If you walk along the path on the north side of the North River in Bridgewater, just west of the Route 42/South Main Street bridge, you come across the plaque of one of the town’s most prominent citizens over the last 50 years.
That would be Roscoe Edward Burgess Sr., who born in Bridgewater on July 13, 1929, and passed at his home there on May 23, 2013.
The dedication ceremony for the Roscoe Burgess Riverwalk was on May 16, 2021.
“We were pleased and honored to have members of Roscoe’s family present and participating in the event. The plaque was placed a short time before the dedication ceremony,” said Bridgewater Mayor Ted Flory, a graduate of Waynesboro High School, Bridgewater College and the University of Virginia.
Flory was elected to the Bridgewater Town Council in 1997 and served together with Burgess through 2013.
Flory has been mayor since 2017 and is on the ballot in November for another four-year term.
Burgess “was a legend in this town. He was handily elected to Council six times; he was tireless in service to community organizations, and he was one of the greatest baseball players to come from Bridgewater,” reads the plaque. “But his legend was built on something simpler and yet more grand. Roscoe was a kind, gentle human being. An African-American who was raised in the segregated South, his life was dedicated to bridging those contrived barriers which divide humanity. He built bridges by connecting with people individually, person-to-person and heart-to-heart, reaching nearly everyone in Town. Let Riverwalk bear witness that we are a better and closer people because of Roscoe E. Burgess Sr.”
Bridgewater has been rated as one of the best small towns to live in Virginia by travel websites. Burgess certainly made the town a better place.
“Roscoe retired after 50 years from installing flooring for Boward Heatwole,” according to his obituary by Johnson Funeral Home in Bridgewater. “He was a member of North River Baptist Church, where he served as a deacon, and a member of the church choir. Roscoe was active in the community and served on the Bridgewater Town Council for 20 years, the west camp of the Gideons, Bridgewater food pantry, was a chaplain at Rockingham Memorial Hospital, a member of the NAACP, Habitat for Humanity, and a member of numerous choirs.”
According to Darrell J. Howard, who wrote Sunday Coming: Black Baseball in Virginia, Burgess was the first Black player in the Rockingham County Baseball League when he played for Briery Branch in 1956. The league began in 1924 – Jackie Robinson broke the MLB color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.
Burgess was later involved with the Harrisonburg AC’s, who played in the RCBL through the 1970s before disbanding in 1981.
“We had a team in Bridgewater, and we couldn’t use any Harrisonburg ballplayers, and so you had a rivalry with Harrisonburg and Bridgewater,” Burgess told Howard. “But a couple of guys from Sperryville would come over and play with us and a few of us would go over and play with them. When Harrisonburg’s older guys quit playing my future brother-in-law Junious Whitelow and I got together and formed the Harrisonburg Monarchs and then switched to the AC’s.”
Howard, whose book was published in 2002, is a native of Albemarle County and grew up near the ballpark of the Ivy Eagles, the Black baseball team in that community just west of Charlottesville.
One of Burgess’ sons, Ronald, helped lead Turner Ashby to a state basketball title in 1968.
A long-time hoop coach in Delaware, the younger Burgess died in April 2025, and a program of remembrance was held at TA later in the year.
Major Leaguer born in Bridgewater
The only person born in Bridgewater who played in the Major Leagues was Bill Harman, who pitched in five games with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1941. He was also a catcher and overall appeared in 15 games with one hit in 14 at-bats.
He was born in Bridgewater in 1919 and passed in Delaware in 2007, in Greenville. He attended the University of Virginia and is buried at Lower Brandywine Cemetery in Wilmington, Del., according to baseballreference.com.
Harman went to Episcopal High in Alexandria and played in the minors for Petersburg as a catcher in 1942. He was in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II and worked for DuPont more than 40 years before retiring in 1984.
Major Leaguer raised in Bridgewater
Alan Knicely, who was born in Harrisonburg and grew up in Bridgewater, played in the Major Leagues from 1979-1986 for the Houston Astros, Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies and St. Louis Cardinals. He was drafted in the third round out of Turner Ashby in 1974 by the Astros and assigned to their Appalachian League team in Covington. His brother, Harold, also played with Covington in 1974. They helped lead TA to the state title in 1974; the championship game was held at old Memorial Stadium in Harrisonburg.
Alan Knicley was drafted as a pitcher but played catcher, first base and outfield in the Majors. He was The Sporting News minor league player of the year in 1984 while hitting 33 homers with Wichita. He is the only Virginia high school product to gain that honor.
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David Driver
