Sports come and go. One of the ones that was most important in North Omaha for decades was baseball, and several Black players from the community went onto fame. Others didn’t though, instead playing for the love of the game and not fame. This is a history of one of those teams called the Omaha Eagles.

The Omaha Eagles Baseball Team was an All-America League baseball team that played from 1957 to 1965. Referred to as a mostly Black team, they played all kinds of competitors, including semi-pro teams, college teams and the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Baseball League. 

The All-America League was formed in 1958 with eight teams from Omaha, and by Johnny Dixon’s Eagles joined it.

In 1964 the team was referred to as a “blended group with rookies and veterans.” With Dixon as the manager, some of the players on the team over the years included:

• Sherman Walker, catcher
• George Wright, third base
• Tony Richardson, pitcher and first base
• Henry Hamilton, pitcher
• Floyd Crandall, shortstop
• Gary Gilmore
• Howard S. “Uncle Dunk” Duncan, “The Singing Catcher”
• Al Gilmore, pitcher
• Eddie Jones
• Rich Lerdahl, pitcher
• Henry Hamilton, pitcher 
• Robert Lee
• Marvin Stanley
• Norm Stanley, second base
• Gene Carmody, rightfield
• Homer Kelly

The Eagles played on a field at N. 20th and Burdette Streets, located behind the then-Eppley Boys and Girls Club which is now the Hope Center. One of their former players said “it was a nice field” and “it was fun to play there.” “Lots of fans attended ball games there.” It was “a good sized field” that “faced southwest to northwest.” Playing often at the Fontenelle Park field, they also played at Druid Hill, Kountze Park and Kellom. 

An iconic North Omaha journalist and activist named Charles Washington got his start as a sports reporter for The Omaha Star, the city’s Black newspaper. He covered the Eagles as part of his beat.

Their highlight years seemed to come in 1963, 1964, and 1965. Each year they played the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues. In 1964, the Omaha World-Herald said they were playing the Monarchs for the informal “Negro baseball championship of the Midwest.” The year before they’d won over the Monarchs and the Eagles were flying high going into the game. The teams played at the old Rosenblatt Stadium, with the Eagles winning over the Monarchs for the third time in two years. The great Satchel Paige played for KC in all three games. Along with the Monarchs, they played the Birmingham Black Barons, the Indianapolis Clowns and the New York Stars. Hank Aaron played for the Clowns when the two teams battled in 1965.

Although they played until 1969, I can’t find any mention of the Eagles in the papers after 1965.

The best source of information about Black baseball in Nebraska is called The African American Baseball Experience in Nebraska and it was edited by Angelo J. Louisa. That book, which includes interviews with players, only mentions the Omaha Eagles a few times though, and even then they are just cursory mentions.

Perhaps in the future more will be done to remember Omaha’s remarkable African American baseball players, especially the team that kept winning over a pro team like the Kansas City Monarchs!

Special thanks to Rachel Garcia for sharing the picture of her grandfather Johnny L. Dixon and inspiring this article!

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MY ARTICLES RELATED TO SPORTS IN NORTH OMAHA
Main: Black Sports in Omaha
People: Dorcas Thornton | Will Calhoun | Vasco Graham
Teams: Omaha Rockets | Omaha Eagles
Organizations: Red Dot Athletic Club | Near North YMCA | Gene Eppley Boys Club | Midwest Athletic Club | Omaha Colored Baseball League
Places: Kountze Place Golf Club | YMCA Athletic Park | Fontenelle Park | Omaha Driving Park | Lakeside Raceway | Omaha Speedway