When WTAE news anchor Mike Clark made his pitch for a documentary on Negro Leagues slugger Josh Gibson, he was not expecting a changeup from Albert C. Labriola, acting dean of Duquesne University's McAnulty College.

"He said, 'I'm not going to give you a few thousand dollars' and I thought, 'Darn!' " Clark recalled.

"Then he said, 'I'm going to give you a lot more than that. ... This is the kind of story that I want our students to pursue.' "

And so 11 students working under Clark, an adjunct journalism professor, and Dr. Dennis Woytek, an assistant professor in multimedia arts, began work on "Josh Gibson: The Legend Behind The Plate." The hour-long video will premiere at 4 p.m. Tuesday in Duquesne's Power Center Ballroom.

The professors and students traveled to Gibson's birthplace in Buena Vista, Ga., the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Mo., the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., and the Washington Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., where a statue of Gibson was unveiled.

"The best part is that they had a chance to cover all aspects of Josh's career except Latin America," said Sean Gibson, his great-grandson and executive director of the Josh Gibson Foundation, which helped with the documentary and will benefit from sales of the DVD.

"This was a chance for the kids to walk in the footsteps of Josh, who provided a foundation for Jackie Robinson and all of the black players that followed," Clark said, noting that Gibson died three months before Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball.

Labriola, who provided funding for the documentary, also did not live to see the results of his efforts. He died March 11 at age 69. The documentary is dedicated to him, Clark said.

For more information on "Josh Gibson: The Legend Behind The Plate" and the premiere, call 412-396-1311.

-- Kevin Kirkland

Looking for more from the Post-Gazette? Join PG+, our members-only web site. You'll get exclusive sports content, opinion, financial information, discounts from retailers and restaurants, and more. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.