John Gerald "Gable" Shackelford (July 17, 1905 – June 27, 1964), was a

Negro league baseball The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans and, to a lesser extent, Latin Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be ...

player, manager, executive, and attorney. He lived much of his early life in Prescott, Arkansas, and in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Biography

Shackelford's birth date is often listed as April 9, 1894. However, this is false. Rather, Shackelford was born in 1905 in Tennessee, the son of John D. Shackelford and Lula May Oliver. He grew up in Prescott, Arkansas, where his father worked as a high school principal and a lawyer. His mother died when he was only four, but his father remarried the next year. Later, when Shackelford was a young adult, he and his family moved to Hot Springs, Arkansas. During the mid-1920s, Shackelford attended Wiley College in Marshall, Texas, serving as president of the Alpha Sigma fraternity. As a student, he advocated for literacy among blacks and participated on the school's baseball and basketball teams. He was particularly good at baseball and was selected as the best third baseman in the Southern Athletic Association in 1923. In fact, Shackelford was talented enough play professionally during the summers between semesters with several Negro league baseball teams, including the Cleveland Browns in 1924, the Harrisburg Giants in 1925, and the

Chicago American Giants The Chicago American Giants were a Chicago-based Negro league baseball team. From 1910 until the mid-1930s, the American Giants were the most dominant team in black baseball. Owned and managed from 1911 to 1926 by player-manager Andrew "Rube" Fo ...

in 1926. Shackelford played with the

Birmingham Black Barons The Birmingham Black Barons were a Negro league baseball team that played from 1920 until 1960. They shared their home field of Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama, with the white Birmingham Barons, usually drawing larger crowds and equal pres ...

in 1930. After graduating from Wiley, Shackelford moved to

Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County, Michigan, Washtenaw County. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851. It is the principal city of the Ann Arbor ...

, and studied at the University of Michigan Law School to become an attorney like his father. He graduated in 1931 and set up a law practice in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Meanwhile, he both managed and played for various semi-professional Negro teams in nearby Lowell, Michigan, including the Fineis Gas Colored Giants from 1931-1932, the Dixie Gas Stars from 1933-1934, and the Chicky Bar Giants in 1935. By 1940, Shackelford moved his law practice to

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

. While there, he became involved in Negro league baseball administration. He was nominated for president of the

Negro American League The Negro American League was one of the several Negro leagues created during the time organized American baseball was segregated. The league was established in 1937, and disbanded after its 1962 season. Negro American League franchises :''An ...

in 1944, but lost the election to

J. B. Martin Dr. J. B. Martin (1885–1973) was president of the Negro American League, owned the Chicago American Giants baseball team, and was a prominent Republican Party leader in Memphis. Martin and his brother B. B. Martin were Memphis dentists with ot ...

. The following spring, Shackelford became involved in the foundation of the upstart

United States League The United States League (USL), alternately called the United States Baseball League, was one of the several Negro baseball leagues created during the time organized baseball was segregated. The USL was organized as a minor league in 1945 by Bra ...

and was elected president of the organization. The league operated from 1945-1946, but competition from already existing Negro leagues, as well as difficulties associated with wartime economics, ultimately caused it to fail. In addition to serving as president for both seasons the league operated, Shackelford managed the league's Cleveland Clippers in 1946. Shackelford continued to practice law in Cleveland for many years, eventually moving to Los Angeles.

Death

At some point in his later life, he traveled to Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Ill with tuberculosis, Shackelford died there on June 27, 1964. He was buried in Panteon Colonias Cemetery in Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico.http://arkbaseball.com/tiki-index.php?page=John+Shackelford&structure=Negro+League+Baseball Arkansas Baseball Encyclopedia - No Known Copyright

References

External links

an
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1905 births 1964 deaths 20th-century American lawyers Birmingham Black Barons players Chicago American Giants players Cleveland Browns (baseball) players Harrisburg Giants players People from Prescott, Arkansas Sportspeople from Hot Springs, Arkansas Sportspeople from Tennessee University of Michigan Law School alumni 20th-century African-American sportspeople Baseball outfielders 20th-century African-American lawyers {{Negro-league-baseball-outfielder-stub