Wichita Police Chief Joe Sullivan and League 42 Executive Director Bob Lutz.
Sullivan implored the suspects to turn themselves in.
“There will be an arrest,” Sullivan said. “But we’re going to make sure when we (make an arrest), we will have a solid case.”
Lutz said that while the result wasn’t one he and the players and parents of League 42 hoped for, they can now move forward. He vowed that within a matter of months, an identical statue will stand at McAdams Park. Its sculptor, John Parsons, died in 2022, but the mold for the statue remains.
The League is accepting donations to help replace the statue GoFundMe. The statue is valued at $75,000.
“This is not the result we wanted, but it is a result,” Lutz said. “We know what’s ahead of us; we’re going to incorporate a brand new statue that looks like the old one, and we’re already working on that.”
10:35 a.m. Update - League 42 executive director Bob Lutz said on social media that the Jackie Robinson statue that had been stolen last week was found “dismantled and burned” at Garvey Park in south Wichita.
Our statue was found, dismantled and burned, at Garvey Park in Wichita. A news conference will begin shortly.
— Bob Lutz (@boblutz) January 30, 2024
Wichita Police and other community representatives are holding a press conference Tuesday morning at Garvey Park to provide an update on the investigation into the theft of the Jackie Robinson statue from McAdams Park.
Garvey Park is in south Wichita, about seven miles from McAdams Park, where the statue honoring Major League Baseball’s first Black player stands. The statue was commissioned and paid for with funds from League 42, a youth baseball league whose name honors Robinson, who wore No. 42 when he broke the color barrier by starting with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1947.
Police and other Wichita leaders held a briefing Friday to rally behind League 42 and the pursuit of the people who stole the statue overnight Thursday. They announced a reward from the Wichita Crime Commission for $2,500, and an additional $5,000 if the information provided led to the statue’s recovery. On Monday, police announced they had recovered the truck used to haul off the statue.
The theft of the statue has drawn national attention, with stories on CNN, ESPN, TMZ, BBC America and other major national and international news organizations. The statue was unveiled in 2021 as the highlight of the Jackie Robinson Pavilion in McAdams Park.
A GoFundMe has been started to raise money for a new statue.
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