The Story of Downs Field

Words by Sean Saldana Photo by Shane Ford

First opened in the 1920s, Downs Field has been the focal point for athletics in East Austin for nearly a century.

Named after Reverend Karl Downs, former President of Samuel Huston College (a coeducational school for Black Americans), Downs Field has a long and celebrated history as the epicenter of Black athletics in Austin. 
Samuel Huston College first acquired the land at Downs Field in 1927 and was subsequently turned into a baseball field. Soon thereafter, the stadium became home to a Texas Negro League baseball team, Austin Black Senators, the city’s only professional sports team at the time.

The team’s most noteworthy player to suit up for the Black Senators was Willie Wells. Born in Austin in 1905, Wells quickly rose to prominence as one of the country’s best baseball players. After graduating from Anderson High School in 1924, he played a few seasons for the Black Senators before he was scouted out by the Negro National League. 

By the mid-1920s, Wells was playing for the St. Louis Stars, one of the Negro National League’s most decorated franchises, and would later go on to earn the nickname, “El Diablo.” In 1997, nearly a decade after his death, Willie Wells was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

In 1938, Samuel Huston College sold the field to Austin Public Schools for $10,000. From there, Downs Field became the athletic stadium for Anderson High School, Austin’s only Black high school at the time. And in 1942, after an undefeated season, the Anderson Yellow Jackets secured a state championship there after beating Gibbon of Paris 40-0.

In 1954, the field was moved to its current location on East 12th Street where it was used not only by Anderson High School but also by other prominent African American institutions like Huston-Tillotson University, which was formed in 1952 when Tillotson College and Samuel Huston College merged so they could more effectively serve Austin’s Black community. The field was also home to lesser known baseball teams like the Austin Black Pioneers. 

Nowadays, fans can cheer on the Huston-Tillotson Rams during game day or catch a fly ball at one of the various little leagues that practice and play on Downs Field.

In recent years, the field has undergone a number of repairs and renovations to restore it to its historic stature. In 2014, Austin Parks Foundation helped restore the entryway to the ballpark. In 2018, an Austin City Limits Music Festival grant helped repair the scoreboard and upgrade fan seating. The field has also since been dedicated as a historical landmark by the Texas Historical Commission.

The most noticeable change, however, is the set of tile murals that now adorn the front of the stadium commemorating the noteworthy baseball players who played at Downs Field over the years. The murals include the names and portraits of Willie Wells, Joe Williams, Tori Stone, Hilton Smith, and Satchel Paige.