Duquesne creates Clemente endowment for Hispanics

Duquesne creates Clemente endowment for Hispanics

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Pittsburgh’s Duquesne University has endowed a $1 million scholarship fund for Hispanic students to honor one of the city’s best-known Major League Baseball players, Roberto Clemente.

The school plans to award three to five scholarships this summer to incoming freshmen, who can renew the scholarships each year based on academic performance.

President Charles Dougherty says the school has struggled to attract Hispanic students. Currently only about 200 of the private, Catholic school’s 10,000 students are Hispanic.

Clemente was from Puerto Rico and died Dec. 31, 1972, when a plane he was using to take earthquake relief supplies to Managua, Nicaragua crashed into the sea.

Clemente collected exactly 3,000 hits in 18 seasons with the Pirates.

The amount of the scholarships, which will be based on merit and need, hasn’t been determined.