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ALUMNI PROFILE

The Beat Goes On

Beat legend Jack Kerouac ’44 was born in Lowell, Mass., and in 1942 was a sports writer for his hometown newspaper, The Lowell Sun. On August 22, the minor league Lowell Spinners paid tribute to their native son by giving the first 1,000 fans to attend a game against the William-sport Crosscutters a Jack Kerouac bobblehead doll, depicting the author holding a pen and notebook and standing atop a book. To the delight of Jon Goode, media relations director for the Spinners, the event received widespread media coverage, with notes in appearing in Sports Illustrated and The New York Times. “We had a lot of fun with it,” said Goode, noting that fans began to line up at 11:30 a.m. for the 5:30 p.m. game in order to be assured of receiving the Kerouac bobblehead.

Goode wanted to bring to the ballpark the original manuscript of On the Road, but was told it was too expensive to travel. When he found out that Hillary Hollady of the English department at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell also had requested to borrow the manuscript and been denied, he decided to meet with her to find an alternative way to honor Kerouac. At first, Hollady was skeptical of the bobblehead idea, but when Goode explained how popular the collectibles are in the sports world, she agreed to co-sponsor the event.

“Not everybody gets a bobblehead doll. It’s a big honor,” noted Goode.

A.S.

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