Sports: Baseball, Boxing, and Track

This 1972 photograph depicts local boxer Johnny Fields as he is being weighed in at the 1972 National Golden Gloves "Tournament of Champions" Boxing Tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada. Johnny Fields is originally from nearby Moorefield, West Virginia He was a member of the Romney High School (Hampshire County, West Virginia) Basketball team. He later boxed for the local Has-Beens Organization. He compiled an amateur record of 67 wins and only three losses, and a professional record of 21 wins and only four losses.

Leroy "Possum" Younger currently serves as Commander of Fulton Myers Post #153, American Legion.

A Vietnam veteran, Younger was interviewed for the Allegany High School publication, Welcome Home: A History of the Vietnam War.

Vince Fagan

Vince Fagan of Keyser, West Virginia was a successful area boxer during the early to mid-1970s. Among his back-to-back titles were the 1971 and 1972 Pittsburgh Diamond Belt Tournament middleweight championship. This annual event was considered among the most prestigious of east coast amateur boxing tournaments.

Fagan was also a former all-Navy Champion and winner of various state titles in Virginia and North Carolina. In 1970, Vincent Fagan was inducted into the "National Chapter of Has Beens", a local boxing organization.

It is the 1979 Special Olympics at Allegany Community College (now Allegany College of Maryland.) Held each year, the Special Olympics are cosponsored by Wamba Caravan No. 89 Order of the Alhambra and the Greater Cumberland Jaycees. This photograph depicts Major L. "Buddy" Bowie (1957-1983), assisted by Jaycee Charlie Keller, on his way to a first place finish.

Richard Leroy Williams

Ricky Williams was in the 1965 graduating class of Fort Hill High School and participated in football as well as track and indoor track.

Rodney Keys, a 1966 graduate of Allegany High School, is, "Ready for the Gun" in this high school yearbook photograph. Rodney Keys also played football for Allegany High School, went on to see military service in Vietnam, and has had a long career as an electrician with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 307.

The photograph on the left depicts James Floyd Hurt (below), and Calvin Jones (above), both juniors and members of the Allegany High School 1957 track team. Calvin and James would both graduate from Allegany High School in 1958. Along with track, James also played football.

Calvin Jones pursued the Commercial course of studies while at Allegany High School and went on to become a well-known local jeweler, designer of jewelry, and leader within the downtown Cumberland business community. He passed away in 2003 and his obituary appears elsewhere on this website.

Connie Washington Davis, third from the left and a 1963 graduate of Allegany High School, enjoys a laugh with five fellow members of the Allegany women's track team.

This late 1960s to early 1970s photograph is a depiction of the Cleggett and Brown (C&B) softball team. They are as follows:

First row, left to right: Vince Fagan, Clifton Rhodes, Arnold Fields, Brian Rhodes, Ronnie Frazier, and Billy Harris

Second row, left to right: Joe Clanagan, Rich Smith, Bob Cleggett, Raymond Cleggett, and Johnny Fields

Third Row, left to right: James "Bustle" Brown, Doug Shook, James Washington, James Hamilton, Charles Denmark, Bud Twigg, and Bud Cleggett

This is the Kelly-Springfield Tire Company softball team which battled its way to the 1966 Rocking Chair League championships playoff.

Team members include, first row, left to right: Dick Robeson, Don May, Clarence Lewis, Bill Jamison, Bill Clayton, Walt Abe, DeWarren O'Neal, and John Shipley.

Second row: Dick Budd, business manager; Dorcil Kline, Junior Brelsford, Jim Ruppert, Walter Younger, Dick Sites, Junior Eversole, Harry Widdows, and Manager Don Decker.