Leighton Pounds about his grandfather, Roy Pounds

My Grandfather

By

Leighton Pounds

Agape! My name is Leighton Jo Pounds, and the title of my project is My Grandfather; A Small Town Gift to Professional Baseball. The reasons for choosing this topic was to give you all a little look into how African Americans were treated back in the 1950’s. Another reason for choosing this topic was because I wanted to learn more about my dad’s father and his baseball career.

My grandpa, Roy Pounds, was born on November 10, 1927, in Lyons Nebraska. When he was younger, he enjoyed playing all sports. Roy moved off the farm in 1936, and at the age of 8 moved to Lyons, Ne where he resides with his wife Venita.  My grandpa had always been a very athletic person, but there was something about baseball that just stood out to everyone. But in 1949, he got an offer that would change his life forever. And that offer was a pitching position on the St. Louis Cardinals professional baseball team. He accepted that offer and received $300.00 dollars a month for five months playing baseball for the Cardinals.

Later on he had to move to Albany Georgia to play baseball for the Cardinals. When I sat my grandpa down to talk to him about this project, he told me “Living in Nebraska, we weren’t quite aware of all the segregation going on until we arrived in Georgia. We quickly felt a sense of separation. Meaning, that the African Americans had their own public restroom, restaurants, theaters, outside drinking fountains, and they rode in the back of the buses.” My grandpa also informed me that the St. Louis Cardinals had an African American groundskeeper, and an African American bus driver. They were not allowed to stay in the same hotel as the team. And when they arrived at the ball park, the African Americans were segregated from the whites once again. The African Americans had a stand along the first base line and were very much separated from the main stands.

In 1947 the Brooklyn Dodgers signed the first African American to a major league contract. And that first African American was Jackie Robinson. Fred Saigh, the owner of the Cardinals did not want any African Americans on his team, so therefore, he sold the team to August Bush in 1954. Not knowing that the Cardinals were an all white team, Bush accepted the offer. Realizing that St. Louis was 70 percent white and 30 percent African American, August immediately took that as an opportunity to produce a new team. Bush started signing African Americans and they soon had an integrated team. The St. Louis Cardinals did not sign their first African American until 1954.

The African Americans had their own league where only African Americans could play, and there was a great amount of talent among those leagues. As soon as they heard that some professional teams were sighing African Americans, the black league became almost something of the past. Therefore, after 1955 there was no segregation at the ball parks. My grandpa played for the St. Louis cardinals until he injured his shoulder in 1953.

He was dominate on the mound, and got the job done. He was nominated for Rookie of the Year, and was inducted into the Nebraska hall of fame. He later had four children, Dee, Rich, Jason, and my dad, Jerrod. Roy coached Richard, Jason and Jerrod in baseball throughout their childhood, and my dad followed in his father’s footsteps and became a pitcher. And still today, my grandpa’s dream lives through me and my pitching career. He was the person that convinced me I should start playing softball, and he was also the person who brought up being a pitcher. He has inspired me to get where I am today. He is still inspiring me to dream big, and reach for the stars. My grandpa tells me, that “All things are possible through Christ who strengthens me.”

I have truly enjoyed getting the opportunity to learn more about my grandpa and his career with some of the first African American baseball players. Thank you all very much for listening to my presentation, and I hope each and every one of you enjoyed learning about this as much as I did.