Neil O. Churchill (February 13, 1891 – September, 1969) was a car dealer in

Bismarck, North Dakota Bismarck (; from 1872 to 1873: Edwinton) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Dakota and the county seat, seat of Burleigh County, North Dakota, Burleigh County. It is the state's List of cities i ...

who funded an integrated

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

team in the mid-thirties more than a decade before

Jackie Robinson Jack Roosevelt Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) was an American professional baseball player who became the first Black American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the Baseball color line, ...

broke the

color barrier Racial segregation is the separation of people into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life. Segregation can involve the spatial separation of the races, and mandatory use of different institutions, such as schools and hospitals by people ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

Business

Churchill joined Wickham Corwin's Bismarck automobile dealership in 1925 and the company became Corwin-Churchill Motor Co. A colleague said he "was a hell of a salesman—a smart fellow and real promoter." In 1937, when Corwin moved to Fargo, Churchill stayed in Bismarck. When Churchill retired in 1952 he sold his share of the business to the Corwin family. He also owned the Prince Hotel, Bismarck.

Baseball

Immediately after

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

Churchill took up baseball with the Bismarck semi-pro team and became their star player. He bought the team in 1933 and, from his experience of playing against black touring teams, he decided that recruiting black players would strengthen his new team. He called

Abe Saperstein Abraham Michael Saperstein (; July 4, 1902 – March 15, 1966) was the founder, owner and earliest coach of the Harlem Globetrotters. Saperstein was a leading figure in black basketball and baseball from the 1920s through the 1950s, primarily be ...

to recruit some

Negro league The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be used narrowly for the seven relativel ...

players. The first three black players to join the

Bismarck Churchills The Bismarck team was a racially integrated semi-professional baseball team based in Bismarck, North Dakota, in the 1930s. The team played independently of any league because its mixed-race roster was a problem in a period of segregation, and bec ...

were

Quincy Trouppe Quincy Thomas Trouppe (December 25, 1912 – August 10, 1993) was an American professional baseball player and an amateur boxing champion. He was a catcher in the Negro leagues from 1930 to 1949. He was a native of Dublin, Georgia. Early life ...

(

Chicago American Giants The Chicago American Giants were a Chicago-based Negro league baseball team. From 1910 until the mid-1930s, the American Giants were the most dominant team in black baseball. Owned and managed from 1911 to 1926 by player-manager Andrew "Rube" F ...

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catc ...

, Red Haley (

Memphis Red Sox The Memphis Red Sox were an American Negro league baseball team that was active from 1920 to 1959. Originally named the Barber College Baseball Club, the team was initially owned and operated by Arthur P. Martin, a local Memphis barber. In the l ...

(infielder), and Roosevelt Davis (

Pittsburgh Crawfords The Pittsburgh Crawfords, popularly known as the Craws, were a professional Negro league baseball team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team, previously known as the Crawford Colored Giants, was named after the Crawford Bath House, a recre ...

)

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

. When these proved insufficient to beat Bismarck's great rivals in Jamestown, Churchill recruited

Satchel Paige Leroy Robert "Satchel" Paige (July 7, 1906 – June 8, 1982) was an American professional baseball pitcher who played in Negro league baseball and Major League Baseball (MLB). His career spanned five decades and culminated with his induction in ...

from the Crawfords.

Gus Greenlee William Augustus Greenlee (December 26, 1893 – July 7, 1952) was an American businessman in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who was born and raised in Marion, North Carolina. After migrating to Pittsburgh as a young man and working in the steel i ...

, the Crawfords' owner, threatened to knife Churchill for the 'theft' of Paige. Paige arrived from Chicago on the day of the game in October 1933. It was the first time that he had played alongside white players. Churchill won his bet of $1000 with a Jamestown politician that his team would win. A rematch was held a few days later in Jamestown before a crowd of 4000. After twelve innings the game was ended, unresolved, by darkness. Churchill challenged Jamestown to a three-game series in Bismarck. Bismarck won that series and the state championship. Next season (1934), Churchill spent $5,000 (using personal and city funds, and federal emergency relief labor) improving on the Bismarck ball park. He built a 3000-seat grandstand, children's bleachers, and a 500-space car park, with a clear view of the game along the outfield fence. Churchill's 1935 team included

Hilton Smith Hilton Lee Smith (February 27, 1907 – November 18, 1983) was an American right-handed pitcher in Negro league baseball. He pitched alongside Satchel Paige for the Kansas City Monarchs and Bismarck Churchills between 1932 and 1948. He was induc ...

(who joined the team in early June), and

Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe Theodore Roosevelt "Double Duty" Radcliffe (July 7, 1902 – August 11, 2005) was an American professional baseball player in the Negro leagues. An accomplished two-way player, he played as a pitcher and a catcher, became a manager, and in his ...

(who joined on June 21 after securing his release from the Brooklyn Eagles).

Politics

Churchill was

mayor of Bismarck The following is a complete list of the mayors of Bismarck, North Dakota Bismarck (; from 1872 to 1873: Edwinton) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Dakota and the county seat, seat of Burlei ...

from 1939 to 1946.http://www.bismarck.org/uploads/doc_Bismarck_Mayors_1876_to_now_12_07.doc

References

* Roper, Scott C. 1994. "A Summer in North Dakota: Uncovering Satchel Paige's 1935 Season." Baseball Research Journal 23, 51–54. {{DEFAULTSORT:Churchill, Neil 1891 births 1969 deaths Negro league baseball executives Mayors of Bismarck, North Dakota Baseball in North Dakota 20th-century mayors of places in North Dakota