Iowa Colored Cowboys
Barnstorming softball team in the 1960s
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The Iowa Colored Cowboys was a barnstorming softball team, consisting mostly of black players, that played during the 1960s. The team was based in Sioux City, Iowa, United States.[1]
Sport | Softball |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1932–1933 |
| Folded | 1960s |
| Based in | Sioux City, Iowa, US |
| Manager | Harry Fisher |
Founding and gameplay
The team's original name was the Sioux City Iowa Negro Ghosts which played in 1932 or 1933, and the team was brought back in 1960 under a different name.[1][2] The original group was one of the first touring softball teams.[3] General manager Harry Fisher came up with the Sioux City Iowa Negro Ghosts when he thought of adding comedy to softball, shadowball after each game, and "top-notch softball at all times".[2] Shadowball was when the team played without a ball.[1] They also played the sport in slow-motion.[2]
As many as over a thousand people gathered to watch performances by the Iowa Colored Cowboys, in an atmosphere similar to a Harlem Globetrotters event.[1] The team had players who were also entertainers, who Fisher said was "a Ball-Circus, America's greatest summer sport show."[1] Several members used to be a part of the original team.[1] Player Marland Buckner, also known as "Showboat", was known for showmanship and "goofy" antics, but for also being one of the team's "greatest defensive first basemen"[4] Marland was known for his jokes, spinning his bat, and embarrassing the umpires. Red Strickland might have been the team's only white player and he was known for his hurling.[1] Other players included "Tree Top" Patrick, Rip Collins, "Popeye" Smith, and L. J. "Compound" Flavors.[5][2][4]
Later years
Due to a ban of blacks joining major sports leagues, such teams allowed them to participate and also helped the later desegregation of major league baseball.[1] It is unknown when the team disbanded.[1] In 2007, the State Historical Museum in Des Moines, Iowa, opened an exhibit titled "Shades of Greatness: Art Inspired by Negro Leagues Baseball" that included a booklet about the team.[6]