URBAN PRO WEEKLY
JUNE 21 - JULY 4, 2024 VOL. 14 NO. 22
THERE’S
JUNETEENTH JUBILEE PICS
The sun is shining brightly, the weather feels hot, no sound of school buses. Community centers are filled with camps and family reunions…dream vacations are on the way. It’s 60 days of refreshing and relaxing summer. This is the time of the year when parents, educators, and support staff look forward to embracing the joy and freedom of summer. However, the summer fun time can quickly change to back to school crunch time. Spending summer break to plan for the upcoming 180 school days sounds absurd or not?
Don’t allow the much needed vacation time to overshadow a review of the past year and to plan for the upcoming school year. An effective education requires constant planning; similar to the work of school boards—-review, plan, implement, and review again should be the
strategy of the community and parents. Our local board of education is continually meeting and voting on policies that will impact education. This is the time to attend in-person or virtual meetings. Get to know the leaders who work for you and your community.
The community (i.e. businesses, residents, political leaders etc) should utilize summer to review programs and resources that were made available to children, youth and families throughout the academic year. Furthermore, analyze the effectiveness of the implemented programs to determine continued support or alternatively determine what improvements can be made to have programs that fully address the community’s needs. Whether one is caring for school age children or not, our community is impacted by education.
Parents, reviewing the previous academic year
can assist with planning for the upcoming year. Some questions to ask are… what worked well, what didn’t work well, what are the goals for my child’s education, is my child in the best setting for him/her, what will be my engagement level, who are the leaders in my child’s school, how do I become a volunteer in the school. These questions and more are the steering factors for an effective education.
Ultimately, remembering we, community members, parents, and leaders, are stakeholders in education. Therefore, planning for the educational outcomes we want for children and youth in our community in the upcoming school year and beyond requires preparation. While summertime is an excellent opportunity for relaxation, it is also a significant time to review and plan for implementation of a better education for tomorrow.
Tuesday, June 25, 2024 –
Called Board Meeting – Personnel and Policy – 10:00 a.m.
Tuesday, July 9, 2024 –
Called Building Committee WalkThrough at 4:00 p.m. – Richmond Hill Elementary School, 2160 Mura Drive, Augusta, Georgia 30906
Thursday, July 18, 2024
Committee and Regular Board Meeting – 4:00 p.m. (Regular Board will immediately follow the Committee Meeting)
864 Broad Street, Board Room Auditorium, Augusta, Georgia 30901
Aviation Commission Regular Meeting
Thursday June 27, 2024 at 10 AM Orwen Commission Chambers 2nd Floor Terminal Building
Attorney Charles Lyons addresses the media during the 2012 Sheriff’s race. Lyons and other members of Roundtree’s campaign team, helped the candidate navigate a series of hurdles to become the county’s first black sheriff. This past week, however,
bid to replace retiring
Court
Attorney Charles Lyons will be replacing Superior Court Judge Dannie Craig who announced that he will retire at the end of 2024. Craig had held the post since he was first appointed in 2008. Lyons easily defeated Matt Matson in this week’s runoff election by a wide margin --13,792 to 7,786 (65-35 %) for Richmond County. In Burke County, which is part of the Augusta circuit, Lyons had 734 to Matson’s 519. Richmond County Juvenile Court Judge Willie Saunders missed making the runoff in the May primary.
Lyons has been a practicing attorney in Augusta since the 1980s. In his last political outing, he was unsuccessful against Jess Stone.
For Sheriff Richard Roundtree, a Lyons political ally, the runoff was a huge disappointment. As an 11-year law enforcement incumbent, Roundtree was widely seen as being able to maintain his
position, but Eugene Brantley, managed to push the primary race to a runoff and ultimately claim victory by just over 1,000 votes. Brantley had (10,087 - 52.7%) to Roundtree’s (9,067 - 47.3%).
Like Roundtree before him, Brantley had decades of experience in the sheriff’s office and is currently a sergeant with the Richmond County Marshal’s Office. Brantley has no Republican opposition this November, so is the de facto sheriff-elect. Some local election watchers have suggested that Roundtree could have avoided a runoff had he campaigned harder in the primary. In the runoff, Brantley was able to capitalize on the Roundtree’s lack of support in districts 3,7, and 8, according to some observers.
Also, just days before Tuesday’s runoff election, a multi-block shootout occurred on Friday, June 14 which resulted in several injuries. This high-profile law enforcement event provided ample opportunity for both Roundtree and Brantley to address the public. The public got the chance to see how both candidates responded to the disturbance.
Earlier this week, as Major League Baseball prepared for a tribute game in his hometown Birmingham, Ala., Willie Mays said that age would keep him away but that he would be watching from afar.
“Rickwood Field is where I played my first home game, and playing there was it — everything I wanted,” he said in a statement to The San Francisco Chronicle.
Mays died the next day, at 93, and as fans walked into the ballpark on Thursday, it felt like he was there in spirit, watching from afar.
“I’m sure he’s here,” said his son, Michael Mays, who rushed to California from Alabama to pray over his father’s body and then returned in time for the game. “He figured out a way to be the center of attention like he always did. He’s the star of the show. He’s Willie Mays.”
His death added poignancy to M.L.B.’s celebration of the Negro leagues at Rickwood Field — the nation’s oldest professional ballpark, where Mays got his start as a professional — and to the game between the San Francisco Giants, Mays’s old team, and the St. Louis Cardinals.
In a pregame ceremony, a video tribute played before Michael Mays told the crowd, “Let him hear you,” and the crowd broke out chanting: “Willie! Willie!” Seated on the field were veterans of the Negro leagues, men in their 80s and 90s who had been led into the ballpark by the current ballplayers, steadying their arms or pushing their wheelchairs.
In 1948, when his professional career began at Rickwood Field, Mays was not yet the Say Hey Kid, the stylish and charismatic baseball star who commanded the nation’s attention a few years after Jackie Robinson had broken baseball’s color barrier, even as segregation maintained its grip on the Deep South, where he came from.
Mays was 17, and his teammates called him Buck. And he was so fast that when he made his debut as a center fielder for the Birmingham Black Barons, the manager told the corner outfielders only to worry about the space between where they were standing and the foul lines. Everything else, he said, was Willie Mays’s territory.
Yastrzemski said he had been contemplating the meaning of the timing of Mays’s death, which he learned about while his team was playing a game in Chicago.
“I’ve come to terms that I believe that it was for a reason, so that he could be here spiritually, he could be here with us, and he wasn’t going to be able to make it otherwise,” he said. “As much as it hurts to lose a legend like that, we gained an angel and a saint above us to be here for this.”
The idea for a major league game at Rickwood Field, which was built in 1910 — two years before Fenway Park in Boston opened — arose after M.L.B. hosted a game in 2021 in a cornfield in Dyersville, Iowa, where the movie “Fields of Dreams” was filmed. Gerald Watkins, the executive director of the Friends of Rickwood, the nonprofit organization that manages the ballpark, began lobbying M.L.B. to bring a game to Birmingham.
“This is a real field of dreams,” Watkins said. “It’s not a movie site. And I envision Willie Mays standing in the outfield with a big smile on his face, thinking, ‘Maybe I can get to the big leagues someday.’”
Rickwood Field was built in 1910 and was modeled after major league parks of the era, like Philadelphia’s Shibe Park and Forbes Field
in Pittsburgh. Connie Mack, the famous baseball manager, consulted on the design.
In the old clubhouse at Rickwood, which Black teams were not allowed to use in Mays’s time, a shrine to the legend took up three lockers and was stuffed with mementos from his career — old uniforms, scorecards, bats and cleats.
“He was my hero, and my grandfather is what made him my hero,” said Ken Haar, 75, who was visiting the shrine with his daughter, Renee. The timing of Mays’s death, he said, “was really poignant that it happened right now — like a miracle.”
That the ballpark has survived this long, while so many others of the era were demolished, is not only a result of the community’s love. As the coal and steel industries that propelled the local economy declined, and jobs disappeared, the area around the ballpark fell on hard times.
There is a famous picture that hangs at Rickwood: Birmingham Black Barons players celebrating after winning the Negro American League championship in 1948. Willie Mays’s teenage face peeks out from behind his jubilant teammates. With his death, it is believed that the only person in that picture who is still around is the Rev. William H. Greason, 99, who entered the ministry after his playing days and has been preaching in Birmingham for more than a half-century.
He was at Rickwood on Thursday and threw out the ceremonial first pitch. It was his first time watching a game at the park since, he said, “wayyyy back yonder.”
“We just wanted to play — play baseball,” he said in an interview. “And we had the talents and the gifts to play.”
Pro baseball began in the late 19th century, and established its own color lines as segregation laws took hold in the South after Reconstruction. Many American churches and schools in the north were unofficially but rigidly segregated, too.
By Bill Francis National Baseball Hall of Fame and MuseumRube Foster was called both an imposing pitcher and a visionary trailblazer. Both of these unique traits eventually landed him in Cooperstown as a Hall of Famer.
In 2020, Major League Baseball commemorated the 100th anniversary of the 1920 founding of the Negro Leagues. The centennial celebration – which included all MLB players, managers, coaches and umpires wearing a symbolic Negro Leagues 100th anniversary logo patch during games – can be traced back to the groundbreaking work of Foster.
In 1920, the United States saw women win the right to vote and prohibition enacted. But in a small corner of the Midwest, an event – almost a footnote at the time – took place that would in both the short- and long-term change the face of the National Pastime.
At a meeting with the owners of the top independent Black baseball teams at the Paseo YMCC at Eighth and Vine in Kansas City, Mo, on Feb. 13, 1920, the Negro National League, the first successful baseball league featuring black players, was founded. Leading the way was Andrew “Rube” Foster, who was considered Black baseball’s best pitcher before serving as owner and manager of the Chicago American Giants.
Foster headed north from his native Texas in 1902 to play for the Chicago Union Giants and soon became a star pitcher. Even though statistical data remains sketchy from those early days, Foster had to be an intimidating sight on the mound, standing 6-foot tall and weighing 200 pounds.
“Do not worry,” was Foster’s advice when faced with a difficult situation. “Try to appear jolly and unconcerned. I have smiled often with the bases full with two strikes and three balls on the batter. This seems to unnerve (the hitter).”
Foster went on to become the player-manager for the Chicago Leland Giants and soon “won a reputation as a managerial genius equal to his friend, John McGraw,” historian Jules Tygiel wrote in Past Time: Baseball as History.
Among those attending the 1920 meeting and ultimately – for a $500 fee that would bind them to the league and constitution – becoming initial members of this new enterprise were the baseball magnates of the top Midwestern teams: Foster, Tenny Blunt (Detroit Stars), Lorenzo Cobb (St. Louis Giants), John Matthews (Dayton Macros), Joe Green (Chicago Giants), C.I. Taylor (Indianapolis ABCs) and J.L. Wilkinson (Kansas City Monarchs). The Cuban Stars’ owner was unable to attend but sent along his approval of the league.
With organized baseball still segregated, the mid-February meeting was an attempt by Foster, who would be elected as the NNL’s first president, to bring stability to Black baseball for the first
time.
A number of unsuccessful attempts had been made in the past, but this time, after a lengthy discussion, the other owners agreed to Foster’s proposal. While Black professional baseball had been part of baseball’s landscape for years, this new venture would do away with scheduling difficulties and bring a sense of financial security to both the owners and players.
Foster, considered a shrewd and successful leader, had been advocating for a black baseball league for some time. He penned a baseball column exclusively for the Chicago Defender – one of the leading Black newspapers in the country at the time – entitled “Pitfalls of Baseball” that ran from late 1919 to early 1920. In these pieces Foster, in his own words, lays the groundwork for what would soon become the NNL – with himself as the leader.
“Baseball as it exists at present among our people needs a very strong leader, and this leader to be successful must have able lieutenants, all of whom have the confidence of the public,” Foster wrote in the Dec. 13, 1919, issue of the Defender. “Only in this way can we be assured of success. Experimenting with the game from every angle, I am more convinced than ever that something firm must be done, and done quickly.
“Present-day promoters are blind to many facts. They do not realize that to have the best ball club in the world and no one able to compete with it will lose more money on the season than those that are evenly matched. The majority do not know a ballplayer when they see one. They have paid big prices for many lemons, thinking that if the man was a success with Foster we will work wonders with him. They forget that I have been a player whose intellect and brains of the game have drawn more comment from leading baseball critics than all the colored players combined, and that I am a student of the game. They do not know, as I do, that there are not five players nor three owners among the clubs who know the playing rules.”
By the Dec. 27, 1919, issue of the Defender, Foster was writing that he wanted to set up a meeting among the owners of the top black ball clubs to work on a mutual agreement they could all abide by.
“It is not a proposition to exchange players,” Foster wrote. “Each club will be allowed to retain their players, but cement a partnership in working for the organized good for baseball. Conducted on the same identical plan as both big leagues and all minor leagues, even the semipro leagues. The outcome would be the East would be the same National League, the West as American League; the winner of the majority of games in the East to meet the western winners in a real world’s championship. This will pave the way for such champion team eventually to play the winner among whites. This is more than possible. Only in uniform strength is there per-
manent success. I invite all owners to write for information on this proposition. It is open to all.”
But Foster’s column of Jan. 10, 1920, painted a dire outlook for any kind of working agreement among the various owners moving forward. Ultimately, however, by the next month, his dream was realized.
It was no coincidence that the NNL’s founding came at the same time as the Great Migration, when a half million Blacks left the rural south to live and work in northern cities. The new league would have an eager audience looking for a source of inexpensive entertainment long day of hard labor.
NNL umpire Billy Donaldson had glowing remarks about both Foster and the new league.
“He (Foster) is not only a strategist but a baseball pioneer and organizer. He is the father and organizer of the Negro National League, the first organization of its kind where boys of our Race could get employment as players and make a place for themselves in the baseball world,” Donaldson said. “The forming of the Negro National League started the ball rolling and now we have several leagues in the country where it is possible for our boys to make a decent living at playing ball.”
He proved to a doubtful public that white people have no monopoly on baseball, either from the playing or box office point of view. He proved that persistency, ability and a knowledge of the game are all the attributes essential to a successful undertaking in any game. Even the color of his skin was no barrier to the success of Rube Foster – it may be said that he profited by it. Certainly he climbed to heights untrod before by a baseball man of his color, and he made some steps that have already proved most difficult to follow.” In the summer of 1931, after having been without Foster’s guidance for four years, the NNL, which added and subtracted numerous cities to its roster over the years, folded. But ultimately, Foster proved that segregated baseball could be a viable business for Black entrepreneurs.
Bill Francis is the senior research and writing specialist at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
director
the
during a dance performance at the Juneteenth celebration held downtown. Assistant artistic director Denise Tucker
joins daughter Symphoni in the drum performance.
June 19th
Ramsey is r eady to take customer orders at the Maryland Fried Chicken food truck window during the Juneteenth celebration held downtown. Ramsey is restuarant manager for the establishment.
vendor Born For Clothing displays colorful, Afrocentric apparel during the festivities held downtown.
Musketeers defeated the Hephzibah Lady Rebels
35-31 in a summer league basketball game at Butler
LUCY BUREAU
Lucy Bureau currently resides in Aiken, SC. She worked for many years in a high-tech NY corporation as a Business Analyst. She is in tune with her creative spirit which provides her with a life balance between information technology and the visual, intuitive side of life. Since she was a child Lucy has always been drawn to textiles. Later in life she developed as a textile artist. She is presently evolving as a pastel artist and enjoys experimenting with different approaches to this medium. Lucy is drawn to nature scenes and images taken when traveling with her husband.
GARY KAUFFMAN
Gary Kauffman lived most of his life in Indiana but has been a resident of the Augusta area for 10 years. He took up painting in September 2021 at age 62 and to his surprise discovered he had
June 12, 2024
Contacts:
Bennish Brown Destination Augusta President/CEO (706) 823-6611 bennish@visitaugusta.com
Beth Jones remembers drawing at an early age, then continuing to create art in high school. After high school, she created original awards in calligraphy, course covers and illustrations for professional journals during her career at the Medical College of Georgia (now Augusta University). Along the way she would occasionally paint watercolor pet portraits for her friends. Through the years, magazine articles featuring artists’ painting of their gardens inspired her to seek the life of an artist when she retired. She has been actively learning and painting with watercolors for the past 16 years. Her paintings focus on local & regional landscapes with an architectural interest, flowers, still life, and seashells.
Michelle Pippin
Augusta Sports Council CEO (706) 722-8326 ext. 1 michelle@augustasportscouncil.org
some talent. Many hours of YouTube videos and a mentor in Waynesboro have helped him hone his talent. He started in acrylics before switching to oils. His primary genres are landscapes, seascapes, wildlife, and flowers.
Augusta, GA – Destination Augusta and the Augusta Sports Council are pleased to announce that the 25,300 visitors attending meetings, reunions, events, and sporting events in Augusta’s River Region will generate at least $4,669,184 in total estimated economic impact (EEI) June 2024.
Destination Augusta and the Augusta Sports Council are pleased to announce that the 25,300 visitors attending meetings, reunions, events, and sporting events in Augusta’s River Region will generate at least $4,669,184 in total estimated economic impact (EEI) June 2024.
A portion of the total number of events and meetings in Augusta’s River Region in June is listed in the chart below for more event detail. These are groups Destination Augusta, or the Augusta Sports Council have worked with at some point in the site selection and/or planning phase.
Sports Council agree that recruiting and hosting these various activities play a critical role in sustaining the nearly 30,000 jobs that are part of the Leisure and Hospitality Industry, the fourth largest employment sector in the metro area.
Both Destination Augusta and the Augusta Sports Council agree that recruiting and hosting these various activities play a critical role in sustaining the nearly 30,000 jobs that are part of the Leisure and Hospitality Industry, the fourth largest employment sector in the metro area.
A portion of the total number of events and meetings in Augusta’s River Region in June is listed in the chart below for more event detail. These are groups Destination Augusta, or the Augusta Sports Council have worked with at some point in the site selection and/or planning phase.
Total EEI is calculated based on research commissioned by both Explore Georgia and Destinations International in conjunction with globally recognized research vendors, the U.S. Travel Association and Tourism Economics. Tourism Economics, a partner company of Oxford Economics, created the industry standard in event economic impact analysis using localized metrics that are updated annually.
Both Destination Augusta and the Augusta
Total EEI is calculated based on research commissioned by both Explore Georgia and Destinations International in conjunction with globally recognized research vendors, the U.S. Travel Association and Tourism Economics. Tourism Economics, a partner company of Oxford Economics, created the industry standard in event economic impact analysis using localized metrics that are updated annually.
The campaign will run from June 13-July 31, 2024. The Theatre is requesting the community’s support through tax-deductible donations. Donations should be sent to 2548 Deans Bridge Road, Augusta, GA 30906 or online at www.augustaminitheatre. org or call 706-722-0598.Share this campaign with the hashtag: #48FortyGreat Donations will be used to assist with the cost of developing and offering our free dance, art, piano, and drama classes, general operation and keeping arts training affordable in the CSRA. Presently, students pay a one-time activity fee, and additional funds
The Salvation Army of Augusta is pleased to announce the successful grand opening of our newest Family Store. Thanks to the community›s support, the profits made last Saturday were enough to cover 860 nights of shelter for individuals at our Center of Hope, including food, clothing, supplies, and casework.
“We are deeply grateful for the incredible support from our community during the grand opening,” said Major Jonathan Raymer, Area Commander. “The overwhelming turnout and generosity enable us to continue our mission
of meeting human needs in His name without discrimination.”
The Family Store’s mission is to use its profits to fund operations at The Center of Hope shelter, which provides essential services to the homeless in the Augusta area.
The new Family Store, located at 4099 River Watch Parkway, Suite 4115, Augusta, GA, needs donations and volunteers to continue its mission. Donations can be dropped off at the store from 9 AM to 6 PM, Monday through Saturday. Volunteers can sign up online at salvationarmyaugusta. org.
The Salvation Army of Augusta is thrilled to announce a significant upgrade to The Center of Hope, thanks to a generous grant from the Jefferson Energy Cooperative Foundation, Inc. and Operation Round Up. The grant will facilitate the replacement of air conditioning units in the Families and Single Women’s dormitories in the shelter, ensuring a more comfortable and safer environment for clients.
As the only shelter in the Augusta area that allows families to stay together, The Center of Hope, is committed to providing support and resources to individuals and families experiencing homelessness. The replacement of its A/C units is a crucial step in enhancing the quality of life for those seeking refuge and assistance at the shelter.
“We are incredibly grateful to the Jefferson Energy Cooperative
Foundation, Inc. and Operation Round Up for their generous support,” said Area Commander, Major Jonathan Raymer. “Their grant enables us to improve our facilities and better serve those in need. This upgrade will make a significant difference in the lives of our clients, providing them with a cooler and more comfortable environment during their stay at The Center of Hope.”
The grant from the Jefferson Energy Cooperative Foundation, Inc. and Operation Round Up underscores their commitment to making a positive impact in the community and supporting organizations that address critical needs. The Center of Hope extends its heartfelt appreciation to these organizations for their dedication to improving the lives of individuals and families in the Augusta Area.
