EVERY sports fan admired and respected Roberto Clemente as one of the greatest baseball players of our time. In the tragedy of his untimely death, we are reminded that he deserved even greater respect and admiration for his splendid qualities as a generous and kind human being.
He sacrificed his life on a mission of mercy. The best memorial we can build to his memory is to contribute generously for the relief of those he was trying to help--the earthquake victims in Nicaragua.
Note: Roberto Clemente, 38, an outfielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates professional baseball team since 1955, died in the crash of a cargo plane off the coast of San Juan, P.R., on December 31, 1972. Mr. Clemente, as head of Puerto Rican efforts to aid victims of the Nicaraguan earthquake, was escorting relief supplies to Managua at the time of the crash.
On January 3, 1973, the White House released the transcript of a news briefing by Pittsburgh Pirates president Dan Galbreath and pitchers Dave Giusti and Steve Blass, on their meeting with the President to discuss a proposed Committee for a Roberto Clemente Memorial Fund for Nicaraguan Earthquake Victims.
On January 8, Anne L. Armstrong, Counsellor to the President, while in Puerto Rico as the President's personal representative to the inauguration of Carlos Romero Barcelo as mayor of San Juan, conveyed the President's respects to Mr. Clemente's family.
See also Item 152.
Richard Nixon, Statement About the Death of Roberto Clemente Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/255221