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Negro League star Walter Wright ran Lincoln Beach [1]
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Date: 2025-04-04
Walter C. Wright flung open the gates of the renovated Lincoln Beach at 9 a.m. on May 28, 1954. He was the manager of the beach created for Black families during the Jim Crow era.
That was just one of the many contributions Wright made to New Orleans.
Born in 1912 in Natchez, Miss., Wright was gifted at baseball. He was the star pitcher at Willow Junior High, McDonogh 35 High School and Xavier University of Louisiana. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Xavier in 1934 and a master’s degree in 1961 from Duquesne University of the Holy Spirit in Pittsburgh.
According to the Allstate Sugar Bowl , Wright was an outstanding professional pitcher and outfielder in the Negro Leagues with the New Orleans Athletics, St. Raymond Crescent Stars and Black Pelicans from 1930-1940.
“In addition to his on-field accomplishments, Wright was a steadfast researcher of Black baseball history,” 64 Parishes states. In 1959, he “founded the Old Timers Baseball Club, a group of former Negro League players dedicated to preserving the legacy and memory of African American baseball.”
Wright served as the Old Timers Baseball Club president for 27 years.
“Through his efforts,” the Allstate Sugar Bowl states, “Wright almost single-handedly kept alive the history of Negro League Baseball in New Orleans.”
In 1949, Wright became a New Orleans school teacher. He later served as supervisor of the adult basic education program and director of continuing education. He also coached Little League Baseball, winning three city championships with three different teams in 1961, according to the Allstate Sugar Bowl.
After retiring from public education, Wright became business and community development director for Liberty Bank and Trust Co. He retired again at 80.
Wright was inducted into the Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame in 1989. He died in 2002.
For more tales from New Orleans history, visit the Back in the Day archives.
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