* The Jersey Connection

(And I don’t mean is in The Sopranos.)

Three sports writers are in the news:

Long-time Star-Ledger columnist Jerry Izenberg will be honored by The American Conference on Diversity for his humanitarian accomplishments at a dinner tomorrow evening in West Orange, NJ.

Izenberg, the recipient of the Associated Press Red Smith Award for Lifetime Achievement and an inductee to the National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Hall of Fame in 2000 (one of the ten Halls of Fame that have honored him), will be honored for his work as President of Newark Project Pride, an organization that served Newark youth for 29 years, providing recreation, academic advancement and exposure to the arts. The organization also awarded $1.8 million in college scholarship aid to the young people it served. Izenberg funded the organization and its scholarships through funds generated by the Pride Bowl college football game, an initiative he founded.

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Maury Allen is coming out with his 40th book, Dixie Walker of the Dodgers: The People’s Choice (University of Alabama Press). The southern-born Walker was a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers when Jackie Robinson made his debut in 1947 and reportedly led a revolt among his teammates to keep the first African-American player off the roster. Or did he? Allen, who now makes his home in Jersey, wrote the book with Dixie’s daughter, Susan. They will make an appearance at the Yogi Berra Museum in Little Falls, NJ on May 8 at 11 a.m.

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Also appearing at the museum, will be Dan Fost, author of Giants Past and Present, which “covers the team from Hall of Famers to famous goats to the heroes of tomorrow.” Fost grew up not far from the site of the YBM, in nearby Bloomfield. He’ll be there April 11 at 4 p.m.

Tagged as: Dan Fost, Jerry Izenberg, Maury Allen, Yogi Berra Museum