PATERSON, N.J. (PIX11) -- The stories of many unsung athletic heroes who carried out amazing feats of athleticism in the Negro Leagues of baseball had long been forgotten here, even though this city spawned multiple Negro League teams.
With the opening of a unique historical facility at a legendary stadium here on Thursday, the players' stories are no longer forgotten.
Those stories are now on permanent display at the Charles Muth Museum, at historic Hinchliffe Stadium. The museum features a display of many of the most accomplished and storied players in the Negro Leagues, as well as some of their less well-known teammates.
The facility was created to ensure that the players are still known.
Vaughn McKoy, an attorney and entrepreneur from Paterson, was at the opening ceremony and ribbon-cutting on Thursday morning. He spoke about the new museum’s significance.
"A lot of students growing up in the 70s and 80s did not know that the Negro Leagues had their start in Paterson, and were from the area," McKoy said.
The New York Black Yankees and the New York Cubans both were based out of Paterson and played at Hinchliffe. Players' athletic heroics were comparable to or greater than those of players in the Major leagues -- white players. However, the sport was segregated until 1947.
As a result of that policy, many statistics and other details about Negro League teams had been overlooked, unrecorded, or seemingly lost to history. The point of the new museum is to ensure that Negro League players' contributions are permanently memorialized.
Max Martinez talked about why that mission is so important to him and his family. He'd come to the museum opening to see a display about his great uncle, Horacio Martinez. Martinez had played for years for the New York Cubans, including winning the Negro League World Series.
"To be able to come here and see him being finally honored for all the contributions that he's made," said Martinez while he stood in front of the display about his great uncle, "[it] is just a really huge honor," he said.
The opening ceremony on Thursday also featured the introduction of the man for whom the museum is named, businessman Chuck Muth. He donated $5 million toward the updating of Hinchliffe Stadium two years ago. The museum was the latest piece in the overall renewal of the stadium complex.
In an interview, Muth said that it all shows how Paterson is about a wide variety of people whose histories are intertwined and should be documented.
"Not only different races and nationalities," Muth said in describing his hometown when he was growing up, "but different religions. It was Muslim, it was Jewish, it was Catholic, it was Hindu, it was all different. This stadium really is a great place to bring those cultures together," he said.
The museum, which Montclair State University operates, also has some displays about other sports that have had a presence at Hinchliffe Stadium over the years, including midget car racing, and track and field.
The facility also highlights individual athletic standouts from the city, including major leaguer John Briggs. The former player for the Milwaukee Brewers and Philadelphia Phillies was on hand on Thursday to view the museum's display about him. More important, he said, was how the facility's information can be life-changing for the people who are at the stadium most frequently — public school students who are there nearly every day for athletics.
The place is a sharp contrast from when he was in school in the 1960s, Briggs said.
"We didn't have a museum we could go to," he said in an interview. "We didn't have heroes that you could see."
The museum is being curated and operated by Montclair State University.
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