Textile Sports Reunion Saturday in Piedmont

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The annual Textile Sports Reunion will be held April 2, 2016 from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. in the Piedmont Gym and Community Center, 3 Main St., Piedmont. The event will feature speakers, former players, sports memorabilia display and exhibitors and a performance by the Greenville Textile Heritage Band.

Tom Perry, textile sports author and historian, will speak. Perry is the author of books on Textile Baseball and the Southern Textile Basketball Tournament.

Some former players on the Pelzer and Piedmont Textile teams are expected as well as some from the Greenville area. The Greenville Textile Heritage Band will perform. A hot dog lunch fundraiser will be provided by the Monaghan Historical Society. A variety of sports memorabilia will be on display from baseball and basketball teams.

Exhibitors include Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum, Greenville Drive Baseball, Ron Norris’ Greenville Bat Company Collection, and Upcountry History Museum.

Champ Osteen Collections and Memorabilia will be on display. Tony Stephens’ baseball card collection includes Shoeless Joe Jackson as well as Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Ted Williams, Jackie Robinson, Yogi Berra and other Major Leaguers.

The area mill basketball teams played at Textile Hall and Memorial Auditorium in Greenville.

Everyone is invited to come to Piedmont to remember this era of textile ball and perhaps talk with some of those who participated on these teams of the past.

The Greenville Textile Heritage Band is a unique ensemble dedicated to preserving textile history and contributing to the arts in Upstate South Carolina. Patterned after the town bands found in many of Greenville’s own textile mill villages during the early 1900s, the band uses authentic period instruments, repertoire, and costuming to communicate the historical and cultural significance of the textile industry to a new generation in a tangible and engaging way. The band was founded in August 2007 by Dr. Michael W. Moore and has since played numerous engagements at various cultural, civic, and private events throughout the Upstate.