Sports

Darden grid stars!

Wilson Daily Times, 20 September 1950.

  • William White — in the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 614 Green Street, George C. White, 41, hotel cook; wife Jane, 38, hotel laundress; and children Hampton, 3, William, 6, Margurite, 14, and Lucile, 4. In the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: William H. White, 15, and brother Hampton, 13.

The Trojan (1952), yearbook of C.H. Darden High School.

  • Cornelius Moye — in the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Anderson McCall, 30, mortar mixer; wife Annie L., 26, cook; and sons Feral McCall, 6; Fred Moye, 8, Cornelius Moye, 7, and William A. Moye, 5.
  • Eddie Best — in the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 406 Walnut, rented for $12/month, Aaron Best, 39; wife Estelle, 39; and children Rudolph, 14, Royce, 10, Harper and Gerald, 8, Eddie, 7, and Nannie Jean, 5.
  • Albert Cannady — in the 1940 census of Sand Hill township, Moore County, North Carolina: public laborer Albert Cannady, 35; wife Sylvan, 30; and children Lunia, 12, Harold, 9, Albert Jr., Graddick, 4, and Betty Jean, 3 months. In the 1950 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: on Lipscomb Road, Albert M. Cannady, 45, chief cook at state hospital; wife Sylvan, 43; children Albert M., Jr., 16, grocery delivery boy, Graddick, 14, and Betty J., 10; and granddaughter Amanda Farmer, 3.

The Trojan (1952), yearbook of C.H. Darden High School.

200 Negro newspapermen expected for the A.&T. game!

Wilson Daily Times, 30 September 1939.

The Daily Times predicted hundreds of pressmen for a match-up between A.&T. and Virginia Union at Wilson’s Municipal (later Fleming) Stadium in October 1939. White fans were expected, too, and “the grandstand will be divided, the third base line half for white spectators and the first base section of the stands for colored fans.”

Rest in power, Fred Valentine.

My chosen family lost yet another patriarch in the closing days of 2022. Fred L. Valentine Sr. passed away in Washington, D.C., on December 26, surrounded by family. An outfielder for the Washington Senators and Baltimore Orioles, “Uncle Fred” spent a stand-out summer with the Wilson Tobs in 1958, where he met his future wife, Helena Smith, and demanded desegregation of the whites-only section of Fleming Stadium after the “colored section” collapsed under an overflow crowd of African-American fans.

The Valentines became close friends of my parents and, as I wrote here, their children were “play cousins” of my sister and me. I honor Fred Valentine’s memory, and send love to his beloved wife, daughters, son, and grandson.

Fred Valentine as a Tob. Photo detail courtesy of North Carolina Baseball Museum, Wilson.

The Stantonsburg Hawks.

Wilson was not the only county town to field an African-American semi-pro baseball team. From 1945 into the late 1970s, the Stantonsburg Hawks successfully traveled neighboring counties for play.

John Lee Woodard (1917-1995) was the team founder, and players throughout its history included his son Willie Woodard, Ernest Hall and son Ernest D. Hall, Frederick Brown, Johnnie Streeter, Roy Lee Pender, Marvin R. Artis, George Artis, Tommy Rogers, Nathaniel Green Jr., William Sutton, Henry Revelle, Carter Knight, Raymond Mackey, Marvin Sessoms, Levy Daniel Jr., Melvin Hodges, Cleveland Leach, Joseph Green, Julius Green, Theodore Ward, Douglas Artis, Melvin Artis Jr., George Atkinson, and Ronnie Diggs.

I am trying to identify the Hawks’ earliest players, teammates of John L. Woodard. Do you know of anyone who played baseball with them in the 1940s?

I recognize three men in this photo — Ernest D. Hall seated at front left; Willie Lee Woodard (son of John L. Woodard, front row with glove on ground); and George Artis, second in second row. Who do you see?

[Update: Marvin Sessoms is in the middle of the front row; Johnnie Streeter is at far right in that row; and Ernest Hall Jr. (father of Ernest D. Hall) is standing third from left.]

Thanks to Tiyatti Speight for bringing this team to my attention and for the copy of this wonderful photo. Thanks as well to all the people of Stantonsburg who helped identify the players!

Trojan players ready for Homecoming game.

Wilson Daily Times, 26 October 1950.

  • David Smith — in the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: redrying plant laborer Bertha Smith, 36, widow, and son David, 8.
  • Leo Dancy — in the 1940 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: John Dancy, 44; wife Pennie, 39; children Evangline, 20; Lovie, 18; R.J., 15; Olie, 11; and Mildred, 8; and [grandson] Leo, 5.
  • Harold Darden — in the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: John H. Darden, 44, hotel bellhop; wife Estelle N., 43, laundry presser; and children William M., 20, cook and butler, Mildred, 18, receptionist at photography studio, and Harold C., 16.
  • Henry Simms
  • Eddie Best — in the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 406 Walnut, rented for $12/month, Aaron Best, 39; wife Estelle, 39; and children Rudolph, 14, Royce, 10, Harper and Gerald, 8, Eddie, 7, and Nannie Jean, 5.