Thomas T. Wilson

Smiling Tom

A prominent sportsman, businessman, and numbers banker in Nashville, Tennessee, Tom Wilson started his baseball career with the Nashville Maroons in 1909. He chartered the Nashville Giants, playing variously in the Negro Southern League and the Negro National League. He built one of only two black-owned baseball stadiums, Tom Wilson Park, for his own teams as well as for hosting the white local team the Nashville Vols occasionally. After demolishing the stadium, Tom Wilson built the Paradise Ballroom, which hosted jazz greats in the 1940s.

Tom Wilson was born in 1883 and died at his countryside residence on Nashville’s Couchville Pike in 1947.

Negro League Baseball[edit | edit source]

According to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, Tom Wilson served as an owner and officer in league development in both the Negro Southern League and then later the Negro National League, with various teams: Nashville Standard Giants (1918-1920), Nashville Elite Giants (1921-1934), Cleveland Cubs (1931), Columbus Elite Giants (1935), Washington Elite Giants (1936-1937), Baltimore Elite Giants (1938-1947).

A prominent sportsman, businessman, and numbers banker in Nashville, Tennessee, he organized the Nashville Elite Giants in 1921 and shepherded the ballclub through difficult times, playing variously in the Negro Southern League and the Negro National League, and moving the franchise to Cleveland, Columbus, Washington, and Baltimore in search of diamond success and solvency. He owned the Paradise Ballroom in Nashville, providing him with a legitimate source of income to invest in his ballclub.

In addition to being an owner and team officer, he served as a league officer in assorted positions, including secretary and president of the Negro Southern League and vice chairman, treasurer, and president (1936-1946) of the Negro National League. He also was credited as a primary force behind organizing the first East-West All Star game, in 1933.

He began his association with baseball teams in 1909 with the Nashville Maroons and, four years later, connected with a team called the Elites in 1913. Later he was with the Nashville Standard Giants. During his involvement with baseball he acquired the nickname "Smiling Tom."

According to baseball historian Skip Nipper, "A man who loved the game of baseball, played on the sandlots of Nashville and longed to own a team, on March 26, 1920, Thomas T. Wilson and others formed a corporation with the State of Tennessee."

The charter read:

“Nashville Negro Baseball Association and Amusement Company”, for the purpose “of organizing base ball clubs and encouraging the art of playing the game of baseball according to high and honorable standards and of encouraging the establishment of a league of clubs in different section(s) of the state; and also of furnishing such amusements as usually accompanying base ball games and entertainments. Said corporation to be located in Nashville, Tennessee, and shall have an authorized capital stock of $5,000.00.

T. Clay Moore, J. B. Boyd, Marshall Garrett, Walter Phillips, W. H. Pettis, J. L. Overton, and R. H. Tabor joined him as investors.

Wilson Park[edit | edit source]

Tennessee State Historical Marker 3A 198, erected outside Metro Nashville Public school Johnson School, reads:

(Side 1) Tom Wilson Park 1929-1946 Formerly located near this site was Tom Wilson Park. It opened in 1929 and was home to the Nashville Elite Giants baseball team of the Southern Negro League. Owned by Thomas T. Wilson, the facility was one of two African-American owned professional ballparks. Wilson Park also hosted spring training sessions for the Nashville Vols. a minor league team of the Southern Association. Spring training games brought such baseball greats as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Roy Campanella to the park. In 1946, Tom Wilson resigned and discontinued all ball activities at Wilson Park.

(Side 2) Thomas T. Wilson 1883-1947-Thomas T. Wilson, a businessman, sportsman, and founder of the Nashville Elite Giants, began his baseball association with the Nashville Maroons in 1909. He organized the Nashville Elite Giants in 1921. Besides being an owner, Wilson served as secretary and president of the Negro Southern League and vice chair , treasurer, and president of the Negro National League. After quitting baseball and ceasing ball activities at the park, he opened the Paradise Ballroom on the same site. Entertainers included Lionel Hampton, Cab Calloway and Sarah Vaughn.

The marker, located outside Johnson School, has created confusion with local historians as the stadium was located several blocks away. The location of Johnson School has been a school for South Nashville since the 1850s. Both the weekly, the Nashville Scene, and local history tour guide, David Ewing, have publicly misidentified the ballpark's location.

According to Project Ballpark, which correctly identifies the location of the ballpark, "This park was named after the team's owner, Tom T. Wilson. There was a big, single-decked, covered grandstand. It was conveniently located right in the middle of the black section of Nashville. The famous Paradise Ballroom was built on the site of this park when it was demolished."

Paradise Ballroom[edit | edit source]

Tom Wilson had a deal with someone at the city to get discarded food goods for his pigs. It became a fixation for the mayoral race of 1943 on Nashville political corruption.

for more information on the venue, please see the page for the Paradise Ballroom

A source of political connections due to his nightclub, which was said to be frequented by members of Nashville's elite of all skintones, Tom Wilson was able to secure discarded food stuffs from city buildings for his hogs. Delivery was made at city expense to the backside of his property opposite the Ballroom. As a result, the mayoral election of 1943 involved lengthy discussion on the nature of this agreement and how it came to be. Astute political reporters at the time with the Nashville Tennessean also discovered that the property in question had actually been moved outside city limits to avoid sanitation laws- resulting in city employees driving outside city limits to make the deliveries. The pigs were not at this property as Tom Wilson received the food stuffs there and then had his own personal trucks drive the trash to his pig farm.