The Other Angels’ 50th Anniversary
 Seven Angels minor leaguers from 1961 reunited September 25, 2009 at Tempe Diablo. Left to right — Alan Flitcraft, Dick Simpson, Dan Ardell, Walter Darton, Ed Thomas, Jerry Fox, and Dave Best. Bobby Lucas arrived shortly after the photo was taken. |
If you’ve been a regular reader of this blog, you know that an ongoing project has been to reunite the 1961 Statesville Owls, one of two minor league teams the Angels had in their inaugural season. Statesville, North Carolina was Class D, a rough equivalent to today’s Low Class-A. The other affiliate was the Triple-A Dalls-Ft. Worth Rangers, an affiliation shared with the Philadelphia Phillies.
The Angels are celebrating their 50th anniversary this year, which means it’s the 50th anniversary of the Statesville Owls.
We staged a reunion in September 2009, held at the Angels’ minor league complex in Tempe, Arizona. Today’s future Angels had an opportunity to meet the original Angels minor leaguers. Click here to watch a video of excerpts from the reunion. Windows Media Player and a broadband (cable modem, DSL) Internet connection required.
As the almuni departed, they tasked me with a solemn responsibility — to reunite them in Statesville for their 50th anniversary.
My wife and I moved from California to Florida in June 2009, so in March 2010 we drove 600 miles to Statesville. We met with Ed Thomas and Jerry Fox, two 1961 Owls who still live in Statesville. They took me to stand on the very field where Angels minor league baseball began. Click here to watch video of the Statesville ballpark visit. We established the initial contacts to make possible that 50th anniversary reunion.
Circumstances required me to bow out, so the locals took over planning, led by the new Southern Collegiate Baseball League Statesville Owls. They’ve arranged for a two-day celebration of the 1961 Owls, starting with a street concert in downtown Statesville the evening of June 17. The next day, as part of their FanFest, the Owls will play a doubleheader and honor the alumni. The first pitch in each game will be thrown out by the alumni, and between games they’ll be honored with a ceremony.
I didn’t think I’d be able to make it, but circumstances have changed so I’ll be heading north next week to record the events for posting on FutureAngels.com and this blog.
I do believe I’ll wear my 1961 Los Angeles Angels cap …
 Ed Thomas, FutureAngels.com publisher Stephen Smith, and Jerry Fox in Statesville in March 2010. Thomas and Fox played on the 1961 Statesville Owls. Photo courtesy Steve Hill. |
FutureAngels.com 
Thanks for the post. I live in Cornelius, about 20 miles south of Statesville and will plan on visiting Saturday. My church actually has a satellite campus at the HS. I’ve enjoyed your stories on the ’61 Owls.
As a SoCal transplant in NC is very cool to have some Halo history nearby.