By Garry Blanson
Recently, I had the opportunity to talk with Monroe’s living legend, Frank Taylor. He mentioned that there used to be a white-owned company that employed many African Americans in Monroe. Surprisingly, the company was the Louisville Cooperage Company. It was located at 2500 Jackson Street, on the Southside of Monroe, near the railroad tracks.
In its heyday, the company employed over 135 people and processed several million tons of white oak and cow oak each year. It’s remarkable that a company this large, which employed so many Black and white people in Monroe, was never mentioned in the schools when I was a student.
Now, on to this week’s Black pioneer: Augustus Leon Saunders Jr. He was born on August 9, 1909, in Whistler, Alabama, and was married to Mrs. Rosaline Parker Saunders. After playing a season of baseball for the Monroe Monarchs, Augustus decided to stay in Monroe and make it his home.
Augustus played in the Negro Baseball League from 1927 to 1932. For the first three years, he was second baseman for the Cleveland Hornets. He then spent a year with the Detroit Stars before finishing his career with the Monroe Monarchs.
The Monroe Monarchs played their home games at Casino Park, located between Carroll High School and the railroad tracks along Renwick Street in Monroe. A few years ago, I visited the city marker honoring the Monroe Monarchs near Carroll High School.
In 1932, Augustus and the Monroe Monarchs played a championship series against the legendary Pittsburgh Crawford Negro League team. Two of the players on that team were Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson. This series was known as the Negro World Series.
Imagine game one of the series, top of the second inning. Satchel Paige is pitching, and Augustus Saunders comes up to bat. Satchel throws the first pitch, and Augustus swings and misses. The umpire yells, “Strike one!” On the next pitch, a fastball straight down the middle, Augustus connects—a hit off the famous Satchel Paige that he would remember for the rest of his life.
As the series went on, the Pittsburgh Crawford team won the 1932 championship series over the Monroe Monarchs, five games to one. Years later, when Rev. Roosevelt Wright produced a play about the Negro Baseball League at the Monroe Civic Center, Augustus made a special appearance, signing baseballs for young Black fans.
In February 1999, at the ripe old age of 89, Augustus Leon Saunders Jr. went home to be with the Lord, leaving behind a legacy of talent, pride, and perseverance.
