- Margaret D.
- Wednesday, February 03, 2021
Talent scouts once searched for players for the Negro League baseball teams on the playing fields of Columbia.
Columbians have long enjoyed watching baseball. The city fielded club teams, mill teams, school teams, Little League teams, American Legion teams, and Minor League teams such as the Comers, Reds, Mets, Bombers, and Fireflies. But did Columbia ever have a Negro League team?
Well, I was surprised to discover that in 1946 Columbia sponsored the Columbia All-Stars, a team of all-Black players that was part of the Carolina Negro League, a semi-pro league that fielded teams from North and South Carolina towns.
One of the stars of the Columbia All-Stars was Willie “Curley” Williams (pictured above), a native of Holly Hill in Orangeburg County. After the 1946 Columbia All-Stars season ended, Williams went on to play for the Orangeburg Tigers against such teams as the Durham Eagles and the Charleston Black Socks.
In 1948 Williams was recruited for the Newark Eagles, a Negro Major League team from Newark, N.J. The State newspaper reported that Eagles recruiters discovered Williams while he was playing for the Columbia All-Stars. Across the south such recruiters lured southern talent away to join the northern Negro Leagues, which may have contributed to the demise of the southern semi-pro Black teams.
One lasting legacy of the All-Stars and other Black teams was the instigation of the Negro Little League teams. Beginning in 1947, the Columbia Recreation Department and community sponsors fielded teams for Black youth including Allen-Benedict Court, Howard School, Booker T. Washington Heights, Jaggers Terrace, Blue Ribbon Taxi, Simkins Service Station, and others to play baseball games at the city parks. These games were important community events and gave young players an outlet for sportsmanship and exercise.
The Columbia Reds, the city’s Minor League team, integrated in 1954 with the addition of player Frank Robinson. And in 1955 a second Black player, Marvin Williams, joined the Reds. Thus the city's baseball team was one of the first institutions to integrate in Columbia. The Negro Little League teams played through the 1950s but lessened in importance in the early 1960s as integration continued.
Curley Williams, the Columbia All-Stars standout, played 3 seasons in the Negro Leagues and continued playing baseball professionally until 1963. Former Reds player Frank Robinson went on to a Major League career and was the first Black manager in the Major Leagues. In 1982, Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
I'm happy when a question results in a new discovery about our local history. Keep them coming.