Logan WV Little League Baseball History

Forrest M. “Nig” Pierce
Brought Little League Baseball to Logan

This story was written by Dodie (Smith) Browning from personal knowledge and information, pictures and old newspaper clippings (from the Logan Banner. Most of the information was provided by Frances (Pierce) Hampson, the daughter of F. M. “Nig” Pierce.

The Pierce family moved to Logan County from Huntington about 1939, when their daughter, Frances was just a toddler. Nig began working at the C&O Yard at Peach Creek that same year. The family lived at Aracoma for a while and then at West Logan for a while, but moved to Peach Creek about 1941 or 1942. They quickly became members of the Peach Creek Methodist Church, where Nig became a role model for young people as well as adults in the community. Nig’s service to his community was exemplary; service that would make any community proud.  Nig devoted his life to his love of sports and serving as a role model for many young boys in Logan County.

Nig was a youth leader at the church. Pictured below is an attendance “sheet” in Nig’s own handwriting.

His daughter Frances, related a story about this particular attendance record.  Apparently there was no paper nor attendance book in the class room, so Nig wrote the record inside a fly-leaf in one of France’s books. The following note was on the opposite page of the fly-leaf:

Frances laughingly noted that her name was not included in the attendance record. She said she assumed he just took it for granted that everyone knew that when he was in church, she was also there.

Pierce, along with Earl Kirker, former Logan Banner sports editor, and Lester “Bus” Perry, founded the Logan Civic Little League Association.

In addition, Pierce initiated the Logan County Buddy Basketball League. He also served as Charlie Hylton’s statistician for many years for radio station WLOG and the Logan Banner. Nig traveled to all the high school ball games with Hylton. Hylton announced the games and Nig kept the statistics. Most of the time he announced them over the radio and later gave the stats to the newspapers.

Nig was quoted in one newspaper article at the end of his career in Little League, as saying, “For years we always took our teams to Cincinnati, and Detroit to see major league ball games.” For at least nine years he took some of the players to Williamsport, Pa. for the Little League World Series. In 1960, one of his teams was state runner up in the National Little League Competition.

For eleven years Nig was manager of the C&O-YMCA team. He was president of the Logan League in 1965 and 1966. He then served nine years as District II president and later as president in District I. He was not only instrumental for instituting Little League programs in Logan, but also Oceana, Madison, Chapmanville, Adkins District, Salt Rock, Lavalette, Ona, Cox’s Landing, and Williamson.

He was later appointed to the Little League International Advisory Council in Williamsport, Pa., where he served until it was disbanded in 1988. Pierce was a 1931 graduate of Huntington High School, where he excelled in baseball, football and basketball. He attended Marshall University, where he also played sports.

Most of Nig’s pictures and records were burned in a house fire when he was on a trip with a Little League team.

When Nig was wrapping up over three decades of Little League activities in Logan, the following is an excerpt from the Logan Banner sports page:

(And see him play, his old coach did!)

Roger Gertz, a national award winning coach at Logan High School began his baseball career under the guidance and leadership of Nig Pierce. Gertz and his team won two straight Class AAA state championships for Logan High; 2000 and 2001. Gertz was named District 2 Coach of the Year in a six-state area by the National High School Baseball Coaches Association. The area covers West Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia and the District of Columbia.

This writer interviewed Gertz by telephone, and he related that Nig Pierce was a major influence in his life.

Nig retired in 1975, with forty years as a machinist with C&O Railroad, of which thirty six years were spent in Peach Creek.

Another of Nig’s players with whom he maintained a continuing relationship to the end of his life, was Glen Adkins of Peach Creek. In a 1993 Christmas card to Nig, Glen Adkins wrote: “Nig, always remember: I will never forget the time that you took with me as a young man. Tell Jake Hello. If you ever need me, contact me.”

“Jake” was Nig’s dog and his beloved companion. When Nig became ill, and no longer able to care for himself, Glen Adkins lived up to the promise he made to his old friend. There was something that Glen could do for him. Glen was the one who took Jake (for the second time) in 1997. Nig’s only daughter and child, Frances (Pierce) Hampson asked him if he would like her to drive him to Logan to see Jake. Nig was a quiet man who never let his true feelings show, but Fran knew that he was aching to see his beloved friend and companion, and to hold him one last time. Nig was sacrificing his own feelings for what he thought was best for Jake, just as he did so many times for the boys he coached in Little League. Nig’s response to Fran was, “Jake is in Logan, where he belongs.”

Forrest M. “Nig” Pierce died in Huntington, on August 18, 1998. F.M. Pierce never lost his love and longing to go back to Logan, but he is buried next to his wife, Gertrude (Nethercutt) Pierce at Springhill Cemetery in Huntington, WV.

The spirit of F. M. “Nig” Pierce will live on as long as there is Little League and baseball in Logan County. That was his dream, and he made it a reality.