Chris Fullerton, who graduated with a master's degree in Southern Studies in 1994, was killed April 28 in a three-car accident in Birmingham, Alabama. He was 29.

A native of Woodbridge, Virginia, Fullerton received a bachelor's degree in history from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. He worked for the Museum of the Confederacy before entering the master's program at the University in the fall of 1992. During his time as a graduate student, he worked at the University Museums and served for a year as the assistant curator of Rowan Oak, William Faulkner's home.

Fullerton focused much of his research in the Southern Studies Program on the history of baseball and race relations. His master's thesis, "Striking Out Jim Crow: The Birmingham Black Barons," examined the role Birmingham's Negro League team played in resisting discrimination in that city and eventually providing a forum for eliminating segregation. Fullerton's passion for history and for the subject of baseball carried over into his extracurricular activities. His friends remember him fondly as the catalyst for the first Southern Studies softball team, whose poor win record did not accurately reflect the importance of the games for team members. "Chris really pulled my class of students together with that softball team. We became more than just fellow students, but also great friends," says fellow alum, Aimee Schmidt. "The master's program was just gaining respect when our class began at Ole Miss and Chris was really the glue that held us together. He was tremendously funny and amidst the tragedy that often looms over the study of the South, Chris always made everyone laugh."

After graduating from the University, Fullerton returned to Richmond, Virginia, where he became curator of the Richmond Police and Fireman's Museum. His greatest accomplishment there, aside from creating a museum out of a collection of memorabilia, was to help gain recognition for those African Americans who had desegregated the Richmond police force and fire department. He brought together many of those early pioneers with members of the Richmond community in an oral history project. He taught summer courses in Southern history at Virginia Commonwealth University in addition to consulting on baseball exhibits and a documentary. He presented a paper on his baseball research at a conference on Southern history in England, pleased to be the first Southern Studies graduate to present at an international conference. And, he played lead in a band that offered its own unique Elvis Presley tribute, playing cover songs from all of Presley's movies at a local Richmond nightspot.

Baseball remained Fullerton's singular love. In the fall of 1996, he returned to Birmingham, site of his many research trips, to become executive director of the Friends of Rickwood, a group devoted to the restoration of Rickwood Park, home of the Birmingham Barons and Black Barons and the nation's oldest baseball park. In addition to directing fundraising efforts to preserve the park, Fullerton oversaw the planning and promotion of the Rickwood Classic, created a Rickwood Field traveling exhibit, and scheduled baseball events at the park. He was developing a long-range plan to build a Museum of Southern Baseball History at Rickwood.

"Chris Fullerton brought to the project an enthusiasm and a passion for the history of baseball," said Coke Matthews III, chairman of the Friends of Rickwood. "That passion was very much contagious with everybody who came into contact with him. He loved to refer to Rickwood as the mother church of baseball, and he certainly was the preacher."

Fullerton had just returned triumphantly to his old stomping grounds at the University on April 23 to deliver the Southern Studies Brown Bag lecture on Rickwood and the restoration project. His friends had teased him about the return lecture; during his first attempt a few years ago to share his research on the Birmingham Black Barons in the Brown Bag series, Fullerton passed out from nervousness. But his lecture on April 23 revealed a polished and passionate speaker on the subject of baseball and American culture, clearly excited about the work progressing at Rickwood. Fullerton was particularly pleased with the role that the restoration of Rickwood was playing in the Southside community of Birmingham. He related the story of an older gentleman who lived across from the park who had boarded up his windows for nine years. In the last few months, he had taken the boards down, and Fullerton was delighted to be part of the process that was helping to rebuild the Southside community.

Fullerton's death stunned his friends, who held a memorial service in his honor on May 2, fittingly the anniversary of Lou Gehrig's retirement from the game. His family remembered him at a graveside service in Woodbridge, with his brother leading family and friends in a rendition of "Take Me Out To the Ballgame." His parents have requested that friends send donations in their son's honor to Friends of Rickwood, 2100 Morris Avenue, Birmingham, AL 35203, to continue the work he started there. Rickwood Park paid tribute to Fullerton on June 10, before the start of the Rickwood Classic, donating proceeds from the day's events to the reconstruction of the press box at the field. "It was a project that wasn't very high on the agenda of the board but one that Chris had pushed for, so we've made it our first priority. The box overlooks the entire field and is the best seat in the house. Chris is probably there now," said board member and grandson of the builder of the field, Rick Woodward. "It will be impossible to replace Chris."

On May 10, his Southern Studies colleagues hosted a memorial softball game and barbeque in Fullerton's honor. Friends of Chris played well, ironically winning 30-22 despite the fact that under Fullerton's coaching they had most often lost. I will always remember him laughing. He is probably mad that we finally won a game now that he has gone. In his lecture here in April, he reminisced about being on the field at Rickwood and having the overwhelming feeling of being crowded out by the spirits of former players like Babe Ruth. I like to think of him with his heroes now. We will all miss him a great deal.

Susan Glisson

Southern Studies Graduate, Master of Arts 1994