Campus News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Oct. 16, 2024

ROCKFORD, ILL.- Author Barbara Gregorich will present “Design, Luck, and the Rockford Peaches: All Things Are Connected,” on Wednesday, Oct. 23 at 7 p.m. in Fisher Chapel.

Fisher Chapel is located on Rockford University’s campus at 5050 E. State St. in Rockford, Illinois.

Gregorich is the author of the 1993 book, Women at Play: The Story of Women in Baseball.

Women at Play was published in 1993, receiving a boxed review in the Sunday New York Times. It was awarded the Society for American Baseball Research-MacMillan Award for best baseball research of the year. In 2017 Women at Play was brought back to popular attention when Francis Ford Coppola (in a NY Times Book Review), asked the question of which book readers would be surprised to find on his shelf, answered: “Women at Play: The Story of Women in Baseball, by Barbara Gregorich.” In September 2024 Gregorich was honored with the SABR Dorothy Seymour Mills Lifetime Achievement Award.

While writing baseball novels and nonfiction, Gregorich also worked as a freelance educational writer and editor, creating more than 100 activity books for various publishers; writing a series of Start to Read books; writing early readers (Waltur Buys a Pig in a Poke and Waltur Paints Himself into a Corner); and writing BrainQuest cards and workbooks.

In this presentation, Gregorich will speak about how and why she decided to research women baseball players and how her research for the historically significant, but always elusive, Maud Nelson led her across fifty years and half of the US—inevitably culminating with Rose Gacioch and the magnificent Rockford Peaches.

Forum Series

The Rockford University Forum Series presents speakers in a variety of disciplines who have achieved success both nationally and locally, and performers of stature in the arts. The Forum Series’ central programming focus is geared toward students, while also seeking to connect the campus to the local community. Lectures and performances are concerned with intellectual, social, and cultural matters of general interest to deepen and broaden students’ education at Rockford University and enhance the rich culture of Rockford.

Forum Series presenters and events cover a broad spectrum of scope and genre. Events have included the Tibetan lamas from Drepung Loseling Monastery and their creation of a mandala—a sacred sand painting; Holocaust survivor Zev Kedem, the compelling speaker who worked with Steven Spielberg on the movie Schindler’s List; Oscar Arias, former president of Costa Rica and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on a Central American Peace Plan; quadriplegic Olympic bronze medal rugby player Mark Zupan; film documentarian Barbara Martinez Jitner, who produced “La Frontera;” Davar Ardalan, author of “My Name is Iran;” and traditional University events like the President’s Opening Convocation, Charter Day Convocation, and theater productions.

International Women’s Baseball Center

At IWBC, education is the cornerstone of our mission to protect, preserve, and promote all aspects of women’s baseball, both on and off the field. IWBC’s administrative offices are located at Rockford University. For more information on events and programs, visit iwbc.org.

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This event is open to the general public and the RU community. Local media is invited to the Rockford University campus to cover this event.

We kindly ask the media to RSVP to this event. To RSVP, please contact Sara Myers at SMyers@rockford.edu by Oct. 22 at 5 p.m.

Contact:

Sara Myers

RU Marketing & Communications

smyers@rockford.edu

815.394.5052