Reviving Baseball Legends: The Morganton Aggies' Journey Through History Unveiled in New Book

Of the three dozen people who came out to hear Edward Phifer III talk about his new book “Morganton Aggies: Personal Remembrances,” many weren’t around to watch the minor league baseball team play at the old Morganton High School Park on South College Street.

But two attendees of the Thornwell Books event saw the action close up: the daughters of team manager, Homer Daugherty.

“We had to go to every game,” lamented Dean Williams, who was 12 years old when her dad became manager of the team in 1948. “We’d ask, ‘Please don’t make us go,’ but we had to.”

The Morganton Aggies were charter members of the eight-team Class D level Western Carolina League that included Forest City Owls, Hendersonville Skylarks, Lenoir Red Sox, Lincolnton Cardinals, Marion Marauders, Newton-Conover Twins, and Shelby Farmers. The Aggies came up short the first couple of years but made it to the league finals in 1951, losing to the Shelby Farmers, four games to three. The league folded in 1952. 

Williams doesn’t have a lot of memories about the many games she attended, but she does remember sometimes hearing others bad-mouth the players or her dad when there was an error or the team lost a game. 

“I’d get so mad, but our mother wouldn’t let us say anything back,” she said. Williams now lives in Cornelius.

Her sister, Kay Carpenter, remembers their father as “bigger than life.” His personality fit his large stature, she said. The sisters lost their dad in the late 80s at the age of 71. Their mother, Letha Penninger Daugherty, died in 2007 at the age of 88. 

Carpenter continues to live in Morganton, as does her son, Skip, with his wife, Crystal Carpenter, who is clerk of Superior Court in Burke County. Skip and Crystal were also on hand for Phifer’s presentation and book signing. 

With the sound of baristas making coffee in the background, Phifer told everyone that the book took literal decades to make. Friends began encouraging him to write a book about the local team 20 years ago. He didn’t begin in earnest right away but eventually connected with Carlos Steward at Black Mountain Press. Soon Phifer was sending Steward stories and photos. 

“Carlos kept asking me what I wanted where in the book, and I finally said send it to the dadgum printer,” Phifer joked.

Phifer wasn’t even 10 years old when the Morganton Aggies took the field for the first time but his recollection of idolizing the players is crystal clear. 

“I’d see them walking around downtown and it was like meeting Babe Ruth or something,” he said with the excitement of a child. 

Buy “Morganton Aggies: Personal Remembrances” by Edward Phifer III at Thornwell Books, 202 S. Sterling St., Morganton. 

Angela Kuper Copeland is managing editor of The Paper. She may be reached at 828-445-8595 or via email at angela@thepaper.media.