1955 Darlington Pony League All-Star Team
Possible names of the 1955 Darlington Pony League All Star Team are:
Front row, left to right:
Freddie Dargan, Junior Crews, Jerry Byrd, Wade Jordan, Joel Tyner, Eddie Way, and Steve Ballard.
Back row, left to right:
Dan Kelley or Bobby Farrell, Billy Summer, James Buie, Frankie Haynie, Jay Phillips, Sumter Langston, Jim Stone, and Coach John Davis
The photo that was shared in the June 29th issue of the News and Press by Beverley Spears has had some interest here in Darlington, and two players in the photograph say that the coach pictured was not Robert Beckham, but Coach John Davis.
Both Jim Stone and Sumter Langston, teammates shown on the back row next to the coach on far right, remembered the team well.
They also remember John Davis well, but really didn’t recall Robert Beckham.
“He may have helped with other teams and had a collection of photos,” said Sumter Langston. “But I cannot recall him ever coaching us.”
“We were all good ball players that year,” remembered Jim Stone. “If you look closely, you’ll see we all had on jerseys from the teams we played for. The fella on the front row, Wade Jordan, he had a K for Kiwanis on his jersey that was put on with black electrical tape.”
The team was in front of the McCullough House on Pearl Street, former home of the Darlington Recreation Department and now the site of the Council on Aging.
Jim Stone grew up next door in the offices of the City Administration Building, and remembers one time that he created a parachute and jumped off the roof.
“The parachute broke my fall, but I still ended up in the bushes…and had a good many scratches.” laughed Stone.
He said he escaped a whipping because his mother couldn’t get to him fast enough.
Langston remembered that story, too.
The two hopes that their memory is correct on the names they have provided, and welcome comments from other community members that remember these boys of summer!
