Textile Olde Timers in Piedmont

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There will be a meeting of the Textile Olde Timers  Saturday, Mar. 17 at 10 a.m. at the Piedmont Community Building.
The event is being sponsored by the Southern Textile Heritage Society and any old time textile athlete is invited regardless of sport played, organizers said. The public and anyone interested in sports or textile sports is also invited.
Featured speaker will be Evelyn “Eckie” Jordan, Pelzer native and basketball and softball star.
Atter playing for Pelzer Mill, Jordan played most of her career for Hanes Hosiery of Winston-Salem, NC. Her team once won 102 consecutive games and her basketball uniform is on display at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC.
Jordan will talk about her playing days in AAU Sports and the Pan-America  Games.
Other textile athletes will share some of their “truthful” stories, organizers said.
There will also be a special presentation of new members to the Southern Testile Basketball Tournament (STBT) Hall of Fame.
A lunch of hot dogs prepared by the Monaghan Baptist Church ladies will be available at noon. The meeting is scheduled to resume at 1 p.m. with a free throw contest, trivia contest and the day will conclude with awarding of door prizes at 2 p.m.
A collection of Textile Sports memorabilia will be on exhibit including artifacts, baseballs, uniforms, bats and scrapbooks.
The famous “Found Ball” of the Dunean-Piedmont game and Earl Wooten lore will also be on display. (If you haven’t heard the story, it will probably be told in several versions and is the “stuff” of local legend.)
Most of the stars of Textile Sports are now in their late 80s and early 90s, but all are an interesting bunch to be around. As Earl Wooten used to say, “The older we get, the better we were!”
Also among the displays will be copies of  STBT programs which include the names of all participants and a separate book with program pictures, which shows most of the old players.
Several of the area mills will have their own displays of “Mill Hill” memorabilia. A special exhibit on James “Champ” Osteen, the first Mill Hill baseball player to go to the big leagues, will be displayed by his granddaughter.