SAN DIEGO — Reaction continued to pour in over the tragic death of actor Chadwick Boseman this weekend.
The star of the movie "Black Panther" drew crowds during his time in San Diego at Comic-Con and at movie theaters for his role. Boseman died at 43 years old Friday from colon cancer.
Anytime someone crosses their arms over their chest, it can be seen as a worldwide symbol for “Wakanda Forever” from the Black Panther film, which lost its leading star Boseman. But fans in San Diego remember him fondly.
“I just remembered the electricity in the air because so many people loved that character," said comic book fan Jerry McCormick, who owns over 5,000 comic books.
McCormick said he never missed a Comic-Con and was front and center in Hall H in 2016 for actor Chadwick Boseman's very first convention. He said he was devastated learning Boseman lost his four-year battle with colon cancer.
“It hurts to see someone so young gone and the battle you know he must've been facing, but the fact that he loved us fans so much he kept on churning out quality work,” said McCormick, also the founding president of the San Diego Association of Black Journalists.
Boseman’s film legacy includes bringing to life African American icons from Jackie Robinson to Thurgood Marshall and James Brown.
Former San Diego Charger turned Pastor Terrell Fletcher recalls meeting Boseman in 2014 at an event promoting Boseman’s film "Draft Day" opposite Kevin Costner.
"I certainly walked away feeling like 'hey, this is a good brother man, super talented and down to earth.' I remember him being very into the conversation, we laughed, and when he found out I was a former NFL football player, he was like 'whoa I'm telling you about 'Draft Day,' you should be telling me,'” Fletcher said.
San Diegan and UCSD administrator and lecturer Dr. Lawana Richmond saw "Black Panther" six times in theaters and recalls the packed out crowds in 2018.
"There's some people who would say if it doesn't make dollars, it doesn't make sense, and he showed that it makes dollars and made really great choices in terms of the roles he chose to play, showing sides of black men that needed to be presented in an authentic way,” Richmond said.
Richmond credits "Black Panther" with sparking great interest in San Diego in her Afrofuturism class and lounge.
"I'm really sorry that we have lost another black hero in his own right in terms of what he accomplished in film in such a short time, the baton has to keep getting passed forward,” Richmond said.
Chadwick died the same day Major League Baseball celebrated Jackie Robinson Day. He kept his cancer diagnosis quiet as well as his marriage to longtime girlfriend Taylor Simone Ledward.
“His legacy is going to live on. It hurts losing him, but with the comic books and movies, we can have access to him anytime we want,” McCormick said.
McCormick said both he Chadwick were South Carolina natives who attended historically black colleges, and he can't see anyone else fill the Black Panther's shoes.
"He brought so much style and grace to the role, it would just be hard to see someone else in it," he said.
Boseman's final film role is in a movie opposite actress Viola Davis, produced by Denzel Washington and based on the August Wilson play of the same name “Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.” The film does not have a release date.