Where did New Hanover High School play football and baseball before Legion Stadium?

Public school girls prepare to dance around a May Pole in Bellamy Park, located on South 17th Street between Dawson and Wooster streets in Wilmington. (Undated photo from the Louis T. Moore Collection at the New Hanover County Public Library)

This question took some serious digging. As it turns out, records for high school football and baseball games in the 1920s and 1930s are pretty sketchy. Legion Stadium was built in the 1930s, but the North Carolina State Athletic Association has records of sanctioned interscholastic events back into the 1910s and 1920s.

From at least the late ?20s until the mid-30s, New Hanover played football and baseball at Bellamy Park, the former home of the Wilmington Pirates. Bellamy Park was along 17th street between Dawson and Wooster streets ? near the current location of the StarNews office at 1003 S. 17th St., Wilmington [Map this]. Prior to the late 1920s, things become more murky as records are hard to come by. There is at least some evidence that the New Hanover High School Wildcats played baseball at Robert Strange Park along Eighth Street between Ann and Castle streets. It?s the current site of the Fit for Fun Center and several softball fields. Again, records are pretty tough to find for this period as the Morning Star?s 10-inch sports column was filled mainly with Major League Baseball standings and box scores.

By that mid-1930s, the Wilmington Morning Star had an extensive sports section and was moving toward more local content. In 1935, excitement was high after the New Hanover Wildcats opened the season with a resounding victory against Whiteville, but local sportswriters said the Wildcats needed to improve their blocking.

Date posted: December 22, 2011

User-contributed question by:
Carey Sasser

Source: http://www.myreporter.com/?p=12259

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