GASTONIA, N.C. — Tony King, of Springfield, Massachusetts, was a white youth league player and won a moral victory in Gastonia 86 years ago.
[ Friendship 9 changed history 54 years ago in Rock Hill ]
He stuck up for his black friend during a World Series Regionals game in the Deep South in 1934.
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“Said, ‘If he don’t play, then we won’t play,’” retired coach Elmore Hill said. “So, they didn’t play the next day. They got back on the train and went to Springfield, Massachusetts."
>> In the video at the top of this webpage, Gaston County bureau reporter Ken Lemon has the 102-year-old man’s remarkable story about how a game among teenagers became a lesson for everyone.
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