Newswise — At the outset of summer break in 1959, then-Texas Technological College senior Jerry Craft had no more enticing options than to stay home and help on the family ranch. So the telephoned offer to play for a semipro baseball club he’d never heard of came as a welcome surprise.
Craft was in for an even bigger surprise when he reported for tryout and discovered he’d been recruited for the West Texas Colored League.
Craft’s experience of his two resulting seasons with the Wichita Falls/Graham Stars was tagged by the Dallas Morning News in 1998 as “Jackie Robinson in reverse.” Craft, a rancher and businessman in Jacksboro, Texas (and former mayor of his hometown), has now put his story into writing in a candid and engaging memoir, “Our White Boy,” out this spring by Texas Tech University Press (TTUP).
Looking back on those years before the civil rights movement, Craft relates an unlikely story of respect, character, humor and ultimately friendship as the teammates pulled together to succeed in a game they loved.
The book, along with “Playing in Shadows: Texas and Negro League Baseball” by Rob Fink, launches TTUP’s book series Sport in the American West. Edited by Jorge Iber, the new series examines the impact of sport throughout the region and seeks to illuminate how sport intersects historically with such cultural issues as race, ethnicity, gender and class.
Advance praise for “Our White Boy”
“Jerry Craft has given us an engaging and finally touching book. It is a story of racial harmony in an era of racial distrust. I highly recommend it.” —Larry McMurtry
“As a teammate and friend of Jackie Robinson’s when Branch Rickey broke the color line in 1947, I fully appreciate Jerry Craft’s experience and his memorable story.” —Bobby Bragan, catcher, Brooklyn Dodgers, 1947
“A remarkable story of an era in American sports that is long gone . . . a riveting read.” —Skip Hollandsworth
Biographical background
Jerry Craft, rancher and former mayor of Jacksboro and a pioneer in the national cable television industry, lives in Jacksboro and operates ranches in Texas and New Mexico.
Kathleen Sullivan, who holds degrees from Baylor University and Arizona State University, has taught at the University of Texas at Arlington and Southern Methodist University. A member of the Sport Literature Association and the Society for American Baseball Research, she is the author of reviews and articles on sport literature and “Women Characters in Baseball Literature: A Critical Study.” She lives in Arlington, Texas.
Larry Lester is co-chairman of the Negro Leagues Committee for the Society for American Baseball Research.
Local vendors interested in ordering the book may contact TTUP at (800) 832-4042 or by fax (806) 742-2979. For more information or a review copy of the book, contact the TTUP marketing department, (806) 742-2982 or [email protected].
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