The ongoing renovations above the former Lofton’s DepartmentStore on Whitworth Avenue recently unearthed a small collection ofhistory when approximately 50 little league baseball uniforms fromthe late 1960s and early 1970s were found stored amidst the clutterof decades.

Terry Pappas, who is assisting building owner Bill Lofton in theeffort to transform the upper level space into apartments, made thediscovery sometime last summer. He has been working to return thejerseys to their original owners ever since.

“Bill knew they were up there somewhere, but didn’t know what todo with them,” Pappas said. “He told me I could have them.”

Pappas, though, said he had been trying to return the uniformsto people – now grown – who played back then.

“I’ve had a pretty good response from the people I talked to,”Pappas said.

Pappas said he has received several offers to purchase theuniforms, but he has turned the money down.

“Plenty of people have offered to buy them from me, but that’snot what I want,” he said. “The guys who played then – a lot ofthem have kids of their own now, and I thought they might want ajersey to frame and keep.”

The jerseys are relics in the sports world.

Unlike the sleek uniforms of today, the 50-odd Dixie Youthjerseys discovered above Lofton’s are loose-fitting, heavy cottonshirts labeled with the names of long-ago sponsors. The jerseysfeature names such as B and O Machine and Welding, Fred’s Dog andSuds, Positive Pest Control, State Bank, Brookhaven Bank and TheDAILY LEADER.

The jerseys came from Lofton’s Department Store, founded by W.D. Lofton, Sr., in 1929 and maintained through the period of DixieYouth sponsorship by W. D. Lofton, Jr., one of the originalfounders of the league in Brookhaven.

“When I was working with the baseball programs, we were in thesporting goods business,” said Bill Lofton, the the thirdgeneration of W. D. Loftons. “We sold some of the equipment to theleague and we also provided storage space during the offseason. Thekids turned in their uniforms and we would store them from oneseason to the next.”

Sometime during the 1970s, the league changed uniform styles,leaving the Loftons with a pile of old, now unused uniforms.

“They managed to accumulate over the next 30 to 40 yearsupstairs above the building,” Lofton said.

The uniforms were stored with a generation of debris aboveLofton’s Department Store until the summer of 2007. Then, duringthe cleaning process of the upstairs quarters in preparation forrenovation to apartment space, Pappas stumbled upon them – a greatfind for a mild sports fan and self-proclaimed history buff.

“That was like a gold mine for him,” Lofton said. “I told him hecould do whatever he wanted to do with them. He had a lot offriends his age that played during that time, so that was theconnection there.”

Pappas still has several uniforms from baseball diamond’s cottondays. Former members of the league that played during the turn ofthe 1970s may contact Pappas at 601-695-1042.

Pappas’ quest to return the uniforms to their original ownershas been met with enthusiasm, even by those who played on differentteams than the jerseys available.

“I remember those days,” said DAILY LEADER Publisher BillJacobs, who, oddly enough, did not play for newspaper-sponsoredteam during that era. “If you had one of those uniforms, you werebig time.”

Jacobs mentioned the sweat associated with wearing a heavycotton uniform during the high days of summer. Mark Davis, of DavisInsurance, also recalled the saturation.

“Man, they were hot – very hot,” he said. “We used them yearafter year. Basically, it was a hand-me-down situation. It goes toshow that they’re still in pretty good condition.”