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Robinson's daughter to visit Rangers

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Manager Ron Washington will take part in the pregame ceremony that features Jackie Robinson's daughter. (Matt Slocum/AP)

By T.R. Sullivan / MLB.com

04/08/09 9:45 PM ET

ARLINGTON -- Sharon Robinson, daughter of the late Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson, will be a guest of the Rangers in pregame ceremonies honoring Dallas fifth grade student Adam Gaona on Thursday afternoon.

Rangers manager Ron Washington will also take part in the ceremonies before Thursday's game with the Indians.

Gaona, a fifth-grader at Peak Academy in Dallas, is one of nine national winners in last year's Breaking Barriers: In Sports, In Life essay contest. Ganoa wrote on his father, Adam Sr., who is serving with the United States Army in Iraq.

"He wrote how he was going to have to be the dad because his father was serving in the Army in Iraq," Rangers vice president Norm Lyons said. "He wrote how he was going to have to help his mother and do well in school while his dad is in Iraq."

Adam Sr. has received leave from Iraq and will be at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington to participate in the ceremonies.

There were 8,000 entrants in the essay contest that recognizes students for their efforts to overcome personal barriers using the values of Jackie Robinson, who broke baseball's color barrier in 1947.

The contest is part of the Breaking Barriers: In Sports In Life program, a multi-curricular character education program developed by Major League Baseball and Scholastic Inc, and directed by Sharon Robinson.

T.R. Sullivan is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.