Semipro and Collegiate Baseball in Enid, Oklahoma

Luis Olmo played for Guayama against Enid in 1940. By 1943, he and Enid shortstop Red Barkley were teammates on the Brooklyn Dodgers. (National Baseball Hall of Fame and Library)

 

The town of Enid, Oklahoma, had minor-league baseball in the early twentieth century, with such teams as the 1922 Enid Harvesters in the Class C Western Association.1 They did well at first—a 104-27 record— but after going 80-65 in 1923, they folded in 1924 due to poor attendance. Enid’s baseball glory would instead come in the realms of semipro and college baseball. Enid was a hotbed of semipro excellence from 1935 through 1945—with 1935 to 1941 considered the “Golden Age”—thanks to sponsorship by oil companies such as Eason and the Champlin Refining Company, located in Enid. Four Enid semipro teams won National Baseball Congress (NBC) tournaments in Wichita, Kansas, including the 1937 Enid Eason Oilers, the 1940 and 1941 Enid Champlin Refiners, and the 1945 Enidairs, a World War II Army Air Field ball-club. Located 120 miles south of Wichita, Enid was runner-up in the 1938, 1943, and 1944 events.2 More recently, Enid has become the host for some of the twenty-first century’s top collegiate baseball. Since 2009, Enid has been home to the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division II World Series at David Allen Memorial Ballpark, with its open seating capacity of 3,000.3

This article’s dual purpose recognizes Enid’s semi-pro teams of a bygone era and its relevance in hosting a collegiate World Series through—at least—2028.

ENID EASON OILERS AND DUNCAN HALLIBURTON CEMENTERS: 1935-39 POWERHOUSES

The Enid-Duncan rivalry was akin to Boston Red Sox-New York Yankees. Duncan, Oklahoma, captured the 1936 and 1939 NBC semipro crowns while Enid won the 1937 laurels. The first NBC tournament in Wichita—which has hosted the event continuously from 1935 through 2025—featured the Bismarck (North Dakota) Churchills, headlined by Satchel Paige, as one of 32 teams from 24 states. Enid lost two of three games in the double-elimination series while second-place Duncan finished 6-2, losing to the Churchills (3-1 and 5-2), paced by Paige’s four wins and 66 strikeouts in 39 innings.4 Quincy Trouppe, Paige’s teammate, noted it was a “fun tournament, players took it seriously, and promoter Ray Dumont did a fine job.”5

In the 1936 NBC, Enid topped Bismarck (8-2) — sans Paige and other Negro Leaguers who had other obligations—but was eliminated by Duncan, 15-4. Then Enid won seven straight Wichita contests to take home the 1937 NBC trophy. In the semifinals, Buford, Georgia eliminated Duncan, before Enid’s Bus Talley— ex-House of David hurler—bested Buford, 7-4.6

In August 1938, Enid lost the title game, 5-4, to the Buford Bona Allens. The All-Tournament Team included Silverton, Oregon, shortstop Johnny Pesky, and Eddie Waitkus, first baseman for Lisbon Falls, Maine.7 A bad omen for the 1939 Enid Champlin Refiners—the same team but now sponsored by oil baron H.H. Champlin—was three straight pre-Wichita tournament losses to Buford on the Refiners’ home turf. Enid was eliminated by eventual NBC champion Duncan, 5-3, after losing their opener to Mount Pleasant, Texas.8 Duncan traveled to Puerto Rico for the September 1939 Semipro World Series and was defeated, four games to two, by the Guayama Brujos, 1938-39 Puerto Rico semipro league champions.

TWO NBC CROWNS AND 1940 SEMIPRO WORLD SERIES TITLE FOR ENID CHAMPLIN REFINERS

Enid claimed back-to-back NBC titles in 1940 and 1941 plus a September 21-October 1, 1940, Semipro World Series win—four games-to-three—versus 1939-40 Guayama. The Refiners qualified for Wichita in 1940 by edging the Stillwater (Oklahoma) Boomers, 7-6.9 They won the NBC under skipper Nick Urban, and star hurler Vince Cauble, whose four wins in Wichita— including a 5-1 finale versus the Mount Pleasant Cubs—tied Satchel Paige’s 1935 win total. Enid lost two tune-up games to Duncan, on September 7-8, 1940, before traveling to Puerto Rico in mid-September by ship. The Refiners copped Game Seven, 7-5, with a four-run rally in the ninth. Guayama’s Juan Esteban “Tetelo” Vargas got a Gold Medal for going 16-for-24.10 Guayama player Luis Olmo and Enid shortstop Red Barkley were later teammates on the 1943 Brooklyn Dodgers.11

On October 10, 1940, 300 baseball fans honored the Refiners in Enid’s Oxford Hotel. The Global Semipro Championship trophy was presented to H.H. Champlin.

Ray Dumont instituted the Designated Hitter (DH) rule for the 1941 NBC, 32 years before the 1973 American League, and established a 20-second time limit between pitches, seven-plus decades ahead of Major League Baseball.12 Red Barkley, a Childress, Texas, native and MVP of the 1941 NBC, played for the 1937 St. Louis Browns and 1939 Boston Bees, pre-Brooklyn. Enid’s 7-0 record included topping the Waco, Texas, Dons, 9-3, for the title. Monty Basgall, Enid’s second baseman, played 200 combined games with the 1948, 1949, and 1951 Pittsburgh Pirates. Enid declined a trip to Puerto Rico in 1941 to defend their Global title versus the Caguas Criollos since four of their key players worked in defense industry jobs.13

ELLIS “COT” DEAL, TWO-TIME NBC MVP AND THREE-TIME ALL-AMERICAN

Cot Deal, born in Arapaho, Oklahoma, 100 miles southwest of Enid, was stationed at Enid Army Flying Field as a physical instructor. The Enid Army Flying School Enidairs were three-time NBC finalists, second in 1943 and 1944, and 1945 champs. On August 29, 1943, Deal lost the title game, 5-3, to Cecil Travis and the Camp Wheeler Spokes from Macon, Georgia. An NBC record 12,000 fans saw Deal allow seven hits. He was named to the semipro All-American team.14 In 1944, the Enidairs were upended, 5-4, by the Sherman Field Flyers for the Gold. Deal’s grand slam versus Sioux Falls Army Air Field propelled the Enidairs to the finals. He was 10-1 on the mound for the 54-18 Enidairs, with a .371 batting average, pre-NBC tournament, before being voted 1944 MVP in Wichita.15 The 1945 Enidairs went 7-0 as Deal played the outfield in all seven games and pitched stellar relief twice. He became a two-time Wichita MVP and three-time All-American. “I was glad to serve my country and polish my baseball skills,” said Deal. “Enid’s Vance Air Force Base trains world-class pilots for our Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and allies.”16

ENID’S TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY COLLEGIATE BASEBALL COMEBACK

Semipro baseball in Enid waned from the end of World War II until 1999. A catalyst for jump-starting Enid’s amateur baseball story, which went decades without a first-class baseball stadium, was the building of David Allen Memorial Ballpark. The downtown ballpark opened on September 14, 1999. The stadium is a successful public-private partnership involving the non-profit ballpark association, Enid, its public schools, and Northern Oklahoma College (NOC). The outfield fence is classic brick, and measures 328 feet down the left-field line, 390 feet to center, and 300 feet down the right-field line.17 In addition to high school and semipro games, the ballpark has hosted the Connie Mack League, NJCAA Division II World Series, and Division II NJCAA Regional baseball events. The May 24-31, 2025, World Series was its 16th Classic.

Enid is heavily invested in its World Series, 2009 to 2025, hosting players and coaches for meals, assigning Little League “cheerleaders and buddies” to participating teams, and educating participants about Enid’s baseball history. All Junior College (JUCO) team coaches, players, and fans are a boon to the local economy in terms of week-long hotel stays, purchases of meals, fuel, souvenirs, and other incidentals. Players are transported to David Allen via motorcoach. Tommy Graham, a 2024 East Central (Mississippi) Warriors bus driver, noted: “Enid’s hospitality is great—they support the World Series and visiting teams. I drove the Warriors from Memphis, Tennessee, to Enid. They got to Memphis from Decatur, Mississippi.”18

Enid’s 12-team World Series is a double-elimination format. The LSU-Eunice Bengals won their sixth title since 2009, and eighth overall, including 2006 and 2008. They eliminated St. John’s River (Florida) in the semifinals, 6-5, before defeating Brunswick (North Carolina), 9-3, in the finals. Brunswick edged East Central, 2-1, in the other semifinal.19 LSU-Eunice is 48-12 in 11 NJCAA Division II World Series. Table 1 lists the 2009-2024 JUCO winners.

 

INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR: 2024 ENID REGIONALS

The eight-team 2024 Enid Regionals, held May 9-13, preceded the May 25-June 1 World Series. South Arkansas Community College from El Dorado won it. Player rosters were set at 30, the same as for Enid’s World Series. The event had an international flavor since 18 of Western Oklahoma State’s 30-player roster were Latino—from the Dominican Republic (7), Puerto Rico (3), Colombia (2), Aruba, Curacao, and Panama with three others via the Bronx, Miami, and Texas.20 This tournament attracted visitors like Jhamil Rivera Sr., from Canóvanas, Puerto Rico, who came to Enid to watch his son, Jhamil Jr., play for Western Oklahoma. He flew from Puerto Rico to Dallas, then to Oklahoma City, then rented a car to drive to Enid.21 The other seven teams mainly had players from Arkansas, Florida, Oklahoma, and Texas.

 

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Jorge Colon Delgado, Cot Deal, Tommy Graham, Luis Olmo, Jhamil Rivera Sr., and Quincy Trouppe.

 

Sources

Player data from Baseball Reference.

 

Notes

1. Lloyd Johnson and Miles Wolff, The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, Third Edition (Durham, NC: Baseball America, 2007), 286.

2. The Free Library. S.v. “Semipro baseball’s golden era (1935-1941): a tale of two cities.” Located at: https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Semipro+baseball%27s+golden+era+(1935-1941)%3a+a+tale+of+two+cities.-a0157255634, acccessed January 7, 2025.

3. “Welcome to David Allen Memorial Ballpark,” NJCAA Division II Baseball World Series Program (Enid, OK: David Allen Memorial Ballpark, 2024), 3.

4. Dean A. Sullivan, Middle Innings: A Documentary History of Baseball, 1900-1948 (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1998), 157-60.

5. Quincy Trouppe, in-person interview, New York, June 1991. Trouppe was fluent in Spanish, having played in Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela.

6. Official Guide National semipro Baseball for 1938 (Wichita, Kansas: National Semipro Baseball Congress, 1938), 14.

7. Official Guide National semipro Baseball for 1939 (Wichita, Kansas: National Semipro Baseball Congress, 1939), 14. Pesky later starred for the Boston Red Sox and became famous for Fenway Park’s “Pesky Pole.” Waitkus may have loosely inspired Bernard Malamud’s 1952 book The Natural, later made into a 1984 film starring Robert Redford.

8. Bob Burke, Kenny Franks, and Royse Parr, Glory Days of Summer: The History of Baseball in Oklahoma (Oklahoma City, OK: Oklahoma Heritage Association, 1999), 40-41.

9. Official Guide National semipro Baseball for 1941 (Wichita, Kansas: National Semipro Baseball Congress, 1941), 120.

10. Thomas E. Van Hyning, “Enid, Oklahoma’s Baseball Links: Late Nineteenth Century to the 21st Century (Part II),” beisbol101.com, May 19, 2024, https://beisbol101.com/enid-oklahomas-baseball-links-late-nineteenth-century-to-the-21st-century-part-ii/, accessed January 7, 2025. This was a five-part series.

11. Luis R. Olmo, in-person interview, Santurce, PR, December 1991.

12. Travis M. Larsen, “Ahead of the Curve: A History of the National Baseball Congress Tournament in Wichita, Kansas, 1935-2005,” (Hays, KS: Fort Hays State University, 2006), 31. Master’s Theses 2208, https://scholars.fhsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3207&context=theses, accessed January 8, 2025.

13. Burke, Franks, and Parr, 49.

14. Gary Bedingfield, “Cot Deal,” Baseball in Wartime, March 6, 2008, https://www.baseballinwartime.com/player_biographies/deal_cot.htm, acccessed January 8, 2025.

15. Bedingfield, March 6, 2008.

16. Cot Deal, telephone interview, January 25, 1992. Deal had a storied 1950-54 Puerto Rico Winter League and minor-league playing career before becoming the Houston Colt 45s’ first pitching coach (1962-64); managing the 1968 and 1969 Oklahoma City 89ers; returning as 89ers coach/interim manager, 1979-82; serving as the Houston Astros 1983-85 outfield coach and defensive coordinator.

17. “Welcome to David Allen Memorial Ballpark,” 3.

18. Tommy Graham, in-person interview, Enid, OK, May 29, 2024.

19. Author’s scorecards, May 31 and June 1, 2024. The author resided in an Enid RV Park, from mid-April to mid-June 2024, and attended the eight-team Regional Tournament and 12-team World Series.

20. NJCAA Baseball 2024 Region II, Division II Tournament Program, 7.

21. Jhamil Rivera Sr., in-person conversation, Enid, OK, May 10, 2024.