George Provens

The title of a Shakespearean play, All’s Well That Ends Well, seems to fit the life of George Provens. In the midst of some tough years in his 20s fell a genuine bright spot, a brief stint with the Cleveland Buckeyes of the Negro American League in 1945. Though that achievement didn’t turn his life in a different direction immediately, his longtime love of baseball eventually took hold so strongly that he was named to two local sporting halls of fame in Ohio. 

George Edward Provens was born to Jessie and Herbert Provens on June 1, 1918, in Lexington, Kentucky.1 However, on Herbert’s military registration card a few months later, his address was about 260 miles to the south, in downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee. Despite his urban residence, his job was listed as a self-employed farmer. Perhaps Herbert was transitioning from farm work to a promising job in a big city but wasn’t settled in enough for his wife and child to join him there. 

The Provens family may not have been counted in the 1920 census anywhere. In early 1924 Herbert was presumably the H.L. Provens living in or near Midvale, Ohio, a village close to the much larger communities of New Philadelphia and Dover. He was an officer of a newly formed African Masonic lodge.2 

In the summer of 1925, if not earlier, Herbert likely worked for the Robinson Clay Products Co. at its Royal plant on Midvale’s outskirts. Near that plant was the Royal Settlement neighborhood. Herbert lived there, next to a two-story building that included residential space above a combined grocery store/barbershop/poolroom. It’s unknown whether his wife and son were living with him when that neighboring building was decimated by fire. The first-floor business’s new owner accused Provens of starting the blaze and struck him on the head with a pipe. Though Provens was jailed overnight before his release, it was the attacker who was fined $10 and court costs.3 

If George Provens was also living at the Royal Settlement that summer, he had opportunities to watch at least two local Black baseball teams nearby. The one that received the most coverage in 1925 was called the Royal Hornets, “comprised of colored athletes residing at the Royal plant, near Midvale,” according to a local newspaper.4 A couple of months later, that paper paid a little attention to a game between a team of White Robinson employees and “a colored team of the same company.” The latter lost, 4-1.5 No Black team drawn from the Robinson workforce received much coverage in subsequent years.6 

The first mention of George Provens in a local newspaper may have been at the end of 1926. He was listed among students attending the Royal school who had perfect attendance.7 He was about 8½ years old. One newspaper noted that the school was specifically “maintained for the colored children at the Royal sewer pipe factory.”8 

In the 1930 census, George remained the family’s only child. Herbert Provens, who’d been ordained as a deacon of Midvale’s Missionary Baptist Church in 1928,9 continued as a Robinson employee until his death in July 1933 from tuberculosis. He’d been suffering for 19 months. The family was still living at the Royal Settlement.10 In the spring of 1934, George was listed on the program for an eighth-grade graduation event in Midvale, reciting or singing a piece titled, “The Blue and the Gray,” but it wasn’t clear if he was one of the graduates.11

George Provens was presumably the local athlete with that surname who started showing up in 1937 newspapers as a basketball player. A church league included an African Methodist Episcopal team with a forward named Provens. George was 18½ at that time. In possibly his first game, his team was clobbered by a Moravian squad by a score of 70-14, with the victors setting a league record for most points.12

In the middle of the following year, Provens was mentioned in newspapers for a very different reason: his wedding. He and Willie Belle Houston were married in July 1938 in Wellsburg, West Virginia (about 50 miles from Midvale). She graduated from New Philadelphia’s high school and he from Midvale’s. Like his late father, he worked for Robinson Clay Products.13

The newlyweds lived in or near New Philadelphia into 1945, though in 1940 he reportedly began traveling about 30 miles to play in the City Class-A Baseball League in Canton, primarily as a second baseman and pitcher.14 Box scores of league games during the early 1940s were quite rare, and thus his sole early baseball team to receive much newspaper coverage may have been the 1939 Dover Lions. For example, on June 11 the Lions had a pitcher named Provens against the Midvale Coals. The latter club featured Frank Baumholtz, a National League outfielder from 1947 to 1957. Dover lost, 7-1.15

During the first few months of 1940, the future Cleveland Buckeye was probably amateur boxer “George Proven [sic], 160 [pounds], a tough looking Dennison colored boy.” Dennison is five miles from Midvale.16 In October, Provens completed a military service card identifying the former Willie Houston as his wife and his employer still as Robinson Clay Products. In early 1941 he was among numerous local Selective Service registrants who were required by New Philadelphia’s draft board to complete a questionnaire quickly for possible enlistment.17

Before June 1941, Black employees of Provens’ workplace formed a softball team sponsored by Local 490 of the United Brick & Clay Workers.18 It’s not known whether Provens was among those ballplayers, but very soon he was on Midvale’s Dew Drop Inn softball team. He homered twice in their first game in June.19

In early 1942, significant cracks in Provens’ marriage were publicized when Willie Belle, pregnant with their third child, filed for divorce. She said he was cruel, “threatened to kill her with a shotgun,” and squandered their money on gambling and alcohol. Five days later she asked that the suit be dismissed, a request that was granted.20

Toward the end of 1943, Provens had to engage with the legal system on another serious matter.  On December 18, he faced “a charge of cutting with intent to wound.” The victim was his friend Lee Fulp, who died from knife wounds after the two men fought outside the Dew Drop Inn (at the Royal Settlement) on December 3. The two reportedly argued over a woman who left that tavern with Fulp. Provens, his wife, and the Fulps had been close friends dating back to at least 1938, when they belonged to a group that vacationed at the Ohio State Fair.21 

Within two months of the incident, Provens was found guilty of manslaughter, after he admitted on the stand that he’d cut his friend while trying to disarm him. On February 21, 1944, Provens was placed on probation for five years. He was a father of four at that point.22 

Later that year Provens was thriving as an infielder and pitcher on the City Merchants team in Canton’s City Class-A Baseball League, and on July 16 he was scheduled to try out with the Cleveland Buckeyes of the NAL. He’d recently had a similar opportunity with the Homestead Grays of the Negro National League.23 The Buckeyes visited the Memphis Red Sox for a doubleheader on July 16, but dominating subsequent coverage was the tragic death early that morning of Memphis pitcher Porter Moss.24 

If Provens’ tryout with Cleveland did occur, apparently nothing much resulted.25 Regardless, by mid-August he and teammate Marion Motley were both named third basemen on a league all-star team to play in a benefit for the Philomatheon Society for the Blind. Provens was chosen to bat leadoff.26 In 1968 Motley, a star running back for the NFL’s Cleveland Browns, was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

In May of 1945, Provens traveled to Cleveland (from his residence at the time, in Dover) for a pre-induction examinationby the military, but apparently he wasn’t called up as a result.27 Instead, on July 14 it was announced that Provens had earned another tryout with the Buckeyes. Two other players on the Merchants would join him, fellow pitcher Phelbert Lawson and catcher Tommy Harris.28

The trio worked out with the Buckeyes on July 16 and then rejoined the Merchants the following day for a Class-A game. The three teammates were then scheduled to reunite with the Buckeyes on July 22 in Cleveland.29 Provens’ first game with the Buckeyes may have been on July 27, at third base against Brooklyn’s longtime semipro team, the Bushwicks. Box scores in two papers showed him as hitless in two at-bats, though with a run scored. Both accounts said he struck out to end the game (one specifying on a full count).30

About three decades later, Provens recalled getting two hits against the Bushwicks as his only real highlights during his brief time with Cleveland. The game on July 27 was previewed as the Buckeyes’ first trip to the Bushwicks’ ballpark that season, and there’s no sign of a rematch shortly thereafter.31 Of course, he may have been incorrect or was thinking of the wrong opponent. On the other hand, the batters listed just before and after him each had two hits, so it’s conceivable the box scores could have assigned two hits by him to a teammate.

As of this writing, the Seamheads.com database has stats for two games in which Provens was a Buckeye, both against NNL teams. The first was on July 30 vs. the New York Cubans (at the same ballyard used by the Bushwicks) and the other was on August 1 vs. the Baltimore Elite Giants in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He entered the game against the Cubans as a pinch-hitter in the ninth inning and singled, for his only verified hit as a Buckeye. The opposing pitcher was Luis Tiant the elder. His teammates couldn’t drive him home and soon lost, 4-3. The other game was a 5-5 tie in which Provens started at third base. He went hitless in four at-bats and recorded one assist on defense.32

On or before August 7, Provens was back with the Merchants in Canton’s Class-A League, apparently for good. On August 7 he hurled a two-hitter to improve his team’s record to 13 wins out of 14 played.33 Within two weeks, they were crowned the champions.34

At some point between May and mid-August, the Provens family moved from Dover to Canton.35 Before the year was out, George received a less than warm welcome at 3:15 one morning at Beanie’s Chicken Shack, when he was hit over the head with a bottle. He was treated at Mercy Hospital for a scalp laceration, but the police didn’t identify any suspect in the incident.36

Provens had presumably recovered completely by the end of May, by which point he had reteamed with Lawson and Marion Motley in the Class-A Baseball League. That 1946 season they were on a team representing the Wyatt Apex Athletic Club. In late August, Provens and Lawson were named to one of the league’s two all-star teams.37

Tragically, that offseason Provens was involved in a far more serious incident than at Beanie’s Chicken Shack. At the beginning of 1947, Provens and a man named Charles Wilson were involved in an argument at 1:30 one morning, and it escalated. Two newspaper articles about the brawl were short on details, but Wilson apparently shot Provens twice, with a .32 caliber gun, once in the groin and once in the left leg. Wilson had a stab wound to his back. Wilson pleaded guilty to a disorderly-conduct charge and was fined $50 plus costs. Provens, still on probation for Lee Fulp’s death, was sentenced to “an indefinite term at Mansfield Reformatory.”38

By the end of July, Provens was batting leadoff and playing shortstop for the Ohio State Reformatory All-Stars. He continued in 1948 and into mid-September of 1949, if not later.39 He was back home by the time of the 1950 census, which was conducted on his street on April 19. His job was entered as a “transfer man” in the brick industry. He and his wife, Willie, had six children, five of whom were girls.

At the start of the next month, Provens was back in the City Class-A Baseball League. His new club was the Rockets, sponsored by Dave Towell Inc. Provens finished the season tied for the eighth highest batting average, at .314. On August 15 the Rockets lost the postseason game that determined which Canton team would advance to the Ohio District American Baseball Congress tournament later that week.40

In 1951 Provens became a Little League coach, but he continued to play the game with adult friends.41 That year he was with the Canton Rockets, an independent traveling team that was still considered Class A. In August a newspaper almost 90 miles away printed a large photo of Provens with two teammates, shortstop Billy Goodman and catcher Jim Smith.42

Though Provens played in Canton’s Class-A Baseball League in 1952, the 1951 traveling club might’ve given him his final huge thrill as a player. On September 9, 1951, the Rockets ended their season in Alliance, Ohio (about 20 miles from Canton), with a record reported as 38-7.  Provens became the big star by slugging a grand slam.43 In 1976 Provens reminisced about his final plate appearance in his final baseball game, against an Alliance team. He could’ve been thinking about the above 1951 game even though some details didn’t match (possibly due to an imperfect memory and/or sportswriter error). “I hit a grand slam and drove the ball into the basement window of a house beyond left field,” Provens recalled. “They asked me if I wanted to play in the second game that day and I said nope.”44

As mentioned, Provens played a final year in Canton’s Class-A League in 1952, but his team’s awful record could’ve made that entire season forgettable. He continued with the Rockets, though, as a member of Canton’s league their fortunes totally reversed with an abysmal last-place finish. The club’s batting average was just .179, despite Goodman hitting .344.45 

For the remainder of the 1950s, Provens’ name appeared in local newspapers mainly because he’d become an avid fisherman, whose catches would periodically be reported. For example, “George Provens and son” were among several anglers who reached the local limit for bluegills on a particular day during the summer of 1954.46 But his love for baseball never subsided, and from 1962 to 1965 he managed teams in Canton’s Class-A circuit. As a result, there was speculation in 1968 that he was a candidate to become that league’s next commissioner. His dedication was proven when he took “the unenviable job of going door to door to seek money so that players from Canton’s southeast sector could have a sponsor in the league.”47 

As a result, it probably came as little surprise when he was elected the next year to the Greater Canton Baseball Old-Timers Association Hall of Fame (later renamed the Greater Stark County Baseball Association Hall of Fame). The keynote speaker during the induction banquet was Bob Feller. In 1976 Provens was also voted into the Canton Negro Old-Timers Athletic Association Hall of Fame, along with his friend Motley.48

Provens enlivened the Greater Stark County group’s winter banquet in early 1978, when one attendee introduced New York Yankees catcher Thurman Munson to everyone sitting at Provens’ table. Munson, a Canton native, probably knew Provens when the latter was managing in the Class-A Baseball League, but nobody could have blamed Munson if he didn’t recognize Provens about 15 years later. “Of course, you remember this man, Thurm,” said local dentist Irv Felder, gesturing at Provens. But Munson was unsure and simply blinked momentarily. Provens, perceiving Munson’s uncertainty, extended his hand and bellowed, “Sure you know me, Thurm. I’m Reggie Jackson!” Everyone at the table, including Munson, reportedly roared with laughter.49

George Provens died on May 7, 1982, “after becoming ill at home.” His obituary noted that he was a Ford Motor Company retiree and had owned the Provens Family Foods grocery store on Sherrick Road Southeast. In addition to his wife and mother, he was survived by six daughters, three sons, and 18 grandchildren.50 Another Canton sporting legend, Hymie Williams, who was a columnist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer for over 50 years and a familiar voice on radio, said in tribute, “Canton sports, and amateur baseball in particular, lost a good friend when George Provens died at 63.”51

Sources

Except where noted otherwise, information about Provens’ personal life is from Ancestry.com (Library Edition) and FamilySearch.org.

Notes

1 See Kentucky, Vital Record Indexes, 1911-1999, accessible via FamilySearch.org. It specified only the county, not the city. That detail, plus his middle name, were specified on the military registration card he completed in 1940.

2 “African Masonic Lodge in Midvale,” New Philadelphia (Ohio) Daily Times, March 31, 1924: 14. The first officer listed was named Emmet Harris. See Note 4.

3 “Blaze Levels Home; One Is Hurt, 2 Jailed,” New Philadelphia Daily Times, August 28, 1925: 1. “No Developments in Mystery Blaze,” New Philadelphia Daily Times, August 29, 1925: 8. According to Herbert Provens’ Certificate of Death less than a decade later, he was an  employee of the Robinson Clay Products Co. at that time and his family was living at the Royal Settlement.

4 “Colored Baseball Team Seeks Games,” New Philadelphia Daily Times, April 2, 1925: 8. The manager of the Royal Hornets was E.H. Harris, who could have been the Emmet Harris mentioned in Note 2.

5 “Robinson Clay Co. Teams Play,” New Philadelphia Daily Times, June 13, 1925: 7.

6 For a rare example of the Royal Hornets making it into a local paper in later years, see “Twin City Club Is Defeated by Royal Hornets,” New Philadelphia Daily Times, June 16, 1930.

7 “Society,” New Philadelphia Daily Times, December 28, 1926: 4. He was among 15 students listed. At the end, it was implied that the school had just one teacher (named Maude Peterson). 

8 “Goshen Township School Teachers’ List Announced,” New Philadelphia Daily Times, June 2, 1932: 3. This article also implied that the school only had one teacher, the aforementioned Miss Peterson.

9 Irving A. Williamson, “Dayton, Ohio,” Chicago Defender, March 10, 1928: A9. See the section denoted as having Midvale news.

10 “Tuberculosis Proves Fatal, New Philadelphia Daily Times, July 22, 1933: 4. This short article mentioned that, in addition to his wife and son, Herbert Provens was survived by a brother and sister, both Alabama residents. It was his Certificate of Death that noted his employment with Robinson Clay Products. This document also named his parents. 

11 “Commencement for Township Schools,” New Philadelphia Daily Times, May 1, 1934: 5. The “exercises” honored 58 students from multiple schools of Goshen Township.

12 “Gnaden Moravians Score 70 Points in League Tilt,” New Philadelphia Daily Times, January 20, 1937: 5. Provens was also listed in scoring summaries on February 2 and 9, which saw his team improve somewhat on both defense and offense.

13 “Houston-Prouens [sic] Wedding,” New Philadelphia Daily Times, December 13, 1938: 5; “Dover News,” Cleveland Call and Post, December 15, 1938: 9. The former reported the date as July 22 but the latter said July 21. A database of West Virginia Marriages, 1780-1970 accessible via the FamilySearch.org genealogical website only reported the year. For no obvious reason, this milestone didn’t become public until almost five months after it occurred. The New Philadelphia paper’s article concluded that the newlyweds would “reside with Mr. and Mrs. Henry Richards of this city.”

14 “Gal All-Star Rosters Set,” Canton (Ohio) Repository, August 18, 1979: 10. The use of “Gal” in the headline referred to Provens’ selection as one team’s honorary captain for a girls’ all-star softball game.

15 “Coals Spank Dover Lions,” New Philadelphia Daily Times, June 12, 1939: 5. Baumholtz, then attending Ohio University, was the only player mentioned in that paper’s brief the day before the game; see “Midvale Coals to meet Dover,” New Philadelphia Daily Times, June 10, 1939: 5. Neither article mentioned the Dover Lions’ race. The Lions had a center fielder named Provens in the box score that accompanied “Sherrodsville Trails Taverns,” New Philadelphia Daily Times, September 12, 1939: 7. 

16 “Small Crowd Sees Good Amateur Program,” Coshocton (Ohio) Tribune, March 14, 1940: 11. See also the mention of “Georgie Provens, Uhrichsville negro boy” in “11 Battles Stir Fans at Legion Boxing Tourney,” New Philadelphia Daily Times, January 25, 1940: 9. Uhrichsville is within 10 miles of New Philadelphia.

17 “Here Is Latest Draftees’ List,” New Philadelphia Daily Times, January 22, 1941: 2.

18 “Colored Softball Team Seeks Games, New Philadelphia Daily Times, May 28, 1941: 10. Many of the players had been with a team called the Evans Ramblers the prior season.

19 “Dew Drop Inns Win First Tilt,” New Philadelphia Daily Times, June 6, 1941: 7. See also “Dew Drops Defeat Xville Eagles 3-2,” New Philadelphia Daily Times, August 26, 1941: 5. In the latter game, his two-run homer in the first inning proved to be crucial.

20 “Grant 4 Divorces; New Actions Filed,” New Philadelphia Daily Times, January 15, 1942: 1; “Strasburg Man Granted Divorce,” New Philadelphia Daily Times, January 20, 1942: 1.

21 Negro Dies of Knife Wounds,” New Philadelphia Daily Times, December 18, 1943: 1; Johnnie M. Sherrell, “Midvale, Ohio,” Chicago Defender, September 17, 1938: 23. 

22 “Found Guilty in Fatal Fight,” New Philadelphia Daily Times, February 5, 1944: 1; “Negro Slayer on Probation,” New Philadelphia Daily Times, February 21, 1944: 1.

23 “Buckeyes to Give Provens a Tryout,” New Philadelphia Daily Times, June 22, 1944: 9. At that time, he was leading Canton’s league with five straight pitching wins, including a two-hitter. For an example of his early success as a hitter that season, a game in which he collected three hits, see “League Tilts,” Canton Repository, May 31, 1944: 17.   

24 “Ball Player’s Killer Held on Bond; Pleads Not Guilty,” Atlanta Daily World, July 21, 1944: 5.

25 Provens wasn’t in the lone box score printed with “Cleveland, Memphis Split Doubleheader,” Pittsburgh Courier, July 22, 1944: 12. Over the following week, the Buckeyes were scheduled to play in New Orleans, Little Rock, and Oklahoma, but subsequent coverage was meager. He also wasn’t among the 13 Buckeyes in a later box score, printed with “Hand Monarchs Beating,” Kansas City Times, July 25, 1944: 7. He was back in Canton no later than August 1; see “League Tilts,” Canton Repository, August 2, 1944: 8. 

26 “21 Players Named on All-Star Team for Sunday Benefit Game,” Canton Repository, August 19, 1944: 6; “League Champions Turn Back All-Star Teams In Benefit Bill, Canton Repository, August 21, 1944: 8. For information about the the Philomatheon Society for the Blind, see https://philomatheon.com/.

27 “Colored Selectees up for Draft Exams,” New Philadelphia Daily Times, May 9, 1945: 8. It so happened that Germany had surrendered unconditionally to the Allies the day before, on what’s widely known as VE (Victory in Europe) Day.

28 “Sandlot Games,” Canton Repository, July 14, 1945: 6. This news item incorrectly said the Buckeyes were in the NNL rather than the NAL.

29 “Sandlot Games,” Canton Repository, July 18, 1945: 10.

30 Wally Croatman, “Veteran Meola Saves Dexters in Hectic Ninth,” Long Island Daily Press (Jamaica, New York), July 28, 1945: 12; “Bushwicks Notch 13th Straight, Set for 2 Foes,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 28, 1945: 6. Croatman called the new Buckeyes infielder “Gil” Provens. The two box scores agreed on much, but there were exceptions. For one, the former credited Sam Jethroe with a putout while the latter didn’t. Also, they counted the at-bats of the Buckeyes’ two catchers differently. 

31 Dave Kaminski, “Four Picked to Enter Negro Hall of Fame,” Canton Repository, April 11, 1976: 54; “Talent-Clogged Buckeyes to Test Dexters Tonight,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 27, 1945: 11.

32 For complete box scores of both games, see https://www.retrosheet.org/NegroLeagues/boxesetc/P/Pprovu101.htm.

33 “Sandlot Games,” Canton Repository, August 8, 1945: 10.

34 “Sandlot Games,” Canton Repository, August 18, 1945: 6.

35 When one of their daughters was born in August, the family’s address was identified as 1121 Gary Place Southeast in Canton, where they lived at least through 1962. “Birth Announcements,” Canton Repository, August 10, 1945: 25. Members of the Provens family were mentioned at that address off and on for years, including when George was fined $5 and costs for his car’s defective emergency brake as listed in “Driver Handed Jail Term,” Canton Repository, January 29, 1963: 7.

36 “Police News in Brief,” Canton Repository, November 3, 1945: 7. 

37 “City Sandlot Leagues,” Canton Repository, June 5, 1946: 17; “City’s All-Star Nines Clash Today,” Canton Repository, August 28, 1946: 19. Motley might not have been an All-Star simply because he was preparing to make his pro football debut with the Cleveland Browns on September 6 of that year; see https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/M/MotlMa00/gamelog/1946/.

38 “Two Suffer Wounds in Cherry SE Affray,” Canton Repository, January 6, 1947: 3; “Canton Man Receives Sentence in New Phila.,” Canton Repository, January 14, 1947: 8.

39 “OSR All-Stars Top Sandusky, Mansfield (Ohio) News Journal, July 27, 1947: 24; “OSR Squad Wins, 12 to 11 [sic; actually 12-10],” Mansfield News Journal, May 30, 1948: 14; “OSR Baseballers Bop Celeryville,” Mansfield News Journal, September 18, 1949: 18. In the box score for the 1948 example, Provens was the pitcher.

40 “Negro Baseball Talent Returns to Local Scene,” Canton Repository, May 2, 1950: 47; Chuck Koelble, “On the City Sandlots,” Canton Repository, August 13, 1950: 49; “Fairmount Tops Towell to Enter Meet,” Canton Repository, August 16, 1950: 15.

41 “Little League Aspirants to Begin Trials Saturday,” Canton Repository, April 20, 1951: 31. See Note 14, the 1979 article in which Provens was also called a local pioneer of the Pony League.

42 “Rockets Travel,” Canton Repository, June 6, 1951: 18; “Members of Canton Rockets Team,” Newark (Ohio) Advocate, August 24, 1951: 15. Beneath the photo it was stated that Provens was “a veteran of three seasons with the Cleveland Buckeyes” but given his years in the reformatory, that seems impossible, even if his 1944 tryout was counted as a stint with the Buckeyes.

43 “Rockets Blast Alliance,” Canton Repository, September 10, 1951: 20.

44 See Kaminski, the first citation in Note 31. Provens called the team the Merchants rather than the Rockets, but there’s a good chance many of the Rockets had played on the Merchants with Provens once upon a time.

45 “Class A Deadlock Continues,” Canton Repository, July 30, 1952: 13, 15; Germane Swanson, “On the City Sandlots,” Canton Repository, August 3, 1952: 50. Based on coverage in that paper over the following week, the box score printed on July 30 documented Provens’ final Class-A game. A few days earlier, but not quite at the end of the Rockets’ 1952 season, they played the same Alliance club as on September 9, 1951; see “Rockets Play Today,” Canton Repository, July 27, 1952: 45. That could explain why Provens mixed up 1951 and 1952 during his reminiscing in 1976.

46 Monte Cross, “Rod and Gun,” Canton Repository, August 22, 1954: 58.

47 Art Schrock, “Provens Could Be Next Class A Commissioner,” Canton Repository, May 12, 1968: 53.

48 Ken Sherer, “Feller Raps Players, Owners,” Canton Repository, February 21, 1969: 57; “Induct Edwards Sunday,” Massillon (Ohio) Evening Independent, April 24, 1976: 13. Based on the latter article, the Greater Canton Baseball Old-Timers Association Hall of Fame had been renamed the Greater Stark County Baseball Association Hall of Fame before mid-1976. 

49 Hymie Williams, “Lefties Lead Claymont,” Cleveland Sunday Plain Dealer, January 29, 1978: section 3, 12.

50 “Deaths and Funerals,” Canton Repository, May 8, 1982: 15.

51 Hymie Williams, “Stark County Amateurs Tee Off Tomorrow,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, May 15, 1982: 7-C; Todd Porter, “Voice of Canton Sports, Hymie Williams, Dies,” Canton Repository, January 9, 2002: C-1.