Gaston College will add to the college baseball history of Gastonia's Sims Legion Park with weekend NJCAA tournament

When Gaston College hosts this weekend's National Junior College Athletic Association Eastern District tournament, it'll add another chapter to the rich history of Gastonia's Sims Legion Park.

The 4-team, double-elimination tournament that runs through Sunday will start on Friday with Harford, Md. meeting Florence Darlington Tech at 1 p.m. and Gaston College meeting Potomac State, Md. at 5 p.m. The winner advances to the May 27-June 3 NJCAA World Series at Sam Suplizio Field in Grand Junction, Col.

And even though the stadium that opened on April 10, 1950 with an exhibition game between the old Washington Senators and their then-Southern League Charlotte Hornets affiliate was built to house Gastonia's powerhouse Post 23 program while also attracting minor league baseball, college baseball has taken center stage before with major tournaments like it'll host this weekend.

Most notably, the venue hosted a NCAA baseball district tournament from 1956 to 1972 that sent its winner to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb.

It's also hosted designated Belmont Abbey, Clemson and Davidson home games over the years, ACC special playoff games in 1958 and 1959 and the 2009 Region 10 tournament that Gaston College just won at Lexington County Stadium in Lexington, S.C., this past weekend.

Finally, beginning in the fall of 2021, it became the home of Gaston College baseball.

In the 17-year run when Sims Legion Park hosted a NCAA district tournament matching the champions of the ACC, SEC, Southern conferences and other at-large and/or independent teams, Florida State (5) and Mississippi (4) were the most frequent winners and ACC schools Clemson (1958 and 1959), North Carolina (1960 and 1966) and N.C. State (1968) won titles that led to their first-ever College World Series appearances.

Local American Legion baseball hero Harold Stowe was the star pitcher for Clemson and legendary coach Bill Wilhelm in 1958 and 1959 when the Tigers not only won ACC title game playoffs at the ballpark (over North Carolina each time) but took district titles a week later.

A 1955 Belmont High graduate Stowe had pitched Gastonia Post 23 to a 1954 American Legion World Series runner-up finish and Clemson also had 1955 Gastonia High graduate Doug Hoffman and 1957 Belmont graduate Dick Suggs on it roster; Stowe and Hoffman would later be inducted into the Clemson Sports Hall of Fame and Gaston County Sports Hall of Fame.

North Carolina defeated Florida 7-5 in the wee hours of June 7, 1960 to become the first in-state team to win the district tournament. Two players on the Tar Heels' roster were local products in 1956 Gastonia Ashley High graduate Vaughn Bryson and 1957 Shelby High graduate Tommy Camp. (North Carolina won its second title in 1966 with 1964 Mount Holly graduate and future Gaston County Sports Hall of Famer Bruce Bolick, a longtime East Lincoln High and Lincoln County Cardinals Legion coach, playing shortstop for the Tar Heels.)

In 1968, N.C. State claimed its first conference title since 1924 behind freshman pitcher Mike Caldwell (a future major league star) then made its first trip to the College World Series with a roster that included 1967 Kings Mountain High graduate Nelson Connor.

Florida State not only won the most titles, but the Seminoles also had the most eventual major leaguers - Randy Brown, Johnny Grubb, Dick Howser, Jim Lyttle, Mac Scarce, Ken Suarez and Woody Woodward - play in Gastonia.

Howser later became more famous as a major league manager, highlighted by his guiding the Kansas City Royals to the 1985 World Series title.

Mississippi's four titles were aided by three eventual major leaguers - Steve Dillard, Joe Gibbon and Don Kessinger - and a pair of future NFL quarterbacks.

Archie Manning, now more famous for fathering Super Bowl-winning quarterback Peyton Manning and Eli Manning, played shortstop at Sims Legion Park in 1969 six months after he quarterbacked the Rebels' football team to a 34-17 Liberty Bowl win over Virginia Tech. In that 1969 tournament, Manning had two hits in a 7-6, 11-inning victory over Virginia Tech two days before Manning and Mississippi knocked off North Carolina 5-2 in the title game.

Also a shortstop, future Denver Broncos Super Bowl quarterback Norris Weese went 4-for-4 in a 1972 title win over South Alabama in the final NCAA District tournament played at the venue.

Archie Manning, Weese, future NFL MVP Roman Gabriel and future Super Bowl-winner Russell Wilson are the four future NFL quarterbacks who have played baseball games at Sims Legion Park; Gabriel played high school and Legion baseball at the venue in the 1950s and Wilson played for the Gastonia Grizzlies' Coastal Plain League summer team in 2009.

Another future football star, All-Pro San Francisco 49ers running back Ken Willard, set a stadium record in a 1964 regular season game with three home runs for North Carolina in a 15-3 win over Davidson; Willard's first home run that day came off pitcher Dick Snyder, who played 13 seasons in the NBA capped by winning a league title for the old Seattle SuperSonics in 1979.

Most recently, Spartanburg Methodist won the 11th of its record 14 Region 10 titles when that tournament was hosted by Sims Legion Park in 2009. The Pioneers of coach Tim Wallace would go on to win the Eastern District title in Garden City, N.Y. and make the sixth of that school's nine NJCAA World Series appearances - and later finished the season with an all-time Region 10 single-season record of 55 victories.

Daily admission is $15 and children 5 and under are free. Gaston College students can get free admission with a Gaston College issued ID or class registration. Gaston College faculty and staff can get free admission with their staff ID or college name badge and families of staff and faculty will still have to pay admission).

Here's the full schedule for the 2020 NJCAA Eastern District tournament at Gastonia's Sims Legion Park:

(Friday, May 12)
Game 1: No. 2 Harford, Md. (34-16-1) vs. No. 3 Florence Darlington Tech (48-11), 1 p.m.
Game 2: No. 1 Gaston College (45-10) vs. No. 4 Potomac State, W.Va. (30-16), 5 p.m.
(Saturday, May 13)
Game 3: Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner, 11 a.m.
Game 4: Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser, 2:30 p.m.
Game 5: Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 winner, 5 p.m.
(Sunday, May 14)
Game 6: Game 3 winner vs. Game 5 winner, 1 p.m.
Game 7 (if necessary): Game 6 winner if it is the Game 5 winner, 45 minutes after Game 6 ends