Larry Lucchino Delivers the 2008 Commencement Address
Red Sox president and CEO gives advice to graduates
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Boston Red Sox president and CEO Larry Lucchino, a member of the ownership group that bought the franchise in 2001 and helped break the curse of the Bambino with a World Series title in 2004 and again in 2007, delivers the University’s 135th Commencement address. Lucchino, a lawyer, two-time cancer survivor, and former president of the Baltimore Orioles and the San Diego Padres, urges the Class of 2008 to take risks, to spend time with family, and to remember Jackie Robinson.
“Be mindful of the catalytic effect one person can have on a community, on a neighborhood, on a nation, on a compelling cause or a nagging injustice,” Lucchino says. “Hold within yourself a capacity for outrage at injustice. Be confident that if you fight long enough and hard enough, you, too, can make a difference. And like Jackie Robinson, you can do it with dignity.”
Lucchino’s final and most important piece of advice for graduates was to help people along the way. “Life is not about warming yourself by the fire; it’s about building the fire. And generosity is the match. To consider yourself — and to be considered — capable is good. To consider yourself — and to be considered — loving is even better. But to know yourself as generous is best of all.”
May 18, 2008, 11 a.m.
Nickerson Field
Video length is 00:17:27.
About the speaker:
Larry Lucchino grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and graduated from Yale Law School in 1971. Early in his legal career he worked on the House Committee on the Judiciary, aiding its investigation into the Watergate crisis. Following Richard Nixon’s resignation, he joined the Washington law firm Williams & Connolly, where he was mentored by Edward Bennett Williams, an owner of the Baltimore Orioles and the Washington Redskins. Lucchino went on to become president and CEO of the Orioles and of the San Diego Padres. In 2001, he joined with others to buy the Boston Red Sox and Fenway Park. The new leadership team put in place players and managers who won the World Series in 2004 and 2007.
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