Gus Greenlee

William Augustus "Gus" Greenlee (December 26, 1893 – July 7, 1952) was a Negro League baseball owner and an African-American businessman.

Gus Greenlee was born in Marion, North Carolina in 1893. His father was a masonry contractor and his mother was of mixed race. Greenlee did not complete college, unlike his three brothers who pursued professional careers: two became doctors and one a lawyer.

In 1916, Greenlee traveled north by freight car to Pittsburgh, settling in the Hill District. In Pittsburgh he held several jobs in the steel mills, shining shoes and driving a cab. He served in the black 367th regiment during World War I.

Beginning with the purchase of the Collins Inn in 1924, Greenlee became one of the most influential African American business owners in Pittsburgh, making his reputation as a numbers runner and racketeer, as well as the owner of the Crawford Grill nightclub and the Pittsburgh Crawfords baseball team. Despite the rough figure suggested by terms such as "racketeer," Greenlee was known as a philanthropist who helped fellow blacks with scholarships for schooling and with grants to buy homes. Such opportunities were otherwise impossible to come by through white-controlled financial institutions, leading scholars to suggest Greenlee's success be read as an enterprising attempt to fill a need created by segregation. According to Vernell A. Lillie, professor emeritus of Africana studies at the University of Pittsburgh, Greenlee and other "runners" were respected. "They made their money probably from the numbers racket, but they turned that money into something very positive. If anybody wanted to buy a house, they could not go to Mellon Bank or Dollar Savings. They had to go to old man Greenlee, or to [William A. "Buzzy"] Robinson.”

Greenlee died of a stroke July 7, 1952. He is buried in Pittsburgh's Allegheny Cemetery.

Greenlee knew little about baseball when he first started out. He took interest when the promoters of the Crawford Giants ran out of money and he decided to give a charitable donation of the money he made from a speakeasy that he owned and money he made from getting into the banking business. His large payroll attracted some big name players in the Negro leagues. He would eventually make the Crawford Giants his team by getting rid of the players that were there before him and bringing in new players. Greenlee also owned a future light-heavyweight boxing champion, which added to his reputation.

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