Bryan Burwell

Bryan Ellis Burwell (August 4, 1955 – December 4, 2014) was an American sportswriter. He wrote for the St. Louis Post Dispatch and as on-air talent on CBS Sports 920 in St. Louis, weekday afternoons. He worked as an on-air talent at 101 ESPN Radio in St. Louis, Missouri. He was featured on ESPN's Jim Rome is Burning and ESPN's The Sports Reporters. Burwell also was a co-writer and host of a documentary on the baseball's Negro League called The Color of Change.^[1]

Prior to 1947 when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, African-Americans were stonewalled from baseball and forced to form their own league. Josh Gibson, Satchel Paige, and "Cool Papa" Bell "barnstormed" their places into American history. Burwell recounted in The Color of Change the trials and tribulations of the baseball league built by racism and its ultimate demise. The documentary featured interviews with Buck O'Neil, Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith for the St. Louis Post Dispatch.^[2]

Burwell died at the age of 59 on December 4, 2014 from cancer.^[3][4]

References

1. "Color of Change", tvsco.com; accessed December 4, 2014.
2. Burwell's columns, St. Louis Post Dispatch; accessed December 4, 2014.
3. Columnist Bryan Burwell dies, espn.go.com; accessed December 4, 2014.
4. http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/bryan-burwell-prominent-sports-columnist-and-commentator-dies-at-59/2014/12/05/f0d06b2a-7ca5-11e4-84d4-7c896b90abdc_story.html