A Professional Start

" The way I got to play with the Nashville Cubs was through the Baltimore Elites; because the guy who owned the Cubs used to be the secretary for Tom Wilson of the Elites. He broke away and got his own team in the Southern League. All these guys lived in Nashville. I was supposed to play with the Baltimore Elites in 1946, but Tom died. So Dr. Jackson knew that so he asked me to play with him since I was already going to T.S.U. He would come and get me when school was out.

One time he took me to Atlanta to play the Atlanta Black Crackers. That day I remember well cause we played at DeLeon Park and they had three tiers of signs and I hit a homerun over the second tier of signs.

Above: Ponce DeLeon Park

My mother told them to have me back in time so I could go to school on Monday, and the game I am talking about was on a Sunday. Being a doctor, Jackson had this Lincoln and drove me back home himself. I think Dr. Jackson was the first black, to have a Lincoln with a telephone in his car."