Alum Brings Journalism to Kids in Award-Winning Documentary

Burton Rocks '94 (right) with his parents, Lawrence and Marlene Rocks. Photos by John Griffin.

As a child who suffered from severe childhood asthma, Burton Rocks '94 got an early lesson in dealing with adversity.

Spending much of his school years in hospitals, including Stony Brook, Rocks had to find ways to pass the lonely, solitary hours. One of those ways not only carved a path that enabled him to interact with his heroes but put him on a road that would lead to producing an award-winning documentary almost 40 years later.

The 30-minute film, Burton Rocks Calling, includes snippets of interviews with subjects from sports legends like Charles Barkley and Nolan Ryan to Hollywood heavyweights like Buddy Hackett and Mickey Rooney. Rocks even got rare interviews with Negro League legends Buck Leonard and Buck O'Neil, as well as a first-hand account of one of baseball's most enduring tales of folklore, Babe Ruth's alleged "called shot," from Ruth's teammate, former Yankees player and coach Frank Crosetti.

The project began in 1985 when a bored 13-year-old Rocks, confined to a hospital bed with nothing but a TV, rotary phone, and cassette deck for entertainment, decided to try to contact some of his sports heroes.

"There wasn't much to do at the hospital so I figured I'd call former Dodgers player Duke Snider," he said. "This was before the internet. I knew his real first name was 'Edwin' so I just called the operator and started asking questions to try to find him."

Incredibly, Rocks was able to track the MLB hall-of-famer's home phone number. Even more incredibly, 'The Duke' was cordial and happy to speak with the knowledgeable teenage fan, which is included in the film. Encouraged by this success, Rocks set his sights on others he admired.

Burton Rocks

"I put together a black book and I found out what hotels they stayed in," he said. "Every hotel, every team, every city, all four major sports. And I would just figure out what times would be best and call them up. For the old-timers, I would track down their home addresses and phone numbers. It was a different era. There was no social media, no internet, no cell phones. It was more genuine. You weren't trying to scam anybody, you were just trying to do an interview. I'd call them up and say I was a high school student working on a project outside of school. It was a really great experience."

Rocks conducted hundreds of interviews during the next 22 years, ending in 2007 with actor Mickey Rooney.

Years later, after compiling an impressive resume as an author and sports agent, Rocks' interest was rekindled after much of the contents of his childhood home were destroyed in a flood. To his surprise, he learned that his mother, Marlene, had saved his recordings.

"When I asked her why she saved them, she said 'one day they're going to be valuable,'" said Rocks. "She didn't mean monetarily valuable, but valuable as a source of inspiration for other people going through adversity. She thought it was a great story, especially considering it started with a rotary phone in a hospital room."

After sitting on the project for 15 years, Marlene Rocks' words became the impetus to finally forge ahead with the rare recordings. Further inspiration and encouragement came from his cousin David Dortort, a Hollywood screenwriter and producer of the long-running TV western Bonanza, to whom the film is dedicated. Funding the project himself with help from his parents, Rocks hired family friend Bob Holtzman, an award-winning sports journalist as producer, and Burton Rocks Calling was born.

As is often the case, mom knew best; the documentary that almost never happened has won awards at WorldFest Houston, Oniros, International Filmmaker Festival of New York, and the Toronto Documentary Feature and Short Film Festival.

Rocks says that while his subjects were gracious, it's a process that could never be duplicated today.

"The fans can't get close now, today's athletes are only around accredited media," said Rocks, who was inspired by publications like the Sporting News and the Saturday Evening Post. "I would like to see Major League Baseball and the players association work together and have a kid's journalism day where they can meet and talk to their heroes. It will give them respect for the profession. If organizations did that, I think they'd see a future generation of kids that have a love of journalism and writing."

He hopes his movie can be just as inspiring.

"I hope it brings back the love of interviewing. I hope it helps bring back a desire for real journalism."

Extending his effort to reach out to children, Rocks and his father - author, chemist, and sports chemistry innovator Lawrence Rocks - created a YouTube channel called Larry's Big Adventures, which will feature animated cartoons highlighting the scientific work of the elder Rocks.

"They're science cartoons, all based on my father's patents and life work," said Rocks. "This brings hard science to kids in a digestible two-minute format."

As with his earlier interviews, Rocks said the inspiration came from his days in the hospital as a child.

"I used to love to watch cartoons in the hospital," he said. "I learned to draw with an IV in one hand. The first thing I ever drew was Mickey Mouse, and then I drew Bugs Bunny. I always associated cartoons with kind of an escape to the outside world. So I thought, 'how great would it be if I'd be able to one day create cartoons for kids?'"

Three cartoons have been completed so far, and Rocks plans to produce one per month.

"Kids are intelligent. If you explain something like antivirals, for example, they will understand if it's in bite-sized pieces, and they'll retain it just like I did." Rocks said. "We're not trying to monetize this, we're trying to show children what is possible."

Rocks entered Stony Brook University Honors College as Chemistry major, intending to follow in the footsteps of his dad, and he loved being in the lab. Unfortunately, the lab didn't love him.

"I remember having an asthma attack triggered by formaldehyde and having to go straight to the hospital," he said. "I remember my dad coming to the hospital saying 'you can keep on this path but if you want to live, I wouldn't recommend it.' Journalism was not my first choice, I wanted to be another Dr. Rocks. But this was the best I could do. The Honors College was a catalyst for my writing career and Stony Brook was the perfect fit for me. It opened the doors that I would go through later on."

- Robert Emproto

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