Game Changers: Bobby Grier

Fredricka Whitfield (moderator) is an award-winning CNN anchor and is based in the network’s world headquarters in Atlanta. Whitfield anchors CNN Newsroom with Fredricka Whitfield, airing weekends on the network.

With an award-winning broadcast career that spans more than 30 years, Whitfield’s reporting ranges from covering stories from the Cuban-Haitian refugee crisis in the 90s, to the 2000 Bush-Gore presidential race and recount, the Kosovo War refugee crisis, the Afghanistan War and start of second Iraq War, the 2008 Inauguration of President Barack Obama, the Atlanta, Beijing and London Olympic Games, the 50th anniversary of Voting Rights Act in Selma Alabama, the Presidential primary races and National Conventions. Breaking news coverage includes domestic and international stories, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Whitfield is a great benefactor of early life exposure to global living and awareness. Born in Nairobi, Kenya thanks to her Olympic-medalist dad who became a career U.S. diplomat for more than 30 years, Whitfield lived, learned, and continues to appreciate the values of cultural diversity, awareness, compassion, and appreciation. She also lived in Somalia as a child and France as a college exchange student.

Prior to joining CNN in 2002, Whitfield was a correspondent for NBC News and served as an Atlanta-based correspondent for NBC Nightly News, The Today Show and Dateline NBC.

Before her time at NBC, Whitfield was a reporter and anchor at WPLG-TV in Miami, an evening anchor for News Channel 8 in Washington, D.C., and a general assignment reporter at KTVT-TV in Dallas as well as at WTNH in New Haven, Conn. She began her professional career as a reporter and morning anchor for WCIV in Charleston, S.C.

Whitfield has garnered multiple awards and honors for her broadcasting. In 2000 she earned an Emmy award nomination for long form storytelling, while other notable awards include the 2002 Howard University School of Communications Alumna of the year, 2004 Alfred I. DuPont Award winning team for CNN’s coverage of the tsunami disaster in Southeast Asia, 2005 George Peabody award for the network’s live coverage of Hurricane Katrina and aftermath, 2005 Ebony award for Outstanding Women in Marketing and Communications, 2007 Emmy award for outstanding live coverage of a breaking news story long form, 2008 NAMD Communicator of the year, 2008 Howard University postgraduate achievement in the field of Journalism, and 2009 NYABJ long form feature. Whitfield was also a part of the network’s Peabody Award winning coverage of the 2010 Gulf Oil Spill and the 2011 Arab Spring. In 2017 Whitfield was nominated for a NAACP Image Award as Outstanding Host in a Talk or News/Information Series, in 2018 she was named one of Ebony’s Power 100, and in 2019 was named an 60th Anniversary Honorary Board Member of Alvin Ailey Dance Theater. In 2023, Whitfield was named the Women’s Media Center‘s Pat Mitchell Lifetime Achievement Award winner.

Whitfield earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Howard University.

Samuel W Black is the director of the African American Program at the Heinz History Center. He is a former President of the Association of African American Museums (2011-2016) and served on the Executive Council and the Advisory Council of the Association for the Study of African American Life & History (ASALH) as well as the program committee of the American Alliance of Museums. Black is a member of the Afro-American Historical & Genealogical Society of Pittsburgh and the former vice president of the ASALH Dr. Edna B. McKenzie Branch. He serves on the board of directors of the International Black Business Museum. He is the recipient of the Dr. John E. Fleming Award of the AAAM in 2016, a 2018 graduate of the Jekyll Island Management Institute of the Southeastern Museums Conference (SEMC) and a 2019 Fulbright Germany Transatlantic Seminar Curator of the Smithsonian Institution and Leibniz Association of Germany.

Black is the curator of award winning exhibitions, “Soul Soldiers: African Americans and the Vietnam Era” America’s Best Weekly: A Century of the Pittsburgh Courier” “From Slavery to Freedom” and “The Vietnam War 1945-1975” (2019). He is the curator of African American historical and cultural content at the History Center and Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum.

Black is the editor of “Soul Soldiers: African Americans and the Vietnam Era” (2006) and co-author of “Through the Lens of Allen E. Cole: A Photographic History of African Americans in Cleveland, Ohio” (2012) and editor of “The Civil War in Pennsylvania: The African American Experience” (2013).

Rob Grier Jr. is the son of Bobby Grier and serves as the driving force behind preserving and amplifying his father’s groundbreaking legacy. As a storyteller, caregiver, and community builder, Rob Jr. has spent over a decade bringing national awareness to the pivotal role his father played in the 1956 Sugar Bowl, a defining moment in sports and civil rights history. With a background in brand development and advocacy, Rob is now leading the LF38 movement to inspire a new generation of student athletes, educators, and changemakers. His mission is clear: to honor the past, empower the present, and ensure Bobby Grier’s story becomes a timeless symbol of courage, unity, and progress.

Brandon Miree, a proud 2003 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, is an award-winning writer, director, and producer whose work bridges the realms of entertainment and influence.

After beginning his college football career at the University of Alabama, Miree transferred to Pitt and was the Panthers’ leading rusher his final two seasons. He was named the Offensive Most Valuable Player of the 2002 Insight Bowl, leading Pitt to a 38-13 triumph over Oregon State. Miree spent three seasons in the NFL as a member of the Denver Broncos and Green Bay Packers.

As founder of Moviefield Entertainment, Miree has created critically acclaimed documentaries, emotionally resonant thrillers, and thought-provoking commercial content that have screened nationwide. Brandon’s projects have earned recognition on the festival circuit and praise for their authentic storytelling, cultural depth, and cinematic style. His documentary work explores legacy, mental health, and social impact, while his narrative films delve into character-driven drama, suspense, and comedy. In addition to his creative output, Brandon has trained youth and U.S. military veterans in filmmaking, writing, and directing, expanding access to the industry for underrepresented voices. From the NFL to the film set, Brandon continues to redefine what it means to lead with purpose, vision, and voice.

Rob Ruck is an historian at the University of Pittsburgh, where he teaches and writes about sport. His books include “Sandlot Seasons: Sport in Black Pittsburgh” (1987), “Rooney: A Sporting Life” (2010), “Raceball: How the Major Leagues Colonized the Black and Latin Game” (2011), and “Tropic of Football: The Long and Perilous Journey of Samoans to the NFL” (2018). His documentaries, “Kings on the Hill: Baseball’s Forgotten Men” (1993) and “The Republic of Baseball: Dominican Giants of the American Game” (2006), appeared on PBS. Rob was a consultant for Viva Beisbol! and The Souls of the Game: Voices of Black Baseball, permanent exhibits at the Hall of Fame.