January 21, 2026 – The four Stars in the main picture on display in the Nashville Stars Baseball Club office are the players who excelled for the team here in Nashville in the 1940s and 1950s. While they are no longer with us to tell their stories, we are pleased to have family members right here in Nashville who carry on the stories and celebrate the accomplishments and impact of those players, across the generations.
Last week, the Stars welcomed the family of Sidney Bunch, Jr.: grandson Sidney Bunch IV, daughter-in-law Karen Williams Bunch — the wife of Sidney Bunch III — daughter Brenda Byas and grandson Enoch Bunch (photographed above, left to right) to share some of the family’s memorabilia along with numerous stories of their family across the generations.
Their story is a familiar one of accomplishment and family. Sidney Bunch, Jr. was a first baseman and a wide receiver. Above all, he was a Star.
“Growing up, I heard the stories about my grandfather from other family members, and like most youngsters, I discounted them as family fables,” Enoch Bunch told us. “But when I’d go to the barber shop in the neighborhood, that’s where I found out the stories were true. People would say, ‘Do you know how good a baseball player your grandfather was,’ and after hearing that week after week, I came to understand that he was pretty special.”
Enoch, who was on the 1999 State Championship Basketball Team for Father Ryan High School and played basketball for Marshall University and is now a licensing executive with Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), and his brother Sidney IV, who played sports at both Father Ryan and Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) and is a successful entrepreneur in the area, came to appreciate what their grandfather did. “The stories were fascinating, and shed a light on an era that has been overlooked and even forgotten,” Sidney IV said. “That’s what makes this story about the Nashville Stars returning, this time as an Major League Baseball (MLB) team, so meaningful for me, my family and for this community. We are excited to see the Stars in action once again.
Bunch was born in Nashville on March 29, 1931. A gifted athlete, Bunch adopted his grandfather’s skill on the baseball diamond and his father’s knack for football – both of which would come in handy throughout his adult life.
Bunch graduated from high school in 1949 and was immediately signed by the Baltimore Elite Giants, working first as a batboy before later taking the field as their starting first baseman. Bunch finished out the season in Baltimore before coming home and playing for the Nashville Stars for the 1950 and 1951 seasons, during which time the photo of the four Stars — Bunch is pictured second from the left — was captured
Bunch didn’t stay in Nashville very long; he signed a contract with the Billings (Montana) Mustangs of the Pioneer League — an affiliate of the Dodgers — which paid him $350 every two weeks. Across 19 games, Bunch posted a .298 batting average (17-for-57) with four doubles and 10 walks, driving in nine. But after that brief stint, his Marine unit was mobilized and Bunch was headed to Korea, pressing pause on his career.
When Bunch returned stateside after his military service in 1954, he resumed his career with the Birmingham Black Barons (top right photo: Bunch is second from the left in the back row), then joined the Kansas City Monarchs for two seasons in 1957 and 1958. That’s when he decided to trade the bat and glove for a helmet and pads, and he played two seasons (1959-60) of Canadian football as a wide receiver with the British Columbia Lions.
But baseball didn’t forget him. Later in his life, Sports Illustrated contacted Bunch for perspective as Major League Baseball was addressing the controversies that surrounded the steroid era. Bunch’s answer was direct and reflective of the players and the Negro Leagues era. Acknowledging that steroids were certainly not a part of the game in his playing days – at least, not as “steroids” are typically defined.
“Our steroids were white beans, cornbread, and pig’s feet,” Bunch said in that 1994 article.
That era continues to vitalize baseball and shed an important light on the accomplishments of the Negro Leagues athletes, coaches and executives, many of whom are now in the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Karen Bunch spoke of that significance. Before Sidney Bunch, Jr. passed away, she and her husband drove the aging baseball player to Birmingham and toured historic Rickwood Field. It was the first time the Star had been to the field. “It was so special to be with him and with my husband, Sidney III,” Karen said. “He stood on the field, soaked in the atmosphere and soon was crying tears of joy and memory and appreciation. That’s what the Negro Leagues meant to him, and to us.”
That scene is poignantly told in the documentary “A Tour of One City: The History of the Negro Leagues in Nashville and Beyond,” by Karen’s good friend and college classmate Harriet Kimbro Hamilton, whose father, Henry Kimbro, was a Negro Leagues star as well. The documentary has received multiple awards at Film Festivals here and in other parts of the country.
Looking over the memorabilia the Bunch family brought – old photos of Sidney, baseballs, special programs and other keepsakes – added to the story, reminding the family and the Stars of the depth and importance of the legacy of the Stars and the Negro Leagues.
“We are all connected,” Byas said, “by this experience, whether it was my father or Harriet’s or any of the families in this community who cheered the Stars and celebrated these athletes. We are just proud to see their story come alive again.”