Audio
Description
Rankin Baker and Leon Bost discuss their careers and experiences with the YMCA. Mr. Baker worked for the Cannon Memorial YMCA in Kannapolis, North Carolina for over 40 years, and he describes sports programs at the YMCA for children and adults from the 1930s-1970s, including basketball, volleyball, and softball. He recounts competitive tournaments between players from around the state, the relationship between Cannon Memorial YMCA and Cannon Mills, and industrial basketball leagues for mill workers. Leon Bost, who was director of the health club at Cannon Memorial YMCA, discusses basketball, boxing and other sports programs at the YMCA, how the YMCA earned money through "dope wagon" concessions sold at the textile mill, and his experiences going to the Charlotte YMCA as a young man.