A Biography of Dorcas Lewis, an Early Baseball Great in North Omaha

In the 1890s, Omaha’s first Black player on a white baseball team broke the color line. This is a biography of Dorcas Lewis (1874-1939) who was born Dorris Thornton.

From the 1950s onward, North Omaha has had a powerful history in baseball. Prominent national league players came from Logan Fontenelle Projects and the Near North YMCA, and important developments continue to mold the community. However, the legacy of Black baseball players in Omaha goes way back to the 1890s.

From 1893 to 1909, the city was home to a successful amateur baseball team called the Omaha Originals. Dorris Thornton was a shipping clerk who played for the team under the name Dorcas Lewis.

Lewis was a co-founder of the team, which started in the Near North Side neighborhood in an era when it was integrated with white people and some Black people. Playing with the team for 17 years until 1909, Dorcas Lewis was the only Black man to ever play on the club. During that era, Omaha in general was deeply segregated and having a Black player on a white team was nearly impossible. Dorcas Lewis the “heavy hitting first baseman” for the team who was regularly credited with great plays and hitting in the news. A 1938 article said Lewis was “rated among the best first basemen the town has ever had.”

An sandlot team that played a higher level of baseball, the Omaha Originals were served Lewis in many ways. He was so good received an offer from the Cuban Giants, the “first salaried African American baseball club,” in 1895. Based in New York, they played all types of opponents, including major and minor league clubs, semiprofessional teams, even college and amateur squads. However, Lewis stayed on as an amateur in Omaha and left his mark. Towards the end of its existence, the newspapers called the team the North Omaha Originals, and the club folded permanently in 1910.

In 1898, Thornton was married to Delia Adeline Goodlow (1871-1951). The couple had two children, Ernestine Marietta Thornton Kerr (1909-2005) and Cornelius Thornton (19??-1959) who lived in North Omaha their entire lives. The family lived at 2819 Maple Street for decades. A widely respected community family, their activities were often mentioned in the Omaha Monitor, a Black newspaper that served the city for decades. Delia’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. William Goodlow (1845-1932) were successful farmers in Red Oak, Iowa, and among her 10 siblings, she had a sister who lived in Nebraska City.

In 1894, Thornton started a 47-year career with the American Hand-Sewed Shoe Factory in the shipping department. When the company changed it’s name to the U.S. Rubber Company, he stayed on board. He retired in 1941.

“He was a top-notch first baseman and a hitting wizard. But the main thing was that he ‘kept his head up, played fairly with all, and lived a clean life.’ Because of this he won the respect of all who knew him.”
—Dorcas Lewis’ eulogy in the Omaha Star, October 15, 1943, as written by Charles Washington

A 1938 reunion of the Omaha Originals team was filled with doctors, politicians, and businessmen. However, an Omaha World-Herald article said, “No one got a greater welcome than Dorcas Thornton…”

When he died in 1939, Thornton was buried at Forest Lawn. The mayor of Omaha from 1936 to 1945, Dan B. Butler, was an honorary pallbearer at his funeral, and a radio show called Tom Daley’s Sport Parade gave “A Tribute to Dorcas Thornton: The Greatest Colored Base Ball Player In Omaha’s History — A Member of the First Great Omaha Amateur Team ‘The Originals’.”

As a young journalist with the Omaha Star, Charles Washington wrote a eulogy of Thornton when he died. He reflected that, “…we were made to realize the benefits of living a clean and acceptable life,” he wrote. “He was a top-notch first baseman and a hitting wizard. But the main thing was that he ‘kept his head up, played fairly with all, and lived a clean life.’ Because of this he won the respect of all who knew him.”

When he died, the Omaha Guide promised “Thornton will long be remembered as a member of the first great Omaha amateur baseball team, The Originals.”

Today, nobody in Omaha remembers who Dorris Thornton, aka Dorcas Lewis, one of the most prominent African American players to ever hit the ball in Omaha was. There are no parks named after him or memorial events.

The Dorris Thornton, aka Dorcas Lewis, family home still stands today.