Bill Blair (Negro Leagues pitcher)

American baseball player
The basics

Quick Facts

IntroAmerican baseball player
PlacesUnited States of America
wasAthlete Baseball player
Work fieldSports
Gender
Male
Birth17 October 1921
Death20 April 2014Campbell (aged 92 years)
The details

Biography

William "Bill" Blair (October 17, 1921 – April 20, 2014) was a Negro league pitcher.
Blair graduated Booker T. Washington High School in Dallas and briefly attended Prairie View A&M University. He began his baseball career at the age of 16, playing for a barnstorming team in Mineola, Texas, and went on to join the United States Army, where he became the youngest African American to serve as a first sergeant in the Army during World War II.
He pitched from 1946 to 1951, for teams including the Indianapolis Clowns, Cincinnati Crescents, and was a player-manager for the Dallas Black Giants. He played against players such as Cool Papa Bell, Satchel Paige, and Hilton Smith. After retiring from baseball, he became a fixture in the community, running a local newspaper, the Elite News, and organizing golf tournaments and parades. He died in Campbell, Texas in 2014.

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