SPORTS ITEMS: Churches Challenge on Aug. 17 at Beech Creek

Posted

The 20th Annual Churches Challenge Golf Tournament will be held on Saturday, August 17, at Beech Creek Golf Club.

The event, which is sponsored by Sumter Christian Golfers' Association, will be at Beech Creek for the first time after having been held at Sunset Country Club.

It is open to 4-person teams. There were 156 players in last year's event making up 39 teams. Those teams came from 21 different churches and 11 different denominations.

For more information or to register, call Tom Winstead at (803) 983-3457 or (803) 773-2171.

Pumpsie Green, first black Red Sox player, dies

BOSTON - Former Boston Red Sox infielder Elijah "Pumpsie" Green, the first black player on the last major league team to field one, has died. He was 85.

"Pumpsie Green occupies a special place in our history," Red Sox owner John Henry said. "He was, by his own admission, a reluctant pioneer, but we will always remember him for his grace and perseverance in becoming our first African-American player. He paved the way for the many great Sox players of color who followed. For that, we all owe Pumpsie a debt of gratitude."

A light-hitting second baseman and shortstop, Green brought baseball's segregation era to an end of sorts when he entered a game against the Chicago White Sox as a pinch-runner for Vic Wertz on July 21, 1959 - more than a dozen years after Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Broglio, traded to Cubs

for Lou Brock, dies

ST. LOUIS - Ernie Broglio, a 21-game winner in 1960 who is remembered most as the player traded by the St. Louis Cardinals for Hall of Famer Lou Brock, has died. He was 83.

Nancy Broglio Salerno, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that Broglio had been battling cancer and died Tuesday night.

Broglio played high school ball in California with Elijah "Pumpsie" Green, who was the first black player with the Boston Red Sox, baseball's last team to integrate. Green died Wednesday.

From staff and wire reports