Jerry Craft was 20 years old when a semi-pro baseball recruiter called him up to see if he'd consider playing for the Witchita Falls Graham Stars. He had been playing college baseball at Texas Tech and had never heard of the team, but said he would talk to the team's owner. When he arrived for his meeting in the summer of 1959, he realized the reason he didn't know about the team was because it was in the West Texas Colored League.
Jerry Craft, author of "Our White Boy," soon became the first white person to join a team in that league; the decision would have ripple effects for the rest of his life.