COLLEGE PARK — The Lucchino Family Foundation has donated $37,500 to support an ongoing reporting project being produced by The Shirley Povich Center for Sports Journalism at the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism.
The gift establishes a current-use fund to support the Oriole Park at Camden Yards oral history project currently in production by the Povich Center. The Lucchino Family Foundation announced it will add a matching gift of $37,500 when Merrill College raises an additional $25,000 for the fund.
To follow the lead of the Lucchino Family Foundation and support the Povich Center, you can contribute at go.umd.edu/CamdenYardsGift.
The Povich Center’s oral history project will be a comprehensive account of events that led to the creation of Camden Yards, which is widely regarded as an architectural icon and forerunner to a generation of ballparks that meld traditional design with modern amenities.
The project will include video and text reporting by student journalists. The Povich Center will publish these stories online at a "ballpark history" site, which will be the most complete telling yet of the Camden Yards story and will be accessible to all — casual readers, sports fans and urban historians included.
The Lucchino Family Foundation is establishing the fund in memory of Lawrence “Larry” Lucchino, who served as Orioles president from 1988 to 1993 and later as president of the San Diego Padres and Boston Red Sox. It is one of the first grants to be made by the Foundation, which was established after Larry Lucchino's death in 2024.
“The Lucchino Family Foundation is thrilled to support the Camden Yards oral history project at the Povich Center,” said Frank Lucchino, chairman of the Foundation’s Board of Trustees. “It is a way for us to honor Larry’s legacy as well as the vision, dedication and hard work of all those involved in the creation of Oriole Park at Camden Yards.”
Povich Center Director Mark Hyman and retired Merrill College faculty member Sandy Banisky are co-editors of the project, with Povich Center Assistant Director Kate Yanchulis at Merrill College Broadcast Production Lecturer Nathan Stevens contributing. At The Baltimore Sun, Hyman, a sports reporter, and Banisky, a politics reporter and editor, covered the legislative, design and construction aspects of the ballpark in the 1980s and 1990s.
“We're grateful to the Lucchinos,” Hyman said. “Their gift helps us preserve the stories of key participants, including Larry Lucchino, whose vision created a groundbreaking ballpark. It also supports a fundamental goal of the Povich Center — to provide opportunities for our students to report on sports while covering complex issues beyond sports.”
The impact of Camden Yards, home of the Orioles since 1992, has been seismic, extending far beyond Baltimore and Maryland. Watching a baseball game in a major league ballpark has changed in ways that can be credited directly to the Baltimore experiment. Denver, Cleveland, San Diego, Pittsburgh and San Francisco followed Baltimore’s example by building downtown, baseball-only parks, and by mixing history and tradition with modern conveniences.
For more information, contact Kate Yanchulis, assistant director of The Shirley Povich Center for Sports Journalism (katerp@umd.edu).
About The Shirley Povich Center for Sports Journalism: The Shirley Povich Center for Sports Journalism prepares students to be innovators and leaders in all facets of sports media. The center's unique, experiential curriculum and public programs elevate and amplify discussion of race, gender, politics and the world — just as Shirley Povich did each morning in The Washington Post.