A prominent Black sportswriter ranked Willie Mays with MLK and Jackie Robinson near Jesus

Evidence

It was in the wake of this success that one of the most prominent African- American sportswriters of the day, a man named A. S. “Doc” Young (1963), proclaimed that Willie Mays was as important a figure for civil rights as Martin Luther King, Jr. and that Jackie Robinson ranked next to Jesus Christ among the most important and honorable men ever to have walked the earth. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 2759

Categorization

• CANDY: A striking, tweetable historical quote: a respected Black sportswriter ranking Mays with King and Robinson with Christ.
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: what did A.S. ‘Doc’ Young’s full argument look like — was he rhetorical or earnest, and how was it received?