Page 24 - Florida Sentinel 9-21-18

Negro League Baseball Player Recalls Glory Days
Lovelace, and Floyd Youmans while coaching at the Belmont Heights Little League.
Mr. Brown still enjoys watching the game on televi- sion or listening to it on the radio. His favorite team is the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Negro League
The Negro League was a segregated professional base- ball league, creating because African Americans and some Latin Americans were not al- lowed to play in the white major or minor leagues.
It came into existence in
the mid 1800s. The first known baseball game was played on November 15, 1859, between the Henson Base Ball Club of Jamaica, Queens and the Unknowns of Weeksville, Brooklyn. The game was held in New York City.
Left to right: Raydell ‘Lefty Bo’ Maddix, Walter ‘Dirk’ Gibbons, Clifford ‘Quack’ Brown’ and Billy Felder.
Note: Mr. Brown was interviewed by Neil J. Armstrong.
As the month of Decem- ber approaches, Mr. Clif- ford “Quack” Brown looks forward to another birthday. As he approaches his 88th birthday, his activi- ties have slowed.
However, he perks up when the subject of the Negro League Baseball teams is brought up. On July 25th, Mr. Brown shared some of his memories playing in the league. He is the last surviv- ing member of the Philadel- phia Stars.
During his conversation at the gathering, Mr. Brown reminisced about his glory days playing at Shibe Park.
It had mistakenly been re- ported that Mahlon Duck- ett was the last surviving member of the team. He died in 2015.
But, Mr. Brown is here to dispute that claim. When asked how he felt, Mr. Brown said, “I’m just happy to have had the opportunity to play in the Negro Leagues and enjoy playing with and against many great players.”
While many of those lis- tening to Mr. Brown could only reference history books, Mr. Brown spoke from ex- perience and answered ques- tions that only he could answer. The following are the questions and his answers:
Question: “Who were some of your favorite team- mates?”
Answer: Pitcher Wilmer Harris, Short- stop Billy Felder, and First Baseman ND. (Nat) Davis.”
Question: “Who was the
best pitcher you ever saw?” Answer: Besides Satchel Paige, Sad Sam Jones, who I played with in the Florida State League and
the Army.”
Question: “Best hitter?” Answer: I really liked J.
B. Broom, who played briefly for the NY Black Yan- kees.”
Question: “Special memories?”
Answer: Playing with Oscar Charleston ... man he was tough. He would kick people off of our bus if they didn’t listen to him or follow the rules. He’d say, ‘I could pick up earth and throw out rain.’”
Mr. Brown also recalled playing against Willie Mays while he was with Birming- ham.
Mr. Brown grew up in Tampa and was friends with several other Negro League players. They included Walt “Dirk” Gibbons, Billy Felder, Billy Reed, and Raydell “Lefty” Maddix, among others.
“I grew up and was best friends with Walt “Dirk” Gibbons and Billy Felder, who both played in the Negro Leagues. Also with Billy Reed, who was a legendary baseball coach at Hillsbor- ough High School. Sadly, they’ve all passed now.”
Known as “Quack,” Mr. Brown played shortstop and second base for the Philadel- phia Stars. He is credited with playing 3 games in 3 dif- ferent towns in Virginia on a single day. Brown hit a homerun in each game.
He also coached and mentored such baseball nota- bles as Dwight Gooden, Gary Sheffield, Derek Bell, Carl Everett, Vance
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