William G. Nunn III, who played Radio Raheem in Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing, has passed away of leukemia at the sadly early age of 63.

Nunn’s name is, or should be, very familiar to historians of black baseball, because his grandfather, the original William G. Nunn, was the longtime managing editor of the Pittsburgh Courier as well as a sportswriter. His “Diamond Dope” column from the Courier in the 1920s is an important source on Pittsburgh’s black baseball scene in those years, including the early Homestead Grays. Nunn Sr.’s writing helped preserve memories of the Pittsburgh Keystones and the Hill District’s first Negro league stadium, Central Baseball Park.

Check out the very first edition of “Diamond Dope,” from May 30, 1925: