Unknown Speaker 0:06 Welcome to a pixie from Kilmarnock, a program about the people, places and history of the Northern Neck. I'm your host pixie E. Curry. In 1969, Brook real high school in segregated black school in Lancaster County, Virginia won the state group to district for baseball championship. Members of the team included Melbourne Harris, William Lee braid L. Thompson. Wilbert Leigh, Elwood Henderson, Frank Carter, Donald Saunders, Theodore Thomas, Moselle Carter, Wardell Carter, Stanley Gaskins, Dean Nickens, Ronald Smith, Stanley Fontenoy, Irvin Coleman, James Carter, Jesse Davenport, and Wardell vini. The head coach was Maurice the boy assistant coaches were Richard Ruffin and Walter Webb and manager Maurice Jones. I would like to introduce you to Jesse Davenport, a member of that team. April 2021, the Brookville team was finally recognized for their achievements. I interviewed Jesse that follow me May of 2021 Unknown Speaker 1:35 Jade Davenport born in 1952 Lancaster County, Unknown Speaker 1:39 well part of Lancaster let's be real. There's a game on Facebook is the strangest names that you have ever heard from, from small towns and nutfield made cut. Unknown Speaker 1:52 I'm sure it did. Unknown Speaker 1:55 It made cut. Jesse, what is your present occupation? Unknown Speaker 2:01 I'm retired. I was working for this company called best way a rental home type business go out pick up payments, and if people didn't have the money I had to Unknown Speaker 2:12 that's a tough position to be in. You're doing your job. But you what you're bleeding inside the Oh yeah. You went to Brookvale High School. What was your? What was the first school that you went to? Your Elementary? Okay. Unknown Speaker 2:31 Okay, I went to New Middle School that's down in Mola, Molas Virginia, I went there from the first first grade to the seventh grade, and then graduated from seventh grade. And then you go to Brook Bale, and Brookfield had from the first grade to the 12th grade. But when I left most, I was going to the eighth grade and I, honestly, from the eighth grade to the 10th grade, and when I passed to be a junior, they we integrated, Unknown Speaker 3:05 what was your first job? Unknown Speaker 3:08 First job. My first job, I guess I could was say, picking tomatoes, or helping the farmers you know, pick tomatoes and, and hauling hay, you know, you know, just just some stuff to put a little bit of money in my pocket. And most of the kids in the community was doing the same thing, you know, picking tomatoes or pulling weeds out of fields and everything. But that was that was a that was about it. Unknown Speaker 3:36 Who were some of your favorite teachers? Unknown Speaker 3:38 Oh, my coach, the voice really, really dictated truth. I I like all of my teachers are Miss Cassidy. Patricia Taylor, my principal Mr. Smith, you know, he was like, he was like, I'll just about a father figure. You know, he didn't play he did not play and when I see him now tell him you did not play and and he always you know, like, when you when you skip class and and I'm sure to everybody don't do that. We just kept playing you hide out in the bathroom. And you know, and when he's walking down the hall, he had a set of key that he he'd be drinking all the time. And he would let you know he's coming. So whatever you're doing wrong. You better. Stop I'm telling you right now. And you You better have an excuse for being in advance. During during class. Oh yes. He did not play. No, he did not. It was learning time. Unknown Speaker 4:50 Who was some of the people that motivated you? Unknown Speaker 4:54 Oh, my father for one My father and my mother, you know, what? When you growing up in a community everybody's, everybody's your father. Everybody's your mother if you're doing wrong, and you're out somewhere, and like, let's say my, my neighbor was see me doing wrong by time I got home. My mother knew. Oh, she knew. So there's no use lie about it. She knew. And, and not only, you know, like, nowadays, you know, you're not supposed to, I want to say beat your kid, but like, it wasn't, you know, they didn't draw blood or nothing, you know, you know, it's just, you know, you just got to you did wrong. So, like, you gotta go, you got a weapon, you know, you know, nowadays, you know, parents will go to jail for that. The only beaten that I got was from my father. All he had to do was all he had to do was drive in New York, whatever you whatever you were doing. My mother was there your father's on everything was stopped. Everything you would almost are breathing because when he woke up in the like, I tell my cousin's not our father's work hard. Don't guys went out was out in the woods cutting logs in every day. And my my father's always was just as big as my leg. He coming in house, everything that he was doing wrong. You stopped it. And all he had, he's never put a hand on it and never had to. All he had to do was look at. And that was it. That was the ballgame, saying stop. Whatever you were doing. I mean, if he was doing wrong, whatever you were doing wrong is stop right there. But my mother used to lay it on me though. Oh, yeah, we're not gonna go down. No, go down in the woods and give me a switch right now. And it better be a big one. It was too small to send you back. Go go get another one. Well, you you're like, I'm falling if you want what that did that did not go all these kids now. I won't do it. We're doing go do what you figured out you know, like, you know, like, always try to make a joke of it. But But like, all my cousin's even, you know, like, all the father used to work together. And, and they used to say, Come on, daddy get home. He looked at all man. I say well, he walking out he still you see a house full of the kids? Of course I would have had to run. Unknown Speaker 8:04 Yes, somebody was on. So yeah, so yeah, believe me. I'm in assistance. Do you have Unknown Speaker 8:11 oh, oh, three sisters. LC mer, and Dorothy Unknown Speaker 8:18 only asked because I know the girls ran after you the hardest and the longest to whip up. You've talked about Unknown Speaker 8:28 what's going on to that. You will work hard all day to Fanny. Unknown Speaker 8:35 The one huge huge achievement of about Brookfield, you know not only those teachers that you was mentioning, Miss Patricia Taylor, Miss Barbara Smith, Mr. Hearn, Mr. And Mrs. Boy, miss me, Mrs. Ernest, team, bird. And she said, Dr. Elton Smith, they were outstanding. Teachers, you know, you know, we don't even think about those people. Because you were a kid. And you know, you expected, like you said, it's learning time 1969 Brookfield won the baseball championship. Unknown Speaker 9:23 That was a year. Unknown Speaker 9:25 And you were part of that. Unknown Speaker 9:27 Yes, ma'am. And you're like when we wanted. We were all young, you know, like all we knew, was that we had won the state championship. Everybody knew that we want it so like we didn't think too much about it. But like now, you know, like Black Lives Matter. And we are told or my pastor church body. He had heard about it. And he was wondering why, why they didn't do anything. I said man at that time. We was just glad that we had wanted Unknown Speaker 10:00 What grade were you in? And what was your position? Unknown Speaker 10:04 I was in fifth grade. And I was 16. And what it was, I went out for first base. But we already had a good first baseman, but I could hit being big. And I was I was slow, you know, I could play ball, but I was slow. So he'd say, well, I need your bat in the lineup. So he put me in right field. We don't like didn't come in the balls come out right field. And that's how I started that. But he, he came to me, and he told me that, you know, you got a first baseman, but I want to put you in right field because I need your bat in the lineup. And, and we went from there. Unknown Speaker 10:50 When did you thought, you know, training and was a trial? Or do you know, was there so many people that come to come out and try to do? Unknown Speaker 11:01 Well, like, we had a real lot of guys come out? Well, like everybody that went out for the team. He wasn't going to he wasn't going to stop nobody from playing. I mean, like everybody was gonna be on the team. We started practicing. Well, really, the weather was bad at the time. So we really started practicing in the gym. And that was about, I guess, the last mark. And then when the weather got better, we were going on outside, but I think we started playing games. In April, we had our new uniforms. I don't know how they got the new uniform. But we had new uniforms. Oh, I will. Oh, I was as well. I don't make the team. Yeah. Unknown Speaker 11:50 The first year that you were on the team was the year that y'all won the state championship? Yeah. Wow. That's yeah, that's a real accomplishment. Saw. Unknown Speaker 12:05 We had a good team. And, and the main thing about it is most of the players came from Nashville. Most of whom were all cousins and stuff. And, you know, like, we used to play ball. He's against each other, or with each other, you know, from from day one, because like, you know, like, all the kids get together, you play ball, and we kind of knew each other. We, you know, we had played together and against each other for so long, but we knew each other. And about six or seven of us came from Knoxville. And then you know, like, you have some guys with wings, you know, the rest of them came from down to county. And amazing. That was, that was really the main vein and you know, the game and it just so happened that at all made a that year, we play Central. You know, We're centrally I went to North Northumberland, Unknown Speaker 13:05 I went to Central. I know. Unknown Speaker 13:06 We were big rivals. Unknown Speaker 13:08 That's what I know. Not that. Unknown Speaker 13:12 We were big rivals. Yes. And, and we played them at their meeting. And the following Saturday, they had to come down Mayday. And it was crowds of people just just waiting. What again, Unknown Speaker 13:25 Yes, indeedy. Unknown Speaker 13:28 Main Event. That was a man of yet. Unknown Speaker 13:30 neighborhood to y'all and became another thing to School team. Yeah. Yeah. What were the things that helped to make all y'all to be a team? I mean, it was all individual. Yeah. Really? Unknown Speaker 13:49 Yeah. But but the main thing was, it wasn't I it wasn't I it was weak, that we were a team. And you know, and did not want to lose. We did not see at at that time. At that time, you know, like, you know, that you had football and you had basketball. But at that time, baseball was the game. You know, everybody wanted to play baseball. And you know, like, uh, you know, and and coastal warfare, you know, that it was a coastal war. Coach rough and, and coach with Coach Webb died about three years ago. I think it was about three years ago. And, you know, they, they just, you know, like, we had, we had the talent, but we just had to have somebody to get us together. And, you know, like, they got us together and, and one of his favorite sayings was, you know, like, hit a ground ball to somebody and and I And the guy wouldn't miss the ball or the ball will hit him in his chest. He's yellow beat him ball Beat him. Beat him. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But they showed us a lot. And they really taught us how to be a thing. Cost of war. As far as I'm concerned, I had a problem with curveball. And he stopped one day, just to come in. And he said, What? What are you doing? When that ball comes? I mean, are you watching the ball? And I said, No, I will feed the pitcher head on motion, and would mess you up, see what would take your mind off of watching the ball, and you'd be looking at him. So he told me just watch the ball. Don't worry about the pitcher, don't worry about what do you do. And that's, and that's how I started out because if I could always hit a fastball, but the curveball always gave me problems. And they used to say, just watch the ball. Watch the ball. And you know, like, when you when you plan, your, you know, like, if a guy come up and get out, you know, like, you wouldn't get mad, you know, just next time, you'll get them next time. And they, they just gave us encouragement. You know, don't, don't be down on yourself. You'll get them next time. And that's odd went. That's, that's how it went. And we are good players. And they listen to the coach. They didn't know act like they knew everything. They listened to the coach. I think, I think that really does. It was just out here. Cuz like everything fell into place. Everything fell into place. Begin to deliver thing. And you see that fence, you're gonna go for that fence? How can you get across that? But the thing is, when when you got a man on base, and you got to move him over, or try to bring him in, you know, just just hit the ball, it'll go somewhere. You know, and, and, and, and hopefully it'll be an open where the guy can score, you know, you know, like, all else if he don't score, you know, you've you've moved him around closer to where he can score. You know, don't don't be trying to don't be trying to kill them all. You know, you know, although, like, you know, you can you can hit hard and everything but like, don't don't try to kill the ball. You know, just just make contact. Unknown Speaker 17:40 Tell me about the championship season. The games that you played and, and, you know, going right up to the finals. Tell me about getting there. Unknown Speaker 17:54 Okay, I can tell you okay, let me see. The first game we played. We played at Johnson. Best of the mind draw. They came to us. And we won that game. We we won the damn I'm trying to remember to score I think we beat them seven to six. That game. The following we couldn't really play a game every week. The following week. We had to go to them. They beat us 93 Okay, now, at that time we were wanting one we didn't really come together until the third game. The third game we had a scrimmage game against Lancaster high school you know and and you know now that I look back at it, you know, on one side it was all black or my other side was all white and the coach from Lancaster who was at that I would coach Boyd kid I think it was you know like usually when a game starts you throw in a new ball he would not throw in a new ball at all we played with was balls that they had been practicing with because a new ball when you hit a new ball Oh, it'll go and see an end like when we first got there and we had batting practice they saw how hard we could hit I think that that's why he's doing a new ball. But anyway, we beat them five to four but that's when things started coming together because the following week I think we play we played Richmond County and we just more of them we beat them I think 15 to one oh yes we more of them cuz like we had we had some we had three good pictures. We had we only would Reverend with somebody now. Static asking And Moselle Carter Moser caught a quick pitch to, and we had three good pitches. But everybody on the team could get. We could hit we were dangerous at that, at that time, I think that I pick up by the center at that time that we that we could hit them. We were pitching. I think that we would have gave the New York Yankees always. There you go. Yes, I do. Yes. I, I really do believe that. So then, you know, as the season went on, we Okay, would be Richmond County, then we had to go. Ethics. Okay, we are ethics came to us. One as it came to us, and I'm gonna tell you a story about that. Our biggest pillar, I told him that, that, that I was gonna mention his name, James Carter, you know, you know, he had got full of himself. You know, he was hitting the ball all over the place, you know, and like, the day of the game, he had to wear a collared shirt, and he wasn't gonna win. Okay? It was okay. So the coach said, okay, hey, what have a seat on the side. You ain't even got to put the uniform on the and he thought he thought that without him, we will all know. Well, we won. And that kind of bought him around, like I say is it's not I team, it was a weakening. Repeat as if that that game then the following week, we had to go to them. We beat them there. Then it was made a time. We went to Central we played with them. They they they beat the battle for the following week. They came to our meeting. We beat them five to four. And the thing about that game is I hit a ball. The school was I think the school was three to three at the time, and I hit a ball. And and, and to this day, I don't know where it went. All I know is yeah, all I know is that with all my weight and everything, I mean, anybody else would have made a home run. Because I hid I know I I just don't remember where it went. But we beat central fiber for the following weekend. We had to go to Richmond counties, mayday. And that was the weekend that that we won the district championship because we beat them. I think 14 to two. And that was an hour. That was a day that coast. No, that was on a Saturday. So that Monday when we went school close to Boyd said that we had to go Unknown Speaker 22:50 to play for the state championship, where we had no idea that the you know, that would that we had won the district. We had no, we had no idea. So like, I think it was that Tuesday evening, I think, you know, like, we didn't have no bus or anything. You know, like guys just hopped in their cars, you know, they take a load and it was about I think about four or five cars went on up to Petersburg. And we had to stay overnight. And the game started the next day at 10 o'clock. I think 10 o'clock in the morning. We played this team from I think they were from Bowling Green. I could be wrong, but I think they were from Bowling Green. And they had a guy pitching. This guy was about if if you know anything about baseball, this guy was about 6465 Unknown Speaker 23:40 Randy Johnson who was 610 Unknown Speaker 23:44 Okay, I know he was tall. Yes, I love that guy was tall. But the thing was the most of the pictures that we had seen that year, came over hand. This guy came side on your side, we're able to raise hands. And most of our heroes were right hand battle. So by the time he let the ball go, the ball was right edge. And by being by him going sat on it was looked like it will hit you. And you know like and we were kind of nervous about that. And everything. So it came down to we were the home team. It was the last of the seven things in the score was tied up four to four. And our last thing and I'll I'll bet it as we're coming up, man, the first guy to come up he got out. So Frank caught the third hitter. He come up, he got on base. So his brother come up. James Carter, he came up and he got on base. So so it was my turn. And the coach came to me He says, Don't be nervous, oh, I was scared to death. I was I was so nervous as long as he's just do what you do. And the guy and, and the guy was pitching. And I think he got one strike on me. But what he messed up at is that instead of coming from the side, like he was for the whole game, he came over and he threw a overhand fastball. And you know, like when you when you're in a zone, like, if you're playing, if you're playing basketball, and you shoot the ball, it seemed like the goal is, is so big that you can't miss the shot. So when he let the ball go, the ball look as big as a basketball. And I hit to this day, I don't know where it went. But all I know is that when I crossed first base, the unposted the game was over. So you know, everybody ran out on the field live that day. And, you know, I didn't know what I had done. But I was, you know, like, well, we won the game. We won the game five before. And then we played the team from Carlisle and can GW Watkins, I think. And we beat them 11 to five and that was, and that was it became one with the championship. Yeah, yeah. But that was a good year. That was a good year, is the baseball scouts had had out had come down here just looking for players, they would have found a bunch of them that he would have found, but but the scout never did come down his way. Unknown Speaker 26:49 That was the last year that Brookvale was Brookfield. Yeah. And they close it. And like I said, we had freedom of choice. Yeah, yeah. When when we had that one year of free choice, What school did you decide to go to? Unknown Speaker 27:08 Well, I really had to tell you the truth. My mother had to say, you going to grad school. So I said, Well, I gotta go Lincoln High School, didn't didn't want to go. And I think a lot of you I did not want to go I want to stay at Brookvale but you know, they was integrating and they changed bookwell over and we all had to go to lengths Well, there was some people that went on the schools but But I went to LAX some people change counties all they moved to North on like I said, I didn't want to go to lengths to high school with like, I have never I have never gone to school with white kids. You know, like I have played with him, you know, during, you know, when we were you know, playing playing basketball or something, but I had never really gotten to know them. And you know, like, and I don't know if it was a different time, six days. Lancaster do have some black people go to that school. Because they they are just one guy does all plays basketball. One black guy plays basketball here. Really he was the whole the whole team. It wasn't many, but it was a few that went to Lancaster. Everybody wants to stay at Brookfield true I still miss Brookville for as I'm concerned, I graduated from Bluebell Unknown Speaker 28:31 is is as you said there was all of this great talent. And they weren't coming to no small rule areas. No and they weren't weren't coming to black schools. Unknown Speaker 28:45 Oh no. Cuz like I started playing with the big boys with demand. When I was about 12. Then some players been I don't know if everybody everybody ever heard of him. But you have some players down here that could one of who? Roy Cox from Whitestone. He's that that man could throw a ball. I think that man could bet. And then you had guys like Marvin mole and they had just one guy from Northumberland, Junebug hill called him Junebug Hill. This guy could play it. The scouts had come down his way. They would have found a lot of players. The only player that I know of you live in a wall style. He played in the Chicago White Sox. He was on their farm team or Howard would he play professional baseball. He said that he made it to the big team one time. I think he played for about 10 years but he saw that he was getting older and nine times out of 10 He wasn't going to make it back up to the big team anymore. So so that he went on and got out of baseball but they missed out on a lot of good players. A lot of good players, baseball and basketball. They I'm saying that they they missed out on a lot of good for later, but I think I think that if, if the coaches had had known some people like in the organizations, you know, like they would have probably spent some time here. As far as I know, they never did, I think the standard guest and I think that he got a call that wanted him to come and try out with the Baltimore Orioles. I think Unknown Speaker 30:23 his brother told me that Unknown Speaker 30:24 he could pick him and when he you know, those are pitchers, you know, like, although most microfiche too, but domain two was galley. And, and we only don't guy could do it. I'm so glad I don't have to face him. Because the guy could throw, they could throw Unknown Speaker 30:45 a picture of you and Stanley, and it can afford and I think is Wilbur, me 70 or 71 is only like eight of you, and this clearly integrated team. So that mean that by this time, y'all are going to like, Unknown Speaker 31:03 oh, okay, we went to Lancaster and I didn't play the first year that we went, but I played my senior year is probably from my senior year, what year is that? That would have been 72. That would have been in 72. Because I graduated June of 72. Unknown Speaker 31:19 When you got on the team were where the changes would have differences from when he was on the team. Unknown Speaker 31:26 It was a big difference. It was the first year we went to Lancaster I didn't play the first year. So I set out the first year, the second year after after not playing baseball, you get kind of afraid of the ball. And that's kind of what happened to me when I was at Brookvale I would stay right in that box. Because you know, you got all the guys that you don't play with a major skater to bow you run away from the ball. But when I got to Lancaster, like I said like I set out that then our first year and I wasn't at my best I was still good and in the band but not like I was down in Brookfield because like you know down footwear, you know your cousin's over there, man use get her to bow you run away from the ball. But when I got to Lancaster See, I didn't have nobody to do that. Different coaches. They got different ways of coaching. Relative to the truth. I just didn't feel right about that team. And at that time, I didn't feel right about myself because I knew I was kind of afraid of the ball. I knew that I wasn't gonna get as good as I was. And I think the first game I played by last year was overturned or something and we played Yeah, it was that was our first game over there and it was I hit the ball pretty good. But as the year went on, my mind was really on graduate. And you know, like I had to hit the book. I just wasn't wasn't intuitive. Like I was where I was at. Unknown Speaker 33:03 You are listening to an interview with Jesse Devonport a member of the 1969 state baseball championship team from Brookfield High School of Lancaster County, Virginia. He was in the military also. Unknown Speaker 33:21 I was in the Marines of 7274. I wanted to sign up for two years because of my weight at that time. You could start off for two years and if you want to stay in but I got out I stayed out nine months and I went in the Army because I wanted to go overseas doing full set me straight to Germany. I will be Germany for two years. Unknown Speaker 33:40 What did you like the most about Germany? It was Unknown Speaker 33:43 you know, it was new. It was new and being a country boy you know, like you want to see things go different things and when we went it was bad bunkers from World War Two. And you know, I got to see a whole lot of this. And but but it was it was once I got over being homesick I was fine. I love all you got to be here. You sign up for it. Nobody made you sign. When I first went into service, I knew it had to be more than that. Still. It had to be you know, like when I first went into service, I had never rode a Greyhound bus. I had never flown before. I'll never fly again. But Unknown Speaker 34:27 it took 52 years to get recognition. Oh, yeah. Unknown Speaker 34:32 Yes for 252 years and and thank God that most of us are still around, you know, like we only missed three. What LVP coach where cyclonic drowned, that same, the same sum of everyone's face. We won the state championship that year, that may and he drowned. I think that June or July. He won On the 16th I tell the guys now if we had stayed at Brookfield, we wouldn't have lost but okay, Frank had died. His brother, James Carter had had graduated. But we still had the rest of the team. I do believe that we could have won the championship that that makes you to Unknown Speaker 35:19 when you were a roving teenager, what were some of the places that you used to go? To have fun? Unknown Speaker 35:26 Nobody had a car. Nobody had a car. So like, we used to be about five or six of us, you know, used to hitchhike. Well, wherever we went, we had to hit right. We used to go down to, like, on a Saturday night, they have a dance that at the Churchill's beat down the Whitestone. And then we had to hitchhike back. And you know, with, with that many guys walking, the only person that's going to stop and pick you up is if they have a truck. So most of the time, most of the time we used to, we hit it as far as we could. And then we just walk. And sometimes we used to walk all the way from Lancaster all the way home. Yeah. And that was in the dark. We wasn't worried about Nobody messes with us guys. It was about five or six hours after you don't pay that dollar quarter to get in the end of the day, and you had no money. Got somewhere and people that knew you would actually ride home. You know, we got sunrise home, but like but most of the time, we used to walk hitch I can walk. Unknown Speaker 36:32 That was a long way to Unknown Speaker 36:35 Oh, yeah. So yeah, that was a while. Oh, yes, it was in the dog. I mean, I'm talking to my dad used to be older by 12 o'clock. About 132 o'clock we walk in the dark. Yeah, that's the way it was, though. You just had to deal with it. Unknown Speaker 36:52 What do you think about the Northern Neck? You know, having places for young people to go? That's easily accessible. I mean, I know they have a entertainment complex. I don't know Irvington road. But Unknown Speaker 37:10 well, like I got, you say well, oh, well, Lucy, you've been to the new park that they got down to kilmallock. Unknown Speaker 37:20 The one desk right across from the post office Unknown Speaker 37:23 before the Vive came around, you know, like they said, gospel shows out there. Now this new place. I haven't been there yet. Because like, you know, they told me that is, it's kind of too close in there. And with the COVID thing running rampant, you know, like dicking many people go there. But like, I haven't gone there yet. I plan to take my grandkids there is still not many places to go down. Sometimes somebody will have a party, but we're just COVID thing stopped a whole lot of stuff. Not that many places to go. They got places now. You know, like we're at one time, we couldn't even go we had to go around back to get our food and all that. And it's about the sickest bunch of mess I've ever heard in my life. You know, like, we had to go around back to get our food. We couldn't get into a swimming pool and all that. I just keep my eye on everything. Cuz like, everything that looks good and good for you. has changed like you got the younger people coming up now, but you still got the old ones with them same ways and everything. They try to hide it, but they can't hide it. You can only hide for so long. But the places that we couldn't go to now that we can go to home. I don't go to I remember we had to go around back. We couldn't go inside and get our food and now they got us hootenanny. You can you're gonna have parties. If you're telling me that you're gonna have a party, for instance, leaves restaurant. Oh, yeah, I don't know. I don't know that. No, we had to go round back to get our food. I don't want them to do it. And they got a place in lively where the guy said that he used to sit on his car and watch like Unknown Speaker 39:02 the baseball field. Unknown Speaker 39:03 Now that ain't nothing going on around it. Now they tried to rent it out. I don't want anything to do with it. No, I'm not gonna give you my money. Now. You want to take my money at first, but you didn't want to treat me like a like a human being so I don't need your now. So I didn't leave him alone. He was Unknown Speaker 39:20 referencing the baseball field where y'all had the Sirmione rings that was segregated. And you it was segregated. Yeah. Unknown Speaker 39:32 We couldn't go there. We could not and by us being on that field that basically I had never been on that field. And as a long look at the field, I would have loved to have played out there but we just didn't get the chance to not get the chance to Unknown Speaker 39:45 know those little kids that was coming out. Unknown Speaker 39:49 Now, I enjoyed that. I enjoyed it because of this. This one was a white boy your fat minivan kinda He reminds me of me You so much trying to keep running? No, you will run Unknown Speaker 40:09 little girls on there and yeah, there was there was there were black and white kids. It was nice to see it was Unknown Speaker 40:19 all came back in my day. You know, like it was nothing like that. I'm glad that things have changed. Yeah, for their sake. Yeah, I'm so glad because because the little whiteboard was over and he was trying to keep what we're looking at that remind me of me so much Unknown Speaker 40:42 that was a nice day. It wasn't a nice day. It was a really it was it was it was it was a nice day. And like, I will never forget, people keep saying that. It's about time. God has a way to bring everything together. Unknown Speaker 41:01 Yeah. Because a lot of people did not know there's a lot of people who did not know they're trying to figure out why did they not announce it? Did they now have a parade you know, just something just trying just trying to understand Unknown Speaker 41:17 why they were lackluster won the state championship for basketball. Oh, they had ambulances running, sirens going police cars, leading them into Lancaster and everything. All we had was us. All we had was just, but it was a night. But it was it's about time. But it was a nice day. And I really enjoyed myself like I hadn't seen the whole team together. In years. They were having a ball. We were standing over in the dugout theater there. And we were just laughing again. I remember. We took pictures and everything. And I got my pictures up on the wall. And I looked at them every day. Unknown Speaker 42:05 And they had a really nice article in the Washington Post. It seems like you said you know, there's still people who still have those old ideas. And even those little kids that was running around, even though there were a sprinkling of black kids, you know, the majority of them were white kids. And in fact, they had little girls that was on a teams mix teams, but they had routines and girl teams, you'd be thinking, what are they learning at home, you know, what is being said around them don't make them change. And the part where we are together will still keep us apart. Unknown Speaker 42:48 I just hope that they're saying the right things around them. Because like now, my granddaughter comes from school, you know, she don't make new friends and everything. And by their name, I can tell whether they're white, or they're black isn't making a lot of white friends I made when I went to Lancaster high school. I did make a couple of good friends. I remember when the first day that we went through the white school, I was sitting outside in my yard and this guy, this white guy see him all the faculties go past the house all the time. Walter Hawk needs to drive a truck. He thought one day he said, Do you want to Lancaster as the year? This will be my first year are you playing football? And I said, I've never I played football but not on a team. And he told me to come home and ride with me and we go out for the football team. And from that day, I've been doing Walter Hawk a mouthful. I don't lie to you. I guess that's 71 I guess he's come by the house and pick me up, bring me back home and everything. And he's the one that got me out for the football team. And you know that there's a few more but like all I had to learn this, that all all white people aren't fazed by us coming up. During that time. We thought they had everything and all of them was bad and everything but all of them are bad. And I had to learn that most of them didn't have no more than what we had. But but you got to learn all that. We always thought that they had so much but but really they did. They were just as bad off as we were. When I was coming up. We were buying a house. But there was a lot of white people that was written but they had to read big houses and we thought they had so much. They had much the older ones had had put in their head that we were better than them. Now most of the white kids I started see you know like seeing the media they want to be black. I like to sit down and just lift and I began to talk and everything and now we should have been like that back in my day. But it just wasn't it just wasn't that time. Now they seem like good get along. Okay, no Phyton can own and everything. So you may be doing fine and I enjoy talking to him and everything I tell him about never forget where you came from. So I let him know like how it was back then, because I'm sure that a whole lot of them don't know. I let him know like how it was back then. And they seem to like my story is not a story. It is the truth. I'm not gonna lie to you. It's the truth, but everything will be all right. Unknown Speaker 45:20 Would that be your advice to Unknown Speaker 45:23 people? My advice as has always been this, never forget where you came from. Never, never forget where you came from. And believe even if you believe in God, you just carry yourself the way that you're supposed to carry yourself. Don't go looking for trouble just going and do what you're supposed to do. And God will bring you the rest of the way. God will bring you the rest of the way. Don't depend on man for nothing, because man will change. God won't he'll, he'll always be there. So that's why I say that. Everything's gonna be alright. Unknown Speaker 45:54 What's your favorite food from? Well, yeah, you know, we got to talk about food. Definitely. Come on. Yeah. Unknown Speaker 45:59 Okay, well, why don't eat as much anymore. But like, my favorite foods, I don't have them. Before I came. I don't eat watermelon, nice coal, watermelon. It won't put no weight on you. And, and when you eat it, coal is good. Now as as far as food was the fish, but but but almost every day I eat is baked being older, you know, raise your blood pressure up and everything. So fish, big fish. Big chicken. Most people just can get the crabs you know? I'm sure you know about this. Eat the crabs. You cook the crab. And you just bust the shell open. Like that. Yeah. See, I never could do that. I never. I never could do that. Unknown Speaker 46:49 Dad, what was said, what was there? Say? See, Unknown Speaker 46:54 I'll try. My daughter said I'd be thinking up the craziest stuff is all true. The My father did what he had to do, you know, in the woods, but most of the time when the fisherman used to go down south, my father used to do that. Unknown Speaker 47:08 Okay, so, like what Matt Gascon is doing? Go down to Louisiana. So your, your dad did that, too. Okay, Louisiana, Mississippi, Unknown Speaker 47:17 and see. And at that time, you know, don't man, we're brave. I got to deal with Tom, you got a carload of black men going through Georgia and low towns in Georgia and stuff. You could get hung anytime. You know, you could you could get stopped. And the cop was working with them people you could get hung anytime but but they were brave enough to go down there stay for five months, come on back home. But that's just had was I mean, if you want to make some money, because your show wasn't gonna make no money around here. No, you wasn't gonna make no money but like the wind down by doing that kind of work. You know, like they did like staying away from home for four or five or six months. But they did what they had to do. Unknown Speaker 48:00 A lot of men that did it like Captain Gus Dunaway. Unknown Speaker 48:04 And those guys had to be brave. I mean, you going through a little town down south, you know, you got a load of black men. Unknown Speaker 48:17 It was all playing around. No, no, no, no go anything. Anything could happen to you. The last time my father went down, he had a load of men. And he pulled out to pass this car. Well, the call that he had pulled out that he pulled out from behind, saw that they was trying to pass and it was another car coming from another way instead of slowing down and let my father in. He speed it up. And for my father to keep from hitting up a car head on. He ran off the road. And he was the only one that got killed. Your father. Yeah, that happened in 1970. My father been dead now for about 50 years, or more. I didn't. I was I was 17 at the time. And we had just the face just won a championship. We go to our kids and say, you know you I love you and everything. You know, we're we're proud didn't do that. At that time. We knew how they felt but they wouldn't say it. I'll meet a that year that there'll be one championship. When I hit that ball. And I came off the field. My father came to me and said, Boy, you really hit that ball. And he looked like he was so proud of me. And I felt so good. I will never forget that. I will never forget. Unknown Speaker 49:35 You just told me something. I'm I'm floored. I don't even know what to say after that. Unknown Speaker 49:40 Well, well, well, I got I got I got a couple of tears running myself but but I don't know. He he looked like he was so he was so proud. He was so proud of that. And I will never forget it. Unknown Speaker 49:59 We did come from the same cloth because it's like to say, black parents. They didn't tell their children. They didn't say the words, you know? Yeah laughs of I love you. I guess they probably went into vain that the fact that I got we have a roof over your head and you got food, clothes on your back. And, you know, we hadn't killed you, even though they do get a switch. Get that switch. Or, you know, just the fear of just you walking in the house, which was not only fear, but respect to them. The things that stand in your mind is when they find the look at you and, and smiling with pride. Unknown Speaker 50:49 Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. Unknown Speaker 50:51 Is this as you say? There's things you know, forget. It's so yes, Unknown Speaker 50:56 I will. I will know. And I tried to tell my sister about it. And she goes, Oh, boy, just shut up. Just shut up. Because she started crying. Well, we knew we knew that our prayers loved us. They never, they never said the word. That same year, we won the championship. The coast is now Now y'all y'all got that spike. And we can order despite, but they call 10 downs as a lot. At that time, can God a lot of money? was a lot of money. It still is. No kidding. But back then $10 Oh, man, $10 and I came home and I told him I told my mother I said, Oh, I need to find out. Well, what? To get some spike. So she told me my fall. And lo and behold that within three days, she came to me with 10 that I was shocked. I was shocked because like I said $10 back then was a lot of money. And they took $10 out of our budget to give me those spikes. And that's another way out. I'll never forget. Well, Pixie, it was nice talking to you. Unknown Speaker 52:09 It was nice talking to you, Jesse. I look forward to seeing you and I hope that's very okay. You take care you too, man. Okay. Is there was one thing I took away from talking to Jesse is we must be a team. We must help everyone to score to reach the goal of community unity and achievements, because we are being black on the Northern Neck to music by Robert a hall. This program is in memory of the twins, Waddell and Moselle quarter, two men who've embodied compassion and conviction and are very much loved. Thank you for listening.