From time to time doing baseball research for one thing, I come across an even more interesting item to pivot to. If my radar is set on visiting a particular baseball field and another more non-descript field or statue happens to be on the way, I typically stop on the way there or on the way home. If I am online and I search for Jones and Jonas appears out of my clumsy typing, and Jonas is very interesting, I will follow up on both Jones and Jonas. And of the items that come across my baseball eyes that are tough to find research wise, well those are the most interesting to follow up on. Case in point, the Langston High School Baseball team photo I found while researching High School baseball teams in Virginia. Here it is…

I found what appears to be the 1964 John M. Langston High School state champion baseball team from Danville, VA. From the website, www.viastory.org, which part of the Virginia State University Special Collections and Archives, I learned that Langston High School played in the Virginia Interscholastic Association. The team’s head coach was 2017 VIA Hall of Fame inductee Coach Howard Allen. Other VIA Hall of Fame members on this 1964 team include Marty Miller and Dr. Claudius “CB” Claiborne. Marty Miller, also a 2017 VIA Hall of Fame inductee, went on to a prolific career as a coach, athletic director, and mentor at Norfolk State University. I recently visited the field named after him, known as Marty L. Miller Baseball Field.

Dr. Claiborne’s athletic career took him from his excellence on the diamond to his brilliance on the basketball court. Claiborne, a 2022 VIA Hall of Fame inductee, was in fact a very bright star among stars academically and athletically. According to his bio, Dr. Claiborne “winner of a National Achievement Scholar, will enter Duke University in the fall to study engineering. Ranked No. 1 in his Langton High School (Danville) class, the talented basketball player led his team to the finals in the VIA Group I State Tournament recently concluded at Hampton Institute. Duke Cage Coach Vic Bubas said ‘Claiborne would be welcome to come out for the team and compete for a position.’ Should he make the grade, Claiborne will be Duke’s first Negro Basketball player.“ There is a great article on Duke University’s website about Dr. Claiborne’s journey and place in Duke Basketball history that I encourage you to read. Here is the link – Claiborne’s Journey.

One last piece of information that I found was the field. I found this baseball field, at the site of the current Langston Focus School in Danville, which appears to resemble the field in the photo. See for yourself…

From the black and white photo, the field appears to have light in the background. Zooming in on the Google Map photo, the Langston field has lights. In searching around the current high school and some other schools, there were no other fields with lights that I could find that resembled the field in the 1964 photo. So, I may (or may not) have found the field in the photo. What else can I extract from the 1964 Langston HS Champions Team photo?

• Half of the team seems to be focused on the camera person, the other is focused on the trophy presentation. What does that tell me about the personalities on the team? Maybe the camera focused players were told by their parents to smile at the camera, at all times, no matter what the distraction may be? Maybe the trophy focused group was so proud of their team and its accomplishment, that the moment the trophy was presented, that was all they could think about?
• The team had a lefty first baseman. You can see his first baseman’s mitt there in the middle of the photo. I couldn’t miss that, I used one all the way through my high school playing career.
• I already mentioned the lights on the field, that was a cool find and I was so psyched (hopefully) to have matched it with the field in the Danville Google Map search.
• The player kneeling on the far right has a baseball jacket which I believe has the stitching which reads “state champs, 1957.” This would mean this player was a relative, a brother perhaps, of a player on the 1957 Langston High School state championship team. I confirmed through the VIA story website that Langston did win the state title for baseball in 1957, again coached by Coach Howard Allen.
• 13 players were in their full Langston HS baseball uniforms, including cleats, hats, and gloves. 3 were not. Perhaps the trophy presentation was after school ended or in the year following the championship? And the 3 were returning from college or work situations to attend the ceremony? 

It is a very interesting photo and I have reached out to Virginia State University for more information on the team, the coaches, the trophy, and the players in the photo. It is a great piece of baseball history and I am looking forward to learning more, perhaps another interesting pivot will occur. If you know someone in the photo and would like to email me the information, feel free to contact me.