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The AFL Comes To Graceville
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One of the greatest stories in the history of the AFL is that of the Graceville Oilers.
From 1952 through 1958, this tiny town in the northern panhandle of Florida was home to professional baseball, even though the population of Graceville during the time was only 1658. Because of the strong fan base among its residents, Graceville was informally designated: « The biggest little town in Professional Baseball ». Graceville’s location, just south of the Florida- Alabama border, made it a good choice geographically: Graceville had supported semi-pro baseball, as most towns did at the time, and one product of their semi-pro team was Haywood Sullivan, who went on to catch for and eventually own the Boston Red Sox. The AFL in 1952 started the season with teams in Enterprise, Eufaula, Dothan, Ozark, Panama City, and Headland, making the maximum travel distance between towns approximately 100 miles. |
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The opportunity to pursue an AFL team came in July of 1952, when the Enterprise Boll
Weevils, a franchise with a history of economic difficulties, folded. The Boll Weevils were barely a team as the first half of the season drew to a close: There were only 11 players still on the team, and not enough money to pay them. Clarence « Mutt » Hodge, AFL President at the time, needed to find a city willing to invest into an economically unstable league: Money issues plagued all of the franchises, most of which relied on volunteers to run the front offices and park concessions, and local well-to-do citizens to drop extra money at the ticket office when purchasing tickets. The question of whether this small town could support a team where many had already failed had to be on the mind of League President, Clarence « Mutt » Hodge that summer. His bigger concern though was getting a team, any team, to fill in the slot vacated by Enterprise. AFL teams relied on gate receipts, and if even a couple games had to be cancelled, it could spell disaster for the whole league. It’s safe to say that Hodge was probably willing to listen to any reasonable offer, and when the opportunity arose, a group of business leaders in Graceville set about to put one together. |
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A Graceville banker, Mixon Cooper and fellow banker, Billy Moore, were ardent baseball
fans. When word got out that the Enterprise franchise would become available, Cooper and Moore started talking about the possibility of bringing the team to town. One key to their success would be convincing local business leaders to join in. Among the recruits was George Morrow, the man who ran the world’s biggest peanut processing operation at the time: The Golden Peanut Company. Morrow, Dr. Neil Williams, and others would become important members of the Graceville Sportsmen’s Association, the name chosen for the ownership group.The league and the Sportsmen’s Association came to an agreement on July 5th, and the 11 remaining Enterprise Boll Weevils, along with one player from each of the other AFL franchises, became the Graceville Boll Weevils. A contest was started to give the team a more fitting nickname, and the winning moniker was the « Oilers ». The name was fitting because the main product produced at Golden Peanut was peanut oil. Another contest was promoted to name the ball field next to Golden Peanut Company. The field needed a lot of improvement, and volunteers were found to build the backstop and concession stands. The newly renovated stadium was named Sportsmen’s Park. The players found room and board at various locations, many of them staying at either a boarding house run by a woman named Lelah Kirkland, or at rooms above the post office. Most players hung out and ate at the Circle Grille. Paul Hemphill’s book and the HBO movie, « Long Gone », portray this part of the ball player’s life in Graceville well. There wasn’t a lot to do in town so hanging out at the grill or the pool hall was often the only entertainment. |
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He was the scorekeeper for Graceville as well as the public address announcer. I
took over these duties when I was in the 11th and 12 grades. Baseball was ‘king’ in Graceville, and the whole town thrived on baseball stories year round. I grew up in Graceville during this time, and delivered newspapers to all of the members of the Graceville Oilers. They usually took The Montgomery Advertiser because of it’s excellent sports reporting. As batboy for 2 years, I also traveled with them on road trips. We drove to games in station wagons. » The citizens of Graceville loved their team, and came out often to support them. In 1955, the All-Star game in Graceville drew over 3000 fans. In 1956, The Oilers drew a respectable 21,584 fans for the season and 23,098 in 1957, besting many larger cities and towns in the minor leagues. The Oilers were so proud of their drawing ability that in 1957, they challenged league newcomer and former Class B city, Montgomery, Alabama, that they would outdraw the Rebels on opening day. |
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E.D. Patterson J.M. Cooper
Mayor Neil G.W. Morrow Williams |
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P.W. Bottoms W.E. Henderson
G.A. Watford R.C. Curry O.C. Roberts |
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Billy Moore
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Haywood
Walter Woodfin Julian Jones Wilmer Sullivan Collins Cox Tyler Fowler |
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Doug Williams
Roscoe Mixon L.H. French Mike Toole R.C. Curry Robinson Cooper |
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There was noticeable excitement as the Oilers prepared to begin their life in Graceville.
This was still the era when television and air conditioning were rarities, and the traditional « thing to do » on a summer evening was to go to the ball game to not only cheer on the team, but to socialize. Graceville was proud of their team, and especially proud of the status it brought to the town. |
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George Trautman (l) with Billy Moore (r)
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Former Graceville Batboy, Lane Harris has fond memories of the way it was: « My father,
Sonny Harris, had a sports program on WOOF radio during that time called « Sunny Spots in Sports ». He reported all of the Alabama-Florida league game scores every morning. |
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Graceville Semi-pro team featuring future major leaguer and Red Sox owner, Haywood
Sullivan |
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Montgomery’s stadium could hold 5000 fans, compared to the small number that
Sportsmen’s Park could hold. Seating was limited at Sportsmen’s, but there was plenty of room for lawn chairs. The Montgomery Advertiser the following day listed the Rebel’s attendance at 1782 but left the attendance figures off the box score for the Graceville opener. Possibly, the count was not available, but I prefer to think that Graceville beat them. The Oilers were successful for all of their years in the league, though some years were a struggle. They finished the 1957 season as co-champions with the Panama City Fliers because bad weather forced a cancellation in the final play-off game. In 1958, the AFL expanded to eight teams. This attempt to expand the league’s territory would ultimately bring the demise the Graceville Oilers. After the 1958 season ended, the Columbus Foxes decided to rejoin the Sally League after one AFL season. Ironically, the man who was at the helm of the league for 1959 was Billy Moore, one of the men who got the ball rolling in Graceville. His love of baseball and the respect the league felt for him got him the job, which he took reluctantly. Moore did not really want the presidency, but took it out of a sense of duty to the league and the game he loved. He must have been pained when the league ownership decided that they would not replace the Foxes. That meant that the league would cut one team and return to the 6-team format for 1959. The AFL had managed to move into some fairly large markets since the time the Oilers had entered the league, and while a league certainly can operate with seven teams, it became apparent that the AFL wanted to reduce down to six teams and Graceville would be the odd team out. Despite support from the fans, the Oilers were doomed. Their affiliation deal with the Cincinnati Reds expired after 1958 and they were pursuing a deal with the Philadelphia Phillies, but their size probably became an issue with the parent clubs that the AFL teams relied on. Billy Moore had the difficult job of telling Graceville their team was no longer part of the AFL. Moore, to his credit, worked to bring Graceville back into the league at a future date, but the league itself was on its last legs. By 1962, part of the support agreement that the AFL had with the major league parent teams required that black players play at all levels. As the Civil Rights era got into full swing, Moore new that this was a requirement that the league could not meet. He pressed to be given more time to gradually introduce black players into the league, but to no avail. The league dissolved before Graceville could rejoin it. Times were changing in general, and Class D ball also disappeared with the AFL. The era of small town pro ball was over. Today, there is still a generation of Graceville residents who fondly look back on the golden era of their town, and remember the excitement of going to an Oilers game. To younger Graceville residents, those 8 years in the 1950’s is too far back in the town’s history to be relevant. Many of them might be surprised to know that the crumbling white cinderblock walls behind the electric cooperative were once the grandstands of Sportsmen’s Park. Young baseball fans would probably not believe that pro ball was played there, and that for a short period of time, Graceville was the ‘biggest little town in professional baseball. » |
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Although I have no connection with the league or the area for that matter,
it brings back memories of my youth when I devoured the minor league section of The Sporting News in the 50’s and 60’s. I grew up in Hawaii, a long, long way away, but the names of the cities and teams intrigued me to the point that visiting some of the towns in Alabama and Florida became an obsession. I was able to visit some of those cities long after the league had folded and viewed some of the old ballparks that were still standing. – Dale Fraser |