[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 16]
[Senate]
[Page 23231]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                       TRIBUTE TO LEBANON CLOWNS

 Mr. THOMPSON. Mr. President, on June 18, 1999, Tennessee-based 
Lebanon Clowns celebrated their inaugural reunion at their Baseball 
Team Roundup in Lebanon. The Negro League baseball team gathered for 
the first time in over thirty years to reminisce about their youthful 
baseball exploits. The Clowns were a favorite among Lebanon's African-
American community as they played teams from Birmingham, Alabama, 
Pontiac, Michigan and Nashville and Chattanooga, Tennessee.
  The Negro Leagues were an integral part of American baseball history. 
A product of segregated America, it gave opportunity where opportunity 
did not exist. The teams were professional, pre-integration black 
baseball leagues in which the level of play was considered to be the 
equal of play in major league baseball. The first stable black league 
was the Negro National League organized in 1920 by Andrew ``Rube'' 
Foster. This league, as well as the recognized Negro National League--
created by Gus Greenlee in the early 1930s--and the Negro American 
League, are universally regarded as having offered the highest level of 
play among African-American players of the day.
  During the 1940s the Negro National and Negro American leagues 
reached their highest point of popularity and financial success. While 
fans dreamed of watching their stars compete in major league play, the 
eventual realization of this dream meant the end of both leagues. Some 
historians contend that the Negro Southern League and Texas Negro 
League, as well as several of the stronger independent teams during the 
1920s and 1930s, offered major league caliber play.
  The Negro National League folded under financial pressures at the end 
of the 1948 season. The Negro American League continued play into the 
late 1950s, but was no longer a stable circuit. As the talent pool of 
black baseball was absorbed into the integrated major and minor 
leagues, Negro League team owners were left without a product of 
sufficient quality to attract fans to the ballpark.
  Baseball history would not be complete without recognizing Negro 
League teams such as the Philadelphia Stars, Newark Eagles, Bacharach 
Giants, Nashville Elite Giants, St. Louis Stars, and the Memphis Red 
Sox. The Negro Leagues brought us such great players as Willie Mays, 
Henry Aaron, Satchel Paige, Smokey Joe Williams, and Jackie Robinson. 
The players and teams of the Negro Baseball League have become a 
fundamental part of American culture and are forever woven into the 
fabric of professional baseball. The surviving players, some now in 
their seventies, are still as filled today with pride and love for the 
game as they were when they were young rookies on dusty sandlots.
  So today, I pay tribute to the Negro League by recognizing the 
deceased and surviving players and managers of the Lebanon Clowns, 
Negro League baseball team:
       John Forris ``Bigclue'' Griffith; Harry ``Hammerhead'' 
     Harris, Jr.; Tommy ``Redeye'' Humes; Robert Earl ``Smiley'' 
     Smith; Gilbert ``Sunny'' Oldham; Robert Oldham; Teddy 
     ``Mutt'' Owens; Claude Britton; Bob ``Woods'' Oldham; L.D. 
     ``Zeak'' Ward.
       George McGown, Jr.; Jerry ``Foots'' Oldham, Sr.; Robert L. 
     ``Pondwater'' McClellan; Betty Lou Oldham; Bob White; Price 
     Logue; Norton Whitley; Roy L. Clark; Kenny Andrews.
       James Shannon; Lee R. Rhodes; Carl Gilliam; Lonnie Gilliam; 
     Howard Walker; Eddie Muirhead; Charles Walker; Pot Walker.
       Herman Denny; James H. Carter; Walter ``Rabbit'' Hastings; 
     Robert Pincky; Charlie McAdoo; Jelly Walker; John C. Martin; 
     Junior Donnell; Frank Simpson; Lonnie Neuble.
       Buck Hunt; Richard ``Boosem'' Owens; Elmer Draper; James 
     Turner; Arthur Turner; C.D. Woodmore; Sammy Woodmore; Mose 
     Alexander; James Harrison; Delmes Jackson.
       Thomas Tubbs; Honey Johnson; John Dockins; Charlie B. Hill; 
     Thomas Hill; Joe L. Rhodes; Fred Clark; Ramond Roberts.
       President: Thelma ``Slick'' McAdoo.
       Secretary: Anna Mae Palmer.
       Managers: Roy ``Shorty'' Catron; Odell Dockins; P.J. 
     Skeens; Tom Walker; Carl ``Bowchicken'' Rhodes.

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