Life Before Baseball
Lawrence Eugene Doby was born on December 13, 1923, in Camden, South Carolina. He later moved to Paterson, New Jersey, where he grew up. In Paterson, Doby lived in a mixed community and said that he was rarely discriminated against. He also said that the kids he grew up with were not too concerned with skin color (McMurray).
He attended Eastside High School in Paterson, where he was a star athlete. He won eleven total letters in four different sports; basketball, track, football, and of course baseball. He graduated from Eastside High in 1942 and attended Long Island University after high school for only one year until he was drafted into the navy. He attended Long Island University on a basketball scholarship because he said he really liked the coach. Even though he played basketball in college, he continued to play baseball on the side (McMurray).
In the navy Doby really started to face the most segregation and discrimination in his life. He explained that he didn't understand it, and it was a shame because he was defending his country, but he also had to deal with discrimination (O'Toole). For African American soldiers in World War II, it was almost like fighting two separate wars (Black). Doby finally received his honorable discharge from the navy in 1946, and he began playing baseball in the Negro Leagues.
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