Football
Lehigh football alum Alexander Buford '15 has worked on countless projects and initiatives in his five years working at MLB Network.
Nothing was more meaningful than two projects this summer.
The first aired on June 19, Juneteenth, a holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States (click here to watch). The second came just over a month later (click here to watch).
"The producer for both shows was Moses Massena, who is also a Black producer at MLB Network, and I worked with another editor in compiling the show," said Buford. "Obviously, coming off the murder of George Floyd and some of the other cultural and political issues going on, it was important to engage in dialogue during this time."
Both shows were simply conversations, but conversations that are needed to shine light on racial issues in the country.
"The Black representation in baseball has declined since the 80s and 90s and I believe there's a multitude of reasons why," said Buford. "It's important that people see this is a problem, and it's something I know Major League Baseball is working really hard to try and improve. Putting these issues out in a public space brings awareness.
"Something needs to change," he continued. "As they say, it's time to get comfortable with being uncomfortable."
Everything that's been happening around the nation has hit close to home for Buford.
"My dad was a Black man from the Bronx and my mom is a white woman from upstate New York," he said. "A really important thing for my dad was understanding the historical scope behind people of color in this country. Everyone knows slavery was bad, but what were the repercussions and why are we still dealing with issues today?"
Not one person or one thing will fix all racial issues, but every effort helps. A five-year veteran of the MLB Network, Buford was empowered to embrace a very tangible initiative.
"I believe MLB Network wanted to include me because they value me as a person of color in the building and it's relevant to my life experience," said Buford. "Social justice and equality have always meant a lot to me. I was a history and Africana Studies minor, so I definitely made it a part of my studies, but it's something I wish I was more involved in during my time at Lehigh."
At Lehigh, Buford was a wide receiver on the football team and a journalism major.
"I took a multimedia class with Professor Jeremy Littau where I learned how to edit video," said Buford. "You can tell a story in a lot of different ways. That's what sparked my interest in potentially getting into TV and video editing."
Buford gives a lot of credit to Littau for helping him along his path.
"Alex grew a lot during his time studying journalism at Lehigh, but the multimedia class he took with me is where I saw a noticeable leap forward in his interests and skills," said Littau. "He has always been a good writer, but in video, he saw an opportunity to grow his skills in new ways and embraced the power of visual stories.
"But the thing is, skills are something I can teach most people," Littau continued. "What separated Alex's work is how thoughtful his whole approach was. I told him many times he had a type of wisdom that was rare for a college student, with an ability to see nuance and apply perspective to his work."
Just a month after graduating in May of 2015, Buford's wisdom and perspective led him to MLB Network as a Broadcast Events Logger. From there, he worked his way up to Broadcast Associate, Associate Producer and now, Segment Producer.
"As an events logger, I was pulling every play from every game and categorizing them into different tags to help the editors find clips easier," said Buford. "It's an entry-level position, working late hours, but it's very critical from the production side."
A few years later as Associate Producer, Buford was involved in the production side in a more in-depth way.
"If our [on-air personalities] wanted to talk about how a player changed his swing in a two-strike count, for example, we used various forms of editing and creative work to try to emulate that point," he said. "Also, when something happened in one game, we could roll it back and play it in the control room live on air. Someone needs to play traffic control, which is what I did as EVS producer.
"It's a very hectic environment and you need to be cool under pressure."
Buford admits his experience as an athlete has helped him think on his feet and stay calm, cool and collected in stressful circumstances.
The Lehigh student-athlete experience has helped Buford in a number of other ways as well, especially now in his more leadership role as Segment Producer.
"As I've progressed, I've been doing a lot more managing of people and some of the leadership qualities I acquired at Lehigh have helped," he said. "As one of more than 70 guys on the football team, I developed an ability to lead people and help people along."
Buford knows that other people have helped him along his path, including at Lehigh. Now, he's looking to return the favor.
As Buford said, "Lehigh's journalism department is severely underrated."
Buford learned the whole spectrum of journalism, which includes the written word, visual media, social media and more.
"At first, I wanted to write and was an editor with the Brown and White," he said. "That was great, but Lehigh journalism teaches you the full scope beyond writing. My multimedia storytelling class opened the doors and gave me the skills I needed."
It's taken a lot of hard work and dedication, but Buford and the MLB Network have been a good fit.
"When you want to work in sports like I did coming out of college, you have to be willing to give up your weekends," he said. "I'm often working 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. because that's when the games are being played. It's a big sacrifice, but if you work hard enough and keep your nose to the grindstone, the blessings will come."
They certainly have for Buford.
A love for what he gets to do every day kept Buford going through long days and nights, and he's reaping the benefits.
"It has given me a lot of happiness to watch Alex's trajectory since graduation," said Littau. "I look at him as a change-maker in an industry that needs a lot of change. His involvement in the two specials MLB Network did on baseball and race are good examples. He brings skills and life experiences to projects like those, but his leadership also makes things happen."
"To be able to work in sports is such an honor," said Buford. "I don't take that for granted. I enjoy my job, which a lot of people can't say the same about theirs. They say it's not really work when you're doing something you love."
Buford also loves the unpredictability of sports. It is the ultimate reality television show.
"There's a new slate of games every day," he said. "You never know what's going to come next and you never know what you're going to be talking about or working on."
The most meaningful pieces Buford has worked on had nothing to do with a specific pitch, at-bat or inning.
It was bigger than that.
It was about equality for everyone, regardless of skin color.
"Alex has always struck me as a natural leader," said Littau. "Good ideas sometimes don't become reality unless we have leaders to know how to get others on board. It's amazing to see him have such a big impact on a critical piece of programming, one that reached a national audience at a critical time in our nation's history."
As Buford said, "The fact that MLB Network has offered us this space to have these conversations and put this awareness out there shows Major League Baseball really cares about these initiatives. The fact that they green-lighted a second show (in July) meant they were happy with the first one and wanted to keep improving in this area."
To improve in this area demands a need to, as Buford said earlier, get comfortable being uncomfortable.
"I urge people to have empathy with the Black experience in this country, trying to understand the historical scope of everything that's gone on – from the minute Black people were brought here on ships through today," said Buford. "It's important to gain a historical perspective and education to understand how one thing affects another.
"Everything is connected," he continued. "That concept was instilled in me when I was young. I would urge people to put themselves in another person's shoes and try to understand the historical background behind why we are where we are today."
Through his work at MLB Network, Buford is helping viewers do just that.
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Telling a Meaningful Story - Lehigh University Athletics
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