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Former Negro
League Exec Dies at 92
The Associated
Press
02/06/04 18:12
EST
GLENWOOD,
Md. (AP) - Richard Dennis Powell, general manager of a Negro League team
in Baltimore, has died. He was 92.
Powell
died of cancer Tuesday at his daughter's home, The (Baltimore) Sun reported
Friday. He was the business and general manager of Baltimore's Elite Giants,
who produced major league All-Stars Roy Campanella and Joe Black.
The
Elite Giants - pronounced ``Ee-light'' with a Southern twang - were one
of black baseball's most popular teams in the 1930s and 1940s.
``Incredibly
over the years, he was the managerial force that kept the team in the
league and doing well,'' James H. Bready, author of ``Baseball in Baltimore:
The First 100 Years,'' told The Sun. ``He had an instinct for business
as well as sports. He also had good people relationships that could hold
a team together in those days.''
The
Elite Giants won Negro National League championships in 1939 and '49.
During the 1940s, their annual battles with the Homestead Grays were likened
to the rivalry between the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Dodgers.
Powell
was thought to be one of the last surviving executives of a Negro League
team. He was said to be responsible for persuading owner ``Smiling'' Tom
Wilson and business manager Vernon Green to move the Elite Giants from
Washington to Baltimore in 1938.
Services
will be held Monday at St. Mary the Virgin Episcopal Church, in Baltimore.
In addition to his daughter, Barbara ``Babs'' Golden, Powell is survived
by five granddaughters and four great-grandchildren.
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