Chats with Champions is proud to present Ed Rice on Tuesday, July 26 at 10 a.m. in the Porter Meeting Hall of Skidompha Library. Rice is the author of “Baseball's First Indian: The Story of Penobscot Legend Louis Sockalexis.”

Born in 1871 on Maine's Penobscot Indian reservation and nephew of a chief, Louis Sockalexis became professional baseball's first Native American player. Ultimately, his prowess on the diamond inspired the name of Cleveland's baseball team, since changed from the Indians to Guardians.  Rice will present a talk to raise awareness of the Louis Sockalexis Monument Organization, a nonprofit dedicated to building a monument in Maine to honor the athlete.

Exploring the brilliant but too-brief major league career of the "Deerfoot of the Diamond," Baseball's First Indian follows Sockalexis's rise to the majors, his fall to the minor leagues of New England, and his final return to the reservation in Maine, where he continued to coach baseball and work as an umpire.

Ed Rice grew up in Bangor, Maine, and has been an arts critic for the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram, Maine Times, and Maine Public Broadcasting System’s “Maine Things Considered.” He has taught journalism and communication studies at several colleges, as well as taught high school English and coached cross-country. An avid long-distance runner who has completed 27 marathons (including eight Boston Marathons), Rice created Bangor’s popular Terry Fox 5K in 1982 and directed the charity event for over 20 years. In 1997 he ran across the state of Massachusetts (162 miles in seven days) in support of a research fund to help end ALS. Rice also edited If They Could Only Hear Me, a collection of personal essays about the fight against ALS. His latest book, “Robin Emery: 50 Years of Flying Shoes,” a biography of one of Maine’s pioneer female runners, was published by Down East Books in March. He lives with his wife, Susan, in New Brunswick, Canada.

Chats with Champions is a free community offering from Skidompha Library at 184 Main Street, Damariscotta. Sherman’s Maine Coast Book Shops generously sponsors this program. For more information, please get in touch with the library at 207-887-0919.