Walter Fenner “Buck” Leonard
Walter Fenner “Buck” Leonard is largely considered the greatest Negro Leagues 1st baseman of all-time. From 1934 to 1950, he captained the great Homestead Grays of the Negro National League to 10 league championships and 3 Negro Leagues World Series titles. He played in a record 12 All-Star games, earning a reputation as one of the game’s most feared hitters and greatest all-around stars. Though he never played in the Major Leagues, he has been considered one of the top 50 baseball players of all-time and was among the first 3 Negro Leaguers elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Leonard was born in Rocky Mount, NC in 1907, and grew up near the local ballpark. As a boy, he was once arrested for sneaking a peek at a segregated minor league baseball game. Without a high school for Black kids in the area, he went to work at 14, eventually putting brake cylinders on railroad cars. In the evenings and on weekends, he played semi-pro baseball. He lost his job during the depression in 1932 and left to pursue a career in professional baseball. Buck always maintained a home in Rocky Mount and when he returned home for good, he promptly earned his high school diploma. A true Renaissance Man, Buck held several jobs, including school district truant officer, physical education instructor and minor league baseball executive, before earning his real-estate broker license. He even built several homes that still stand in Rocky Mount today.
Mr. Leonard was a role model and leader throughout his life. His legacy of deep commitment to faith, family and community is carried on today through the efforts of the Buck Leonard Association.
Source:
Family Members
Rose Fox-Hunter and Brian Patterson
Daughter and Grandson of
Walter Fenner “Buck” Leonard
Rose Fox-Hunter is an educator, community-builder, and the step-daughter of Baseball Hall of Famer Walter “Buck” Leonard. Along with her mother Lugenia Smith-Leonard, Rose co-founded the Buck Leonard Association for Sports & Human Enrichment in 1999.
A lifetime resident of Rocky Mount, NC, Fox-Hunter served Head Start of North Carolina for more than 30 years, first as Education Director and later as Head Star/Early Head.Start Program Director. Since her retirement in 2005, she has dutifully served the inner-city youth of Rocky Mount as CEO/Executive Director of the Buck Leonard Association.
Her post-secondary education includes studies at Fayetteville State University, East Carolina University, and Shaw University. She earned a master’s degree in Early Childhood Education-Curriculum Development Specialist from North Carolina Central University; she is a University of North Carolina Early Childhood Fellow; and has received nonprofit management certificates from Duke University.
With a motto of “Play - Explore - Preserve”, Fox-Hunter leads the Buck Leonard Association’s mission to activate the intergenerational advancement and historic preservation of Rocky Mount by offering programs to children of low-wealth families, that promote active learning, personal enrichment, athletics, and community conservation & preservation.
Under her guidance, and with the help of a small staff of volunteers and several key partners, including the City of Rocky Mount, the Buck Leonard Association “Sports & STEAM Collective” has grown to include several key programs, including:
MLB Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) Youth Baseball League
Baseball, Ice Cream & Books Early Childhood Literacy Program
UNDEFEATED: The Buck Leonard Virtual Reality Experience, created in partnership with Dr. Derek Ham of NC State School of Design
STEAM careers excursion/field trip program
The Stan & Donna Colson Children’s Black History Library & Negro Leagues Studies Center with 3,000 books and artifacts
The Buck Leonard Home Museum and Bed & Breakfast “Staydium”- an inner-city, Negro League history and tourist destination
The Buck Leonard History & Learning Center at the Mitchell House - an historic inner-city property and future home of the STEM Education and Computing Lab, Black History Research and Community Exhibition Center, and Lugenia’s Negro Leagues Gift Shop
As curators of Negro Leagues history and caretakers of their beloved community, Rose and the Buck Leonard Association connect the past, present, and future with an attitude of “We can and we must do it now!”