Curtis Granderson

CTL-E-6817 · Person · other · contemporary

VERIFIED evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)

Combined Graph record U-07689 · provenance: build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-6817.

Curtis Granderson Jr. (born March 16, 1981, in Blue Island, Illinois) is a former major-league outfielder whose Chicago roots run through the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), where he became one of the most decorated student-athletes in the university's history. UIC, named here as a source, records that Granderson roamed the outfield for the Flames from 2000 to 2002, was named Horizon League Player of the Year as a junior in 2002 after setting single-season program records, graduated with a degree in business administration and business marketing, and was inducted into the UIC Athletics Hall of Fame in 2008, with his number 28 retired in 2013. The Missouri Valley Conference corroborates those UIC records and notes his selection by Detroit in the third round of the 2002 draft and a sixteen-year major-league career across seven teams, with three All-Star selections. UIC also records his $5 million donation to fund Curtis Granderson Stadium and his 2016 Roberto Clemente Award, honoring sportsmanship and community contribution — a Chicago alumnus who built a ballpark for the next generation in his own city.

The record

• Also known as: Curtis Granderson Jr., The Grandyman, The Grandy Man

Notes

Sports Encyclopedia roster CTL-SPE-0282 (cross-ref restored at head assembly from s1-selection.json; the build lane's assignment excerpt had omitted the number). Firsts disposition: no roster 'first' is asserted. Verification basis: two-plus independent institutional sources (UIC and the Missouri Valley Conference) — UIC is the authoritative source for the alumnus claim that anchors this record's Chicago link. Born in Blue Island, Illinois (not the City of Chicago), so no 'from Chicago' locality edge is emitted. Curator's Judgment (DRAFT): Granderson closes the set in the present tense — a UIC product whose philanthropy literally built Chicago baseball infrastructure. Photo: HELD at build-lane stage (the lane's Commons route timed out); CLEARED by the head at assembly via the Commons API — see media layer.

Referenced by

• University of Illinois Chicago — has alumnus → this record

Sources

• University of Illinois Chicago. "UIC baseball legend Curtis Granderson inducted into Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame." UIC Today. Accessed 2026-11-03. https://live.today.uic.edu/uic-baseball-legend-curtis-granderson-inducted-into-missouri-valley-conference-hall-of-fame/ (primary source · build store)
• Missouri Valley Conference. "Curtis Granderson (2024) - Hall of Fame." Accessed 2026-11-03. https://mvc-sports.com/hof.aspx?hof=153 (build store)
• UIC Athletics. "Curtis Granderson Wins Prestigious Roberto Clemente Award." UIC Flames. Accessed 2026-11-03. https://uicflames.com/story.aspx?filename=baseball-curtis-granderson-wins-prestigious-roberto-clemente-award&file_date=10%2F28%2F2016 (build store)

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Record CTL-E-6817 · Combined Graph record U-07689 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 3 sources · 1 mapped relationship.
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Researched and maintained by the CultureTechLens research program · CultureTechLens Combined Graph, Release 2026-11-04. Corrections are public: the corrections log.

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