ACC baseball makes history with the first-ever all-Black umpire crew

Troy Fullwood, the ACC’s supervisor of umpires, sat on a flight back from attending the funeral of his mentor Randy Harvey thinking of ways to honor his memory.

The first idea, for umpires to wear a No. 41 patch on their shirts, can be seen throughout crews calling any game in the ACC. His other idea for honoring Harvey, who died in September and was just the second Black man ever to umpire in the College World Series, was something that had never before been seen until Thursday.

Greg Street (home plate), Linus Baker (first base), Damien Beal (second base) and Randy Watkins (third base) became the first all-Black umpire crew to work a Power 5 conference game as they called the first game of North Carolina’s series with Virginia, a 3-2 victory for the Tar Heels, at Boshamer Stadium.

“I don’t think it’s happened ever, in any baseball, on any baseball level,” Fullwood told the media Thursday.

Fullwood has experience at every level of baseball including the major leagues. In 2017, he was just the fourth Black umpire to work the CWS. Street was an alternate umpire in the 2017 CWS and ended up working with Fullwood a couple of games.

Fullwood said he thought, at that time, if an all-Black crew was assembled then he would be a part of it. Turns out, he still played a role in making history, just from an administrative standpoint.

The crew he assembled consists of all veteran umpires. Fullwood and Beal got started together when they were in umpire school at the same time and trekked through the minor leagues. Fullwood said he worked his first college game with Baker, who has called several Super Regionals and is eligible for the CWS in Omaha this year. Fullwood added that Watkins has called ACC games for 20-plus years.

“It’s historic, but I think it’s long overdue,” Fullwood said. “Hopefully at some point, it won’t be a first in many aspects in life. That this will be something... we’ll just accept it as everyday living.”

The ACC has its own set of umpires it assigns to work games. Fullwood said 10 of about 70 total umpires are Black.

As news spread of the historic gesture, Fullwood said he received calls and well wishes from fellow umpires around the country.

“Umpires from all different backgrounds were excited,” Fullwood said. “I hope that they (other leagues) will emulate it and I hope this will be something that will become a norm at some point in time.”

Street, Baker, Beal and Watkins will continue to umpire the UNC-Virginia series, with games scheduled on Friday and Saturday.