Banquet

Keynote Speaker

Bob Kendrick

President of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum

Please Join Us

Central Iowa FCA Annual Banquet
Airport Holiday Inn
Sunday, May 1, 2022 at 6 PM
Doors Open at 5 PM


Welcome Bob Kendrick

Bob Kendrick was named President of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (NLBM) in March 2011. Founded in 1990, the NLBM is the world’s only museum dedicated to preserving and celebrating the rich history of African-American baseball and its profound impact on the social advancement of America.


Stewarding one of America’s most meaningful stories, Bob’s appointment as President marked a celebrated return to the NLBM after a 13-month departure. He became the museum’s first Director of Marketing in 1998 and was named Vice President of Marketing in 2009 before accepting the post as Executive Director of the National Sports Center for the Disabled-Kansas City in 2010. Bob is responsible for the museum’s day-to-day operations and the development and implementation of strategies to advance the nonprofit’s mission. Since rejoining the NLBM in 2011, he has helped orchestrate a nearly $20 million turnaround that made possible the NLBM regaining its vitality and financial stability.


Kendrick began his association with the NLBM as a volunteer during his 10-year newspaper career with The Kansas City Star. As senior copywriter for The Star’s Promotions. Department, he won numerous local and regional advertising and marketing awards. He developed the advertising concept and campaign that helped attract more 10,000 people to see the debut of the Museum’s first traveling exhibit in the summer of 1993. The success of that promotion led to an appointment to the museum’s Board of Directors in the fall of ‘93.

In his nearly five years on the Museum’s board, Bob served as Secretary/Treasurer and chaired the Membership and Event Planning committees. He was co-chairman of the Museum’s grand-opening gala celebration that attracted nearly 2,000 people to Bartle Hall in November of 1997 and raised more than $500,000 in support of the NLBM.


Kendrick has been responsible for the creation of several signature museum educational programs and events including the Hall of Game which annually honors former Major League Baseball greats who played the game in the spirit and signature style of the Negro Leagues. And while he doesn’t fashion himself to be a historian, Bob has become one of the leading authorities on the topic of Negro Leagues Baseball history and its connection to issues relating to sports, race and diversity. He has been a contributing writer for “Ebony Magazine” and the national Urban League’s “Opportunity Magazine.”


In 2009, The Kansas City Globe named Bob to the paper’s list of “100 Most Influential African-Americans in Greater Kansas City.” In January 2014, he was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. In 2020, the Kansas City Call newspaper named Bob the “Person of the Year”. In 2021, he was bestowed honorary doctorate degrees from Judson University and William Jewell College.


A native of Crawfordville, Ga., Bob received a basketball scholarship to attend Park College (Parkville, Mo.) in 1980 and earned a B.A. degree in Communications Arts in 1985.



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