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Blue Wahoos Honor Pensacola Seagulls For Unique Legacy In Baseball History 

Blue Wahoos team owner Quint Studer (far right) stands with former members of the Pensacola Seagulls, along with former MLB player Hosken Powell (third from right) and Kevin Saucier (center blue shirt) on June 19 at Blue Wahoos Stadium. (Bill Vilona)
June 29, 2021

The memories among former players remain as vivid as the impact the Pensacola Seagulls produced. In a divided time 60-plus years ago, the Seagulls were a unifier. A baseball team embraced by the Pensacola community when few other equalities existed. The Seagulls created a community gathering on Sundays – the

The memories among former players remain as vivid as the impact the Pensacola Seagulls produced.

In a divided time 60-plus years ago, the Seagulls were a unifier. A baseball team embraced by the Pensacola community when few other equalities existed.

The Seagulls created a community gathering on Sundays – the team’s showcase games -- playing at Admiral Mason Park, which is now the area of the Veterans Memorial Park. The fans went from church to the games and stayed in well-dressed attire.

“Everybody went to see them play, white and black fans,” said Richard Mobley, who grew up in Morris Court, where one of the Seagulls’ all-time best players, catcher William “Pit” Bell, lived at the time. “A lot of the guys on those teams back then lived in my neighborhood.

“Those guys (former players) encouraged us to play baseball."

Mobley did just that.

He became one of the area’s few African-American high school players at Pensacola High in the late 1960’s, then inspired others by playing at then-Pensacola Junior College and Mississippi Valley State University, one of the nation’s Historically Black College and Universities (HBCU), an NCAA Division I member.

“The Seagulls are what got me thinking about baseball,” said Hosken Powell, who went from Woodham High during that same era into becoming the No. 3 overall selection by the Minnesota Twins in first round of the 1975 Major League Baseball Draft.

Powell went on to play six MLB seasons, including four with the Twins, where he batted .293 in 1979.

“On Sunday, it was unreal with the Seagulls,” Powell said. “Everybody who loved baseball came out to the ballpark. We had some great talent in Pensacola back in those days.”

BLUE WAHOOS HONOR SEAGULLS

The legacy of the Seagulls was honored by the Blue Wahoos on Juneteenth (June 19), as the second game of a doubleheader against the Montgomery Biscuits. The twinbill followed the morning wrath from Tropical Storm Claudette.

Fortunately, by game time, the sun was out and the evening was calm weather.

The Blue Wahoos wore replica Seagulls uniforms. The jerseys were auctioned and produced more than $6,000, which was donated to the Southern Youth Sports Association.

“Ever since 2002 when Rishy and I bought the Pensacola Pelicans (Independent League team), we have always tried to celebrate some of the good parts of the past,” said Blue Wahoos owner Quint Studer, who addressed the sellout crowd at Blue Wahoos Stadium that day.

“Years ago we brought Buck O’Neil (former Negro League star and first black coach in MLB history) into town for a Pelicans game and it was a huge thing for us,” Studer said. “We’re excited to honor the Seagulls.”

Three former Seagulls players – Herman Grace, Eunice Sampson and Nehemiah McNeally – were honored on the field that night with Mobley and Powell for their achievements in Pensacola’s baseball history. All five threw out a first pitch.

Working the games that night as an usher was Victor Randall, who played for the Seagulls in their final years from 1978-81 when the team was a semi-pro team.

Randall was then presented a jersey the following day by Anna Striano, the Blue Wahoos merchandise and creative service manager. His son, Damarious Randall, is preparing for his seventh NFL season as cornerback, now with the Seattle Seahawks.

Damarious Randall was coached by Hosken Powell while playing baseball as a two-sport athlete at Pensacola High. He became a first-round draft pick by the Green Bay Packers.

“Oh man, this is wonderful,” said Victor Randall, a 1976 Booker T. Washington High grad, while tugging on his replica jersey. “I can remember when I started playing, we played in cornfields and you had to run the cows off the field, then take a wheelbarrow out there to help get the field ready.

“But everybody knew about the Seagulls. Everybody went to the games. That was the big deal back then.”

SEAGULLS FOUR DECADE LEGACY

The Seagulls enjoyed a four-decade existence in Pensacola. It was during an era where Pensacola had other black baseball teams called the Arthur Giants, the Pensacola Clowns, the Olive Braves and Pepsi-Cola Stars.

Part of the Seagulls history included outfielder Johnny Joe Lewis, who became Pensacola’s first African-American player to play in Major League Baseball when he made his debut on April 14, 1964 with the St. Louis Cardinals.

Lewis played in 266 MLB games with the Cardinals and New York Mets. He later became a scout and coach with the Cardinals.

Lewis died in 2018. Two years earlier, he was part of a documentary aired on WSRE where he talked about his incredible journey through difficult challenges.

“I grew up in Morris Court,” Lewis said on the WSRE documentary. “I played Little League baseball. We didn’t have the parks and the good stuff that most kids had, but we were really determined we were going to be ballplayers at some time.

“We played hard from sun up to sun down.”

The Seagulls were once a feeder team for the Negro Southern League, which had its final official season 70 years ago in 1951.

That league included players like Hall of Famers Willie Mays and Satchel Paige. The Negro Southern League museum is located in Birmingham, not far from Regions Field where the Blue Wahoos played the Birmingham Barons in a six-game series that concluded Sunday.

In 2020, Major League Baseball celebrated the 100-year anniversary of Negro League Baseball, which included the NSL.

One of the Seagulls greatest distinctions is playing against the Brooklyn Dodgers in the late 1940’s when Jackie Robinson was on the team. The game was at Legion Field, which is now part of the SYSA complex off G Street.

“The Seagulls were Pensacola’s premier Negro League team,” said Scott Brown, author and baseball historian, whose book, “Baseball In Pensacola: America’s Pastime & The City of Five Flags,” was published in 2013 and spawned documentaries on WSRE. The book is still available, including at the Blue Wahoos’ Bait & Tackle Shop.

“I’m talking they were the top of their game,” said Brown, who devoted several pages in his book to the Seagulls. “Not only were they known throughout this area, but they were known throughout the United States. They went as far as San Francisco to play National Negro League teams and won games. You had those famous Negro League teams coming to Pensacola to play the Seagulls.”

In fact, the Seagulls travelled cross-country on an air-conditioned bus, something unheard at that time, especially for African-American teams.

“One of things that really touched me in researching for the book was being with people with connections to the Seagulls and their stories of sitting in the stands and having the community rally around the team,” Brown said.

“The inspiration created by those players the field was one of the most incredible moments and how lives were changed by those during Integration.”

Powell remembers how he was inspired to play baseball by his older brother, Willie Powell, considered among the greatest athletes of his era. His brother and attending Seagulls games helped push Hosken Powell to follow Johnny Joe Lewis as Pensacola’s second African-American to reach the big leagues.

One thing about Pensacola, everybody is competitive. Even now.. Each area, everybody always wanted to play against each other. And we always wanted to play against the Seagulls when we were coming up through high school. That gave us the get up and go.

“It was just the atmosphere of baseball here that was so great back then,” Powell said. “Football in our area really didn’t come in until later on. Before then it was baseball. Kids strived to play baseball.

“Johnny Joe was the first pro athlete I ever met. He came to our elementary school and I never forgot it. One thing about Pensacola, even now, everybody is competitive. Everybody wanted to play against each other.

“And we always wanted to play against the Seagulls when we were coming up through high school. That gave us the get up and go.”