William L. Tucker
Parts of this transcript were auto-generated and may contain errors.
Michael Hughes 00:00:00 Good evening. Uh, we are here at the Danville Boyle County African American Historical Society History Center. We are really pleased to have a young man in the house with us – first, this is Billy Tucker day. Let's give a hand just for that fact. Welcome to Danville. I'm Michael Hughes. This is Charles Gray. We'll be doing the interview. We also have folks in the audience. Um, and they will also be asking questions, but we just going to do this. Um, we not gonna be that formal. We going to let Billy do most of the talking. We're going ask him some questions. And I think he knows a few things about, about yesterday. He was 1951 graduate of Bate School. Am I right on that?
William Tucker 00:00:44 That's right.
Michael Hughes 00:00:45 Okay. And he played baseball with the Yankees. Alright, when we first start first— When we first—
Dr. Jeffery Shenton 00:00:53 Do you mind if we read this out loud first? Is that okay?
Michael Hughes 00:00:55 Okay. Hold on. Okay. We're gonna do something else. We live on Facebook, anybody that wants to know.
Charles Grey 00:01:01 My name is Charles Grey, and today I'm interviewing William (Billy) Tucker who lived in Danville, and the description of his interview is going to be about, uh, his life in Danville. I am here with Michael Hughes, including the person's recording interview. If related to the interviewee, Please note—and we do have his family members and friends—today is May 28th, 2022. We are recording the interview at the Danville Boyle County African American Historical Society. And today we will be discussing Mr. Billy Tucker's life in Danville.
Michael Hughes 00:02:04 Okay. And, uh, one more thing we'll add. At three o'clock, we'll be meeting at CentreWorks for dinner in the honor of Mr. Tucker. So, we'll get started here. You wanna go ahead, Charles, and we'll go back and forth or do you want me to—?
Charles Grey 00:02:20 You go first.
Michael Hughes 00:02:22 Okay. Uh, uh, Billy, um, first thing you said you was born in Danville, you wanna talk about your early life in Danville? Uh, you was born— what year was you born?
William Tucker 00:02:33 I was born in 1933.
Michael Hughes 00:02:35 1933. Okay. Uh, um, and, uh, you lived in Danville most of your early life?
William Tucker 00:02:41 Yes. Uh, I lived in Danville until I went in the military. Okay. And when I come outta Danville, I still lived here for quite some time before I moved. Uh, out and went to Washington D.C.
Michael Hughes 00:02:55 Okay. What, what branch of the military?
William Tucker 00:02:57 I was in the United States Air Force.
Michael Hughes 00:03:00 Okay. How long did you serve in the Air Force?
William Tucker 00:03:03 I'll give you the approximate dates. Uh, it was short of four years, something like three years, nine, 12 months.
Michael Hughes 00:03:14 Okay. Um, and then from there, when you left the military, where did you, where did you go?
William Tucker 00:03:21 Well, I went to central State College in Wilberforce, Ohio
Michael Hughes 00:02:26 Central State. And I understanding that you played baseball at Central State.
William Tucker 00:03:31 Yes. I played baseball up here the first year I was talk about, I was there. I didn't, I didn't play baseball. I came back home, stayed here for that one semester and then went back to Central State and played baseball up here.
Michael Hughes 00:03:48 Okay. Did you graduate from Central State?
William Tucker 00:03:50 No. I left Central State, and I graduated from, uh, University of Pittsburgh. No, no, no, no, no, no. Pardon me. I went, uh, graduated from American University in Washington, D.C. That, that was again, my undergrad degree. Then I went to the University of Pittsburgh and got my master's degree.
Michael Hughes 00:04:18 Wow. Wow. Okay. You got any questions?
Charles Grey 00:04:22 Uh, I would, I want everybody to know that I've been knowing him all my life and he's been knowing me all my life. I might have said the same thing. Well, we've been knowing each other a long time and I know his family, he knows my family. And I would like to know, uh, how was life as a —growing up in Danville— as, as a student, as a child, and as an adult.
William Tucker 00:04:56 Well, Danville, I've always, and my, my children know it. I've always, uh, uh, bragged about Danville. I think Danville’s a wonderful place to come up. And I was in everything down here just about a year and a half. Uh, first of all, I’m baptizing—Baptized in a Baptist church here. I was in the Boy Scouts here and, uh, of course I went to school at Bate High School and, uh, I ran a recreation center here in Danville. I ran that for long, long, you know, for a year, two years, I ran the recreation center. I had a wonderful life here in Danville. Uh, unfortunately, because of certain issues. I didn't go to Centre College here, but I did go, I went to college outta state, the ones I just mentioned. And I thank Danville for all that it gave me, I had some very good mentors here. I can't remember all—Matthew Fisher was one, the Boy Scout Fisher. Uh, I can't think of the, I think old Wayne George Shannon, I think he was one of the, uh, mentors here at the time. And of course I had Bunny Davis, you know, I was a mascot on the team before I ever played baseball. I was a mascot under Bunny Davis. And I recall going back on where, where we first started way before they had the baseball team down at Seventh and Sixth Street. I think they built houses all down in there, but that's where ba, ba softball started for. Bunny was the great organizer, and that's where our softball started and we was beating everybody through, up to the state that had the softball team, it made no difference. Uh, it was military or whatever, and I was a Mascot carrying the baseball bats. And at that time, of course, uh, Mark Christian and I are somewhere he's dead now. I don't know if this gentleman knows him, but Mark Christian and I were great friends. and he, in fact, he played basketball. He, he didn’t used to play much football, played a little bit, but he was, he, he was playing basketball before I got there under Michael Deney.
Charles Gray 00:07:37 Do you remember Robert Harding?
William Tucker 00:07:41 Yes, I do remember Robert Harding.
Charles Gray 00:07:43 Can you tell us something about him?
William Tucker 00:07: 46 I can't tell you much about him. Cause Robert Harding much told me. I know he had three sisters
Charles Grey 00:07:51 I know.
William Tucker 00:07:52 Yeah. And they all lived right between my house and your hair. Right? Robert Harding, his, uh, lady that brought him up, when Ms. Florine Harding, she was a school teacher lived right across the street from the Methodist Church.
Charles Grey 00:08:06 Right.
William Tucker 00:08:07 So. Harding left here and I think he went to college somewhere. I never didn't know him anymore after that.
Charles Grey 00:08:14 Okay. I just, we, we, we got a lot on him and he, he went to do great things and I was just wanted you to—
William Tucker 00:08:21 Uh, in fact, I was told, I don't know the fact he was the first black that went–and graduated at the University of Kentucky.
Charles Grey 00:08:33 Right. In the law school?
William Tucker 00:08:35 Yes.
Charles Grey 00:08: 36 I think that's the way it went. Yeah. Yes. Um, go ahead.
Michael Hughes 00:08:42 When we talked on the phone, we talked about, uh, the Yankees and, uh, the practice field. That's pretty much where the Dollhouse Museum is now down on seventh street. I think it was Seventh Street. And you told me about a gentleman named, uh, Nean Jackson.
William Tucker 00:09:02 Nean who?
Michael Hughes 00:09:03 Nean Jackson?
William Tucker 00:09:04 Yeah, Nean Jackson. Nean. I don't know if Nean ever actually played, uh, baseball. Okay. But I know [inaudible] with Nean I remember when they come outta the military, Dean, Jackson, uh,
Michael Hughes 00:09:19 Nean
William Tucker 00:09:20 Nean Jackson, Nean. I forget Nean’s a last name,
Charles Grey 00:09:23 Jackson. You saying,
William Tucker 00:09:24 What is it? But he and Bunny were doing the thought I used to—go up had during that, uh, away from the softball hill and race back to where we were practicing softball. And to tell me—not tell me—what I thought Nean Jackson had a tremendous amount of speed. I mean, he could really fly and he and Bunny would run back races coming back. Of course, Bunny was always ahead of him, he had successful speed too.
Charles Grey 00:09:54 Right.
Michael Hughes 00:09:55 Did you say - You said that they called Nean, uh, “Grass Cutter”?
William Tucker 00:09:59 Yes.
Michael Hughes 00:10:00 That was because of his speed?
William Tucker 00:10:03 That’s what they called him, cause he was so fast they call him “Grass Cutter.” And when he come outta the military, I don't know why he didn't play football at Bate, but I don't ever remember him ever playing any football at that time.
Charles Grey 00:10:16 Okay. Do you, do you remember, uh, some, uh, do you remember Spot?
William Tucker 00:10:22 Who?
Charles Grey 00:10:22 Spot
William Tucker 00:10:23 Scott?
Charles Grey 00:10:24 Spot. S P O T
William Tucker 00:10:26 No
Michael Hughes 00:10:27 Spot Penman?
Charles Grey 00:10:28 No, no. Ms. Frye had a dog named Spot.
William Tucker 00:10:32 Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, we did have a dog. [inaudible] He would worry you to death. Cause, the dog. Y’all don't wanna hear the story.
Michael Hughes 00:10:45 Yeah, yeah. We want to hear the story.
William Tucker 00:10:48 He was chasing the wheels of cars. [Charles Grey – Yeah] Every car come down the street. Old Spot was his name. S P O T was jumping off of my deck and chasing them rigt through there. But I had pretty well control over old Spot. [Charles Grey – Yeah] I could tell him do anything and he'd do it. [Charles Grey – Yeah] Except to stop chasing them cars.
Charles Grey 00:11:09 The reason why I mention him because [William Tucker – yeah], we had to walk through. [William Tucker – yeah] uh, where Ms. Frye lived to get to Walnut Street. [William Tucker – yeah] And it was about that much space between spot and getting through there. [William Tucker – yeah] And he was mean, [William Tucker – yeah]
William Tucker 00:11:27 I didn’t know when you just said Spot,
Charles Grey 00:11:30 I was just testing your memory.
William Tucker 00:11:32 Yeah. Yeah. I remember well.
Michael Hughes 00:11:35 Let me ask you, um, the question that everybody talks about is Second Street. Do you spend many days on Second Street?
William Tucker 00:11:46 I spent a lot of days. In fact, I shot a lot of pool over here.
Michael Hughes 00:11:50 Okay.
William Tucker 00:11:51 First number one, I always got my hair cut across the street to Mr. Dallas Jones and I left Dallas Jones and went to Dale McCowan, him and Rev. O’Neil right down the street there. And, uh, I shot pool all the time with the Richardsons, Tiny Richardson. And I'll forget his earlier his brother's name.
Charles Grey 00:12:09 Leon.
William Tucker 00:12:10 Leon Richardson, but I shot a many day of pool, and they had a guy racked the ball all the time named Shell, right? [Charles Grey – Yeah] He was in there during that time and I, but I was in there all the time and I think it was, I don't know if it was 25 cents or 10 cents a rack. [Charles Grey – Yeah] And I, but I, I, I played a lot of pool and the best pool player that one of the best I ever seen in the state was a boy named David Wade.
Charles Grey 00:12:39 Right
William Tucker 00:12:40 We called him a “Cue Ball” he come— he did some wrongdoing and when he got out, he come to the pool room, and all of us used to center around David Wade, “Cue Ball”. Cause it was unbelievable, “The Cue Ball”.
Charles Grey 00:12:57 Yeah.
William Tucker 00:12:58 I was right in there every day that the sun shine.
Charles Grey 00:13:05 I wanna— I'm going to throw another name at you. “Fly trap”.
William Tucker 00:13:11 Yeah. “Fly Trap” was, uh, probably the best golfer here in–around the state, he had some bad habits that stop him from winning every time. Yeah. Fly Trap. Uh, I forget the other name we had before we call him, but mostly Fly Trap. He used to always be at the Danville Country Club. I was a caddy out there. I was a caddy out there for a long time and, uh, in fact I started hitting the ball pretty good. but, uh, cause of certain circumstances, you know, I didn't play any golf out there.
Charles Grey 00:13:51 Right. But you learned out there?
William Tucker 00:13:52 I learned out there.
Charles Grey 00:13:54 Yeah.
William Tucker 00:13:55 I learned how to do everything out there and, uh, Fly Trap would come out there and follow four of the black golfers around the golf course. He followed us around the golf course and bet his little change. 50 cents on every one. Yeah, we playing around, around there, but I remember Fly Trap beating Bobby Cooper, you know, Bobby Cooper here?
Charles Grey 00:14: Yeah.
William Tucker 00:14:16 Fly. So Fly Trap wore him out. Yeah. And, uh, uh, they had a, I can't think of the old man that was disabled, and he played a lot up until he went up in his sixties. But Fly Trap took everything there and was beating everything outta Lexington.
Charles Grey 00:14:34 Right.
William Tucker 00:14:35 One of the best players ever come outta Lexington won the master's name. Gabriel. I don't know if you ever heard of Gabriel or not, but he was, uh, that he won the masters here.
Charles Grey 00:14:46 Reason why I brought that up is— that was the only opportunity for Blacks to play golf.
William Tucker 00:14:52 Yeah.
Charles Grey 00:14:53 And you all did it under Fly Trap?
William Tucker 00:14:55 Yes. Yeah.
Charles Grey 00:14:56 He was the pro out there at that time.
00:14:58 Yeah. Well, we learned a lot from Fly Trap. He wasn't the only one.
Charles Grey 00:15:00 Okay.
William Tucker 00:15:01 Cause the pro out there. And, and, uh, engaged us in the evening after Monday after six o'clock, and it got dark. And myself and, uh, Bobby Jones, Joe Irvin, the four of us, would start out playing on the back six out there. And that's where I learned.
Charles Grey 00:15:20 That's what I wanted to bring up; because, back in the day, it wasn't such thing as Blacks playing golf, and you all got to do that. When I came along, yeah, they didn't do it.
Michael Hughes 00:15:35 How much, for caddying for nine holes, how much would you make?
William Tucker 00:15:41 I was, I was always up in the forties and in fact I was, uh, leading one of the caddy tournaments. He held a caddy tournament out there. And I was leading one of the caddy tournaments coming into the ninth hole, and I forget the guy come out to stop the whole tournament. But, uh, I was, you know, in, in the forties, the whole time I was playing.
Michael Hughes 00:16:04 You said was the caddy—the caddies got to play?
William Tucker 00:16:06 I was a caddy.
Michael Hughes 00:16:08 I mean, the caddies got the play the tournament?
William Tucker 00:16:09 No, no, we had a caddy tournament.
Michael Hughes 00:16:12 You did have?— That's what I—
William Tucker 00:16:13 We had a caddy tournament, but they stopped it. I was leading, leading the caddy tournament, but they stopped.
Michael Hughes 00:16:18 Was most of the people, most of the caddies Black?
William Tucker 00:16:21 Yeah. All, I know there wasn't all. I'm wrong. They had some, they had some White caddies out there too.
Michael Hughes 00:16:28 Okay. I, I never–
William Tucker 00:16:29 Well, in fact, I, I couldn't get the name—no one— was around there—one named Sneticle. Sneticle was a White, you know, man. And he would come out there and play golf, you know, more around with me. I don't remember any other, uh, White young boys that were playing.
Michael Hughes 00:16:50 Wow. That's something I, I never heard.
Charles Grey 00:16:54 Yeah. See, I, we—
Michael Hughes 00:16:55 We had a caddy tournament.
Charles Grey 00:16:56 Yeah. I didn't, they, they got to do a lot. These guys here, but then they cut it out.
Michael Hughes 00:17:02 That when Fly Trap left, they cut it out? Or did they—?
William Tucker 00:17:05 They did what?
Michael Hughes 00:17:07 When did they stop it? After—was Fly Trap still there when they stopped the caddy tournament?
William Tucker 00:17:13 I think Fly Trap was still there when I went into the military. Okay. But Fly Trap had one thing that kept him from being one of the greatest of all times, he drank very heavily. Yeah. I remember when he was leading the state tournament out there and they couldn't hardly get him up and get him out there. And that's where he lost the tournaments. Cause he drink so much.
Charles Grey 00:17:37 Okay.
Michael Hughes 00:17:38 You can, no, go ahead. I, I'll go ahead.
Charles Grey 00:17:40 Ok
Michael Hughes 00:17:41 Does anybody–?
William Tucker 00:17:42 Oh, the other name for the other name for Fly trap was his a name– We called him Finnegan. Finnegan. The other name, we call him all the time. But mostly Fly Trap
Charles Grey 00:17:54 I was just going to ask the question. After, after you became an adult and left Danville, do you regret leaving Danville?
William Tucker 00:18:05 No, I can't really say, because I had a lot of fun in Washington, D.C. Number one, I was busy going to school. That was big on my mind. And number two, I played quite a bit of golf up there in Washington, D.C, and, of course, I had two children during that time. So I never regretted it even up until the day. ‘Cause I'm kind of, I'm disabled, you know that right. I never regretted all the things that I have done since I grew up here and went here, but I, but let me make no doubt about it. I love them. They'll tell you the same thing.
Michael Hughes 00:18:51 What, what, when you went to Bate, what principles did you. Uh, Mr. Summers, uh, Dr. Goodlow
William Tucker 00:19:00 Goodlow, uh, summer, uh Goodlow was there and he left about, I think I was about the 10th grade and Summers came in and became the principal.
Michael Hughes 00:19:10 Did you ever encounter, uh, Dr. Uh, Bate? Did you ever know him, John Bate?
William Tucker 00:19:16 Well, kinda what?
Michael Hughes 00:19:18 John W. Bate, did you know him, personally?.
William Tucker 00:19:20 No
Michael Hughes 00:19:22 mm-hmm he didn't know he was gone.
William Tucker 00:19:24 Yeah. Many years before I got there.
Michael Hughes 00:19:25 Okay.
William Tucker 00:19:25 Goodlow came in.
Michael Hughes 00:19:26 Okay.
Charles Grey 00:19:33 I, um, I'm wondering about–about how things was in Bate School. And did you compare your education at Bate—was you ever felt, did you ever feel inferior that you wasn't getting a good education atBbate?
William Tucker 00:19:55 I never felt– first you said how I felt about Bate? Yeah. I think we had one of the best classes together there and one of the girls was still living today. Uh, Carolyn Jones would tell you that we always had a very close class. All the boys and girls, we never had fights and arguments and all that kind of stuff. And the other thing was, with Bate, in terms of education, I think it was the best, best, you know, at that time I could have done a hell a lot better and my best subject come out on the Goodlow was– and then start dealing with algebra. I started thinking, hey, I need to do a little bit more, but a lot of the literature classes and things. I never did learn where I should have learned. I didn't learn about that – I learned just a little bit about history, because I become interested in Abraham Lincoln and a few things like it went on under there. Today, I'm in love with history and can go into a lot of it. But I ain't been sad a day I went to Danville High School. Danville Bate.
Charles Grey 00:21:10 Yeah.
Michael Hughes 00:21:14 I’ll see if anybody, anybody else got any questions in the audience?
Charles Grey 00:21:19 Anybody? You got any questions, please? Go ahead.
Dr. Jeffery Shenton 00:21:28 We ready to talk about the Danville Yankees then?
Charles Grey 00:21:31 Yeah. Anything
Michael Hughes 00:21:32 Yeah.
Dr. Jeffery Shenton 00:21:33 All right. Well, I get to ask the good question here. So you remember the Danville Yankees? Is that right?
William Tucker 00:21:38 Danville what?
Dr. Jeffery Shenton 00:21:39 The Yankees
Michael Hughes 00:21:39 Danville Yankees
William Tucker 00:21:40 No.
Dr. Jeffery Shenton 00:21:41 No?
William Tucker 00:21:42 No, I wasn't a member of the Danville Yankees.
Michael Hughes 00:21:44 Danville Yankees.
William Tucker 00:21:45 Yeah. Oh, Danville Yankees?
Dr. Jeffery Shenton 00:21:47 Yeah, we want to hear about the Yankees.
William Tucker 00:21:49 Yeah. Danville Yankees.
Dr. Jeffery Shenton 00:21:51 Yeah. So tell us how you–how you got involved with the Yankees and what your experience with the Yankees was.
William Tucker 00:21:56 Well it started out, as I said before, as a Mascot. I would always like you know hanging around mm-hmm with the Mascot, everywhere, trips–where they went– and they went all over the state of Kentucky. I was right there, in the scout. That's been why I know so much about Pistol Pete and Pistol Pete was just a year or two ahead of me, but I went during that time and I remember everybody, every player on this picture. I remember every single one of 'em. Cause I was a mascot during that time, and I didn't mind carrying them bats and balls and you know, and, and, they give you a little ice cream, something, every once in a while. And, They had a great organization. And they– at nighttime, Bunny Davis lived up on Seventh on, uh, Seventh Street, I think it was. And that's why he held all his meetings and that's where they divided all the money. It was different from, uh, later on. Every player that was there got so much money and they left and they give the mascots, they give us some, you know, a small amount of money for carrying the bats and things. So that's what– and I've stayed with these guys until I went to the military, as a mascot Then when I come out, I started playing a little baseball mm-hmm
Michael Hughes 00:23:14 mm-hmm do you remember the Cubs team?
William Tucker 00:23:17 The Cubs? I remember one game that they played.
Michael Hughes 00:23:20 Just one you told me about. Yeah.
William Tucker 00:23:22 Yeah. I remember one game. They called them. They started up calling them the Raggedy Nine. Yeah. That's what they started calling them the Raggedy Nine.
Michael Hughes 00:23:31 Oh, so, okay. Wow. You just answered the question that I've been trying to– so the Cubs, they, they, they went from the Raggedy Nine and they start– took the name Cubs. Huh? Is that what you're saying?
William Tucker 00:23:42 Yes. That's where they got it.
Michael Hughes 00:23:45 I've heard that name: Raggedy Nine, but we haven't been able to really substantiate.
William Tucker 00:23:51 Okay. Yeah. Raggedy Nine. That was it.
Michael Hughes 00:23:53 It was able– started out from what I could heard from somebody else, the Raggedy Nine, really, the reason they called them that is that they didn't have uniforms and everything like that at first.
William Tucker 00:24:04 Yeah. I just remember there one game that they played out on Lebanon Pike they had a big diamond out there on Lebanon Pike Yeah. I remember the pitchers that they had—
Michael Hughes 00:24:14 Who was that?
William Tucker 00:24:15 Uh, James Caldwell. He was one of the top pitchers around, and Bunny and them, they finally got to him and they had, uh, one, I remember some of the better players, like uh,…what's called his brother. I can't think of his name, not J.W. Uh, well, boy, in the class, you remember when we call him Specs. Do you remember Specs? Well, his brother, I'm telling you, you're talking about a left fielder. If it'd been over, going to the Yankees, he'd been there.
Charles Grey 00:24:50 Was he in your class, Specs?
William Tucker 00:24:52 No, Specs–Yeah, Specs was in my class. I'm trying to think what his brother's name was. It was– so Specs didn't play any sports though.
Michael Hughes 00:25:02 Yeah. Okay. You told me about Tommy? Was it Tommy Raines you were talking about?
William Tucker 00:25:08 That’s the name. Tommy rain. Okay. JW’s brother. Yeah. Okay. He played left field. I'll never forget him.
Michael Hughes 00:25:18 You said nothing got past him, huh?
William Tucker 00:25:20 Huh?
Michael Hughes 00:25:21 You said -
William Tucker 00:25:22 Nothing got past Tommy Raines. That's right. JW was the same way. JW was our second baseman. Tough second son-of-a-bitch (?) Some of these guys I'm telling you right now, was is good as some of these guys today going into majors. Mm-hmm they just couldn't go ‘cause they had that restriction.
Charles Grey 00:25:41 Yeah.
Michael Hughes 00:25:45 There was a game played. Uh, I, I think it, 1949, couple dates might be wrong. You have a– Uh, the Yankees played a team called Zulu Clowns.
William Tucker 00:25:58 Yes. I, I was there with a one, one game I played in it.
Michael Hughes 00:26:02 Really?
William Tucker 00:26:03 Yeah. Zulu Zlowns. Yeah. I think they were out of–in Louisville or Indianapolis,
Charles Grey 00:26:10 Indianapolis, I believe.
William Tucker 00:26:11 Yeah. Yeah. I played against the Indianapolis Dodgers, up there.
Michael Hughes 00:26:15 Okay.
William Tucker 00:26:15 Right in [inaudible] And I wasn’t much, but I helped the Yankees.
Michael Hughes 00:26:24 Okay. So it is true that they had the headdress, Zulu Clowns, and all that?
William Tucker 00:26:29 I don't remember what they had. I remember the, the grass skirts outta Louisville who wore those grass skirts. Yeah. Coming out here playing [inaudible] grass skirts were all they had on. They're a pretty good team, but the Yankees beat them.
Michael Hughes 00:26:45 Yeah. Yeah. I got an article here about that, but hearing it from you makes it, brings it all the way home. You know, somebody that was actually there. For for, uh, Lucille. Uh, Jackie, I can can't think of her last name now. Bowman, but Lucille Langford’s daughters–she, uh, told us to tell you hello, you know?
William Tucker 00:27:09 Oh, good.
Michael Hughes 00:27:10 She's looking at the broadcast.
Charles Grey 00:27:12 Jacqueline?
Michael Hughes 00:27:13 Yeah, Jackie
William Tucker 00:27:15 Lucille's sister was in class with me. Oh, no. Valla. They were in class with me. And I remember when they was real small and born and everything, and I remember Lucille and the whole family, just like, uh, Charles, and I remember— cause I remember the whole family.
Charles Grey 00:27:33 Right, right.
William Tucker 00:27:34 They had a brother named Charlie.
Charles Grey 00:27:36 Right.
William Tucker 00:27:37 Yeah. Yeah. Charlie Langford
Michael Hughes 00:27:39 Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
Dr. Jeffery Shenton 00:27:42 Can I, what about the baseball league again?
Charles Grey 00:27:44 Yeah, go ahead.
Dr. Jeffery Shenton 00:27:45 So you said that they, that they would meet and they would split up the money for, to, for all the players and for the mascot. What, how did, how did the teams make money? Can you talk about how the finances work?
William Tucker 00:27:54 Wherever they went, other cities, the states paid ‘em to come in there and play, and they did the same thing. If they brought them playing here and they paid them so much money. And they had dues. They always had dues. I did remember, I’ve now forgotten, know what the dues were, but the dues were very low. And at the end of year, they had a pot of money and they—Bunny was sat there and made an old deal, every player with so much money. And the mascots give us a little pilling. They just make this, they could happen help .
Dr. Jeffery Shenton 00:28:28 So they've said to call on a range of games with specific teams?
William Tucker 00:28:31 Huh?
Dr. Jeffery Shenton 00:28:32 They had to call and, and set up games with specific teams, or did you play, did they play the same teams every year? Or how, how did the league work?
William Tucker 00:28:39 I, I think so. I know we played them, you know, most of what I remember, twice. But see, I left from when I went in the military, come back, and went to college, so I forgotten a lot of what they did, but I can tell you that the Bunny and a couple more played with the Lexington Hustlers.
Michael Hughes 00:28:56 Yeah
William Tucker 00:28:57 Lexington Hustlers one of them that was able to play the Indianapolis Clowns who had Satchel Page, you ever heard of Satchel Page?
Dr. Jeffery Shenton 00:29:03 Absolutely.
Williams Tucker 00:29:04 They had all of them guys coming into Lexington Hustler, and they'd come over here and get players from here—Not me— but Bunny. I couldn't, but Bunny Davis, you know [], but Bunny Davis and a few others would go to Lexington, and I'd ride with somebody going over and see the games over there.
00:29:25 How did the tream— Tream, excuse me. How did the team travel mostly? Like just going to Lexington.
William Tucker 00:29:31 Well, we, when we restricted, the Yankees going away, they used to—for a long time—employ a big truck. Cause my mother, maybe your mother and all us would go. They carried—we carried a bunch of people with us on the, on them trucks and things. And we had music on there.
Michael Hughes 00:29:51 Oh, did you?
William Tucker 00:29:53 Oh yeah, well, oh, Bubba—I can't even put his name— would dance and sing, all the way. Bunny would try to act like Cab Calloway. And then later on, in years, it, I think I had gone then they had a, had enough money to take traveling thing to get a bus and take them.
Michael Hughes 00:30:16 Okay.
Dr. Jeffery Shenton 00:30:17 How far was the farthest that you would travel?
William Tucker 00:30:19 How far?
Dr. Jeffery Shenton 00:30:20 Yeah. How far,
William Tucker 00:30:21 The farthest I remember traveling was to Louisville.
Dr. Jeffery Shenton 00:30:23 Louisville?
William Tucker 00:30:24 Yeah, we, yeah, we went there, oh, two or three times playing in Lexington—playing Lexington baseball team. Not Lexington. No. I said Lexington. Louisville.
Jeffery Shenton 00:30:34 Louisville.
Charles Grey 00:30:36 I wanna just see if any family members or friends want to ask him a question that you've been wondering about and we'll about finish, but I just want, if you all have any input, uh, you want to ask them something you've been thinking about for a long time, feel free to do so.
Michael Hughes 00:30:55 Wil–Leon…you want to ask?
Bill Tucker (Billy’s son) 00:30:57 I better stand up. Uh, I'm his son Bill. And I just have one question ‘cause I was—I didn't know. My dad played baseball until I was a teenager. And. I was real young and I was like, most kids starting to play sports and everything. And I did a lot of stuff left-handed, so I need a left-handed glove, so I can play softball or whatever. And so I told pop, I need glove. I need a left hand. He's like, no, no, you do not a left-handed glove. That's you want to be on the right hand side God. That’s the story. So I was like, I, but I need a glove. Okay. And he gave me. My grandfather's glove, his father's glove is catcher's mitt. And I think I still got it. I'm pretty sure I do. Now, again, I'm in the seventies. Everybody's got the web and I'm out there playing with this 1940s era catcher’s mitt. You can't—on my little hand, I couldn't flex it or nothing. And I used to come up with this—uh, I came up with this technique where I would stop the ball, just knock it down, throw the glove off and then throw it in my left hand. Do you remember giving me that glove?
William Tucker 00:32:25 No, I don't remember me told that. I remember the catcher mitt, yeah. Little ole something like that when you got bigger.
Bill Tucker 00:32:32 Yeah. So I, I improvised, uh, myself and as another kid, same thing we hit left-handed. And so, they changed the rules for us and everything, but I stayed with it just because of him. That, that mitt. And I still have it somewhere. I'm pretty sure I still had that catcher’s mitt. Always wanted to know why'd you gimme that mitt?
Michael Hughes 00:32:55 Anybody else?
Unknown Speaker 00:32:57 Oh, I, I guess I have a couple questions. So what position did you play and what position did granddaddy play?
William Tucker 00:33:05 What did you, what—?
Unknown Speaker 00:33:07 What position did you play and what position did granddaddy play?
William Tucker 00:33:10 I played outfield. My grandfather was [inaudible] here. Roscoe -- as a catcher. He, and then two others, I, I can name them if you want me to. One—and you probably know him. JL Pruett. Down off [inaudible]. He’d throw the ball like a shotgun [inaudible]. Nobody stole base on JL. Ed McGill was the other catcher. I don't know if you remember Ed McGill or not. Ed McGill was the other catcher. See, but he asked me, how I got far in baseball and just being a mascot. My father was a catcher on the team. So I followed around with that, all of that, you know, on the team with my father and being a mascot.
Michael Hughes 00:33:59 Let, let me ask you about, uh, I've read a lot of articles on Ed McGill, and I heard some stories. They said that he had bad feet. I mean, is that true?
William Tucker 00:34:11 I don't remember that. I remember we had some pitchers out there, man. I'm telling you—during that time—we had some pitchers that could really burn when they brought it to you. And it was even before Pete—Pete had a couple brothers, all of 'em could pitch. Darrell McCowan was a good, fine pitcher. And I remember his favorite pitch. And Archer, in fact, when we went to play the Dodgers in Indianapolis, Archer did all the pitching. And of course, everybody in this room knows about “Pistol Pete” McCowan. Pistol Pete, I had [inaudible] against a guy like that.
Michael Hughes 00:34:57 Was he that good—He was really that good?
William Tucker 00:34:59 Yes, he was. The one that called him, he’s a Canadian league and called him up and drafted him back in the service. And he got hit with some scaffolding and killed his career. He played at Kentucky State. See on the team when I was playing, we played my team against Pistol Pete, and I used to write him letters and kid him all the time telling him what we were gonna do to him. Yeah. So, and then football, y'all got away from me. You—this [inaudible] baseball, but they ain't talking about Bate school. We set the record on Franklin's new field. Can anybody guess what? The record was? 84 to nothing. We set the record, down there. That's different from baseball. I know you ain't interested in that.
Michael Hughes 00:35:57 I'm in–I'm interested in all of it. All of it.
William Tucker 00:36:00 Eighty-four to nothing.
Michael Hughes 00:36:02 I think we got articles on that or something.
Charles Grey 00:36:05 I think so
William Tucker 00:36:06 We, we, we set the record. Bate School did. Yeah.
Michael Hughes 00:36:10 You got an article in the thing?
Charles Grey 00:36:11 Yeah.
Michael Hughes 00:36:12 Let me ask you a question I've been—someone I've heard— Did you know JB Tibbs?
William Tucker 00:36:21 He, yeah—I just know him just vaguely, just walking through with somebody in town. He didn't, he don't seem like he really stayed here that much. I see him come in and then he’d be gone.
Michael Hughes 00:36:33 He told me a story about a guy—way back in the sixties, he told me— about a guy named Ebb Harlan. I don't know if you ever heard of him.
William Tucker 00:36:42 I heard of Ebb Harland. I didn't ever associate with him. I think he married [inaudible] died. Ebb Harlan, I think.
Michael Hughes 00:36:52 I don't know. I just, I've just—
William Tucker 00:36:54 Yeah, I didn't know Ebb Harlan
Michael Hughes 00:36:55 JB Tibbs would tell me stories about him. You know, so I didn't know if you might have known him or not.
William Tucker 00:37:02 No
Michael Hughes 00:37:03 Okay.
Charles Grey 00:37:05 You got anything else?
Michael Hughes 00:37:06 Well—
Dr. Jeffery Shenton 00:37:06 We can go forever, but I mean, how long do you want to go?
Michael Hughes 00:37:10 Um, I would, our. I don't want him to get too tired if you think,
Charles Grey 00:37:14 See if it's anything he wants to say.
Michael Hughes 00:37:18 Yeah. We'll let you finish up with anything you want to talk about. We won't, we won't stress you out too long because we want, you know, be, keep you fresh for the chicken that we got already.
Charles Grey 00:37:30 Anything you wanna say about anything or you wanna, whatever, this is your day.
Michael Hughes 00:37:37 Billy Tucker Day.
William Tucker 00:37:39 Well, I don't have, have too much to say, except I just wanna thank the people that come here and show their support appreciation for the me and Danville. Uh, I being repetitive in telling you that I loved Danville then And I love it now. It's fabulous place. I didn't talk anything about the, uh, Baptist Church. Yeah. When I was member of the Baptist Church with Reverend PA Carter was, was the minister down there. And that's where, uh, you know, I was baptized and that's where I went to Boy Scout camp. We used to go to camp all the time down in Versailles. You had to swim in the lakes down there. I all did that down in the lakes, Versailles at, at, uh, as a Boy Scout. so, uh, you know, I went through all these exercises, man. Some people asked me today, how'd you do all that? I don't know. I was just interested and I had a bunch of good people, good people around me. My, all those, you know, working and poor. I had a grandmother that raised me, Anna Frye. She dead today, but she fed me and clothed me. The way I went to her, I would refuse to live with Ross and Cole, Jolene, and Shirley, my sisters stayed there. I'd go down and stay there a few days and come back and stay with my grandmother. Cause I love my grandmother. And uh, she fed me, clothed me and taught me a lot. They, they were all members. I'm not, I, there was a member, but I did support this. They had a church down there in Parksville. It's still there. And I know even how they got it, the building, I, I researched all that. But Ella, Ella . . .
Michael Hughes 00:39:45 Marshall.
William Tucker 00:39:46 Ella Marshall. Anybody, I know you ought know you, maybe young man after school. The first black teacher ever taught that to Ella Marshall. I used go to that church. I, and I, as I've gotten older until I got disabled, when Ella was, I still support the church, although I was nota member, I thought I just loved Ella Marshes. She was a wonderful person. And in fact, I got all the information and one, the first, first thing I want to tell you, uh, in affect my heart, my grandfather was a minister.
Charles Grey 00:40:21 Green Tucker
William Tucker 00:40:22 No Green Tucker, Green Tucker was my father and he was a minister of the church. And, and he was the 15th or 16th member. I remember looking at him and, uh, of course all the membership was gone now. And the church is just about to fall down. But I remember, and I remember how they used to carry me out there. When I was about that high, carry me, my grandmother would carry me out there and they have big basket eats out there. Have big baskets in all the yards and everything, [] and things up. And I would sit ther and enjoy for one day, unfortunately, I never got to go to school out there. When, when she closed, they closed is a one room school. When they closed all of 'em came to Bate all the students there came to Bate and finished at Bate.
Michael Hughes 00:41:21 Yes. Ella Marshall was my great auntie.
William Tucker 00:41:23 Oh yeah?
Michael Hughes 00:41:24 Yeah.
William Tucker 00:41:25 Well she was my love
Michael Hughes 00:41:27 I, um, before we get off here, I, Mr. Eugene Johnson's he said you guys talked and, uh, he, he was wanted to be here, but he couldn't. Yeah, but he just sent me a text to tell you what a good job you doing here.
William Tucker 00:41:41 Yeah. Yeah.
Michael Hughes 00:41:44 So he wanted you to know that he he's proud of the job you're doing here today.
William Tucker 00:41:48 Thank you. Thank you.
Michael Hughes 00:41:49 The history that you're sharing with him. Yeah.
William Tucker 00:41:51 I don't know if Charles, if you remember Gene Johnson, don't you.
Charles Grey 00:41:54 Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
William Tucker 00:41:56 Cause he went on way to college down in Jackson state.
Michael Hughes 00:41:59 Yeah.
Charles Grey 00:41:59 Yeah.
Michael Hughes 00:42:00 Mississippi valley. He played, yeah.
William Tucker 00:42:01 Gene Johnson over there—Annie Frye. Any of you here knew Annie?
Charles Grey 00:42:05 Uh, we all knew her
William Tucker 00:42:07 Annie Frye raised him.
Charles Grey 00:42:09 Yeah
William Tucker 00:42:11 Gene Johnson.
Dr. Jeffery Shenton 00:42:15 Okay. Can, can I ask about neighborhoods? Is that okay?
Charles Grey 00:42:17 Yeah.
Dr. Jeffery Shenton 00:42:18 So you said you, you talked a little bit about being raised by your grandmother here in Danville. Is that right? Yes. Can you tell us a little bit about the house you grew up in and where that was and about the neighborhood that you grew up in?
William Tucker 00:42:28 Neighborhood was great with educated and well attended table mm-hmm a Ms. George, Don who taught there next door to. I don't know how we ever live in the neighborhood. Of course they got older, even what I didn't have and what she had, uh, miss, uh, I'm trying to think of the lady that taught down at the second grade. I can't think of her name.
Charles Grey 00:42:55 Leah Jones?
Michael Hughes 00:42:56 Dale?
William Tucker 00:42:57 Leah Jones.
Michael Hughes 00:42:58 Ms. Jones.
William Tucker 00:42:58 She taught down in the Second Street. She's a teacher, Ms. Susan Fisher taught up the streets and all these were, uh, wonderful people. And they taught school in the neighborhood, I guess we were just poor and got into it. I don't know how so
Charles Grey 00:43:12 Sophie Craig?
William Tucker 00:43:14 Huh?
William Tucker 00:43:15 Miss Sophie Craig. Yeah. Yeah.
Dr. Jeffery Shenton 00:43:18 Where in Danville was that house located? Where, where, where was it?
William Tucker 00:43:22 What did he say about Danville?
Michael Hughes 00:43:24 Where was the house located?
William Tucker 00:43:26 I was laying on Green Street, 163 Green Street and Bugs and all of them, just cut through my yard and and go to the Methodist church. Yeah. Mm-hmm that's way they got to the Methodist church. Yeah, you cut through there and come back except when I had old Spot up there.
Charles Grey 00:43:45 He was a bad dude.
Dr. Jeffery Shenton 00:43:46 Mean old Spot, huh?
Charles Grey 00:43:48 Yeah. But see Green Street is Martin Luther King now.
Dr. Jeffery Shenton 00:43:50 Uh-huh.
Charles Grey 00:43:51 Yeah.
William Tucker 00:43:52 Yeah. But Green Street have a bunch of really nice people up and down and I just named three or four, there was a school teacher. Oh, Ms. Sledd Yeah. Ms. Sledd may be the best teacher that I ever had at Bate school. And she taught geometry. I wasn't too good with it. Ms. Sledd taught Geometry right up the street.And she'd always say [in a high voice] “William Tucker!” I used to borrow money from her go to lunch. I never did pay her back. Yeah, Ms. Sledd.
Dr. Jeffery Shenton 00:44:34 And what happened to that property on Green Street after your grandmother owned it? What can you tell us? What, what happened to that property?
William Tucker 00:44:40 I guess they just sold the property. I don't know who owned it or anything of that nature.
Dr. Jeffery Shenton 00:44:44 Okay.
William Tucker 00:44:45 I guess I just sold it because after, after I went in the military and come back, my grand, my grandmother moved and moved over on Walnut Street. Uh, you know, where, uh, Smith's Funeral Home is? Right down the street on the left hand side. And, uh, I went down there, but I only stayed with my grandma a little while, cause I was busy going to college and everything.
Charles Grey 00:45:08 Mm-hmm
Michael Hughes 00:45:12 Well, I think we've, we did a little bit over right about an hour. Uh, I think if there's anything else you want to finish up with, if not, if anybody out there we want to thank you Fiona from the Danville papers coming on. If I seeing your name. Fiona. Yeah. Yeah. Fiona from, from the Danville Advocate. Um, appreciate you coming, coming in and with us, um,
Charles Grey 00:45:37 April.
Michael Hughes 00:45:38 April, our, our college intern she's she works hard with us, we thank all of ya’ll. Oh yeah. You know, we thank, uh, we, uh, uh, Tucker, Jr. and, and, and I get, and his daughter for bringing him in. Cause since we've been anticipating this. Sometime, you know, so what we going to do- We gonna stop here and we all y'all are invited up to CentreWorks, which is up on top of the third floor, old Hub building. We're having dinner there in honor, Mr. Tucker. And um, if anybody else got anything say, if not, I think we'll conclude this part of the interview. I wanna give my hand again to come. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Billy.
Charles Grey 00:46:23 Thank you.