Rev. Billy Sunday’s unique style of preaching attracted large crowds wherever he appeared.
If I were to tell you that a century ago a group of fine Greenville ladies boarded a special train for Fort Worth in order to hear Rev. Billy Sunday preach, would you find that odd? The week of September 22, 1915, Billy Sunday appeared in both Fort Worth and Dallas and drew huge crowds as he did throughout the country.
William Ashley (Billy) Sunday was first known as an American athlete, an outstanding outfielder in the National League from 1880 to 1888. While in playing ball in Chicago, Billy converted to Christianity at a street corner mission. Gradually he honed his preaching skills and by 1900 he was one of the most celebrated and influential American evangelists during the first two decades of the 20th century.
Sunday was born in poverty in Iowa in 1862. His father was a Union soldier who died in the Civil War before Sunday’s birth. For a time he lived at the Iowa Orphans’ Home before beginning his athletic career.
After his conversion, Sunday was ordained in the Presbyterian Church, one of the leading religious groups in Greenville at that time. A defender of conservative Christianity, he became wealthy and influential. However, his reputation was never besmirched by scandal. A strong supporter of Prohibition, Sunday probably played a significant role in the adoption of the 18th Amendment.
He was back in Fort Worth for November and December of 1918. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram ran a column known as “Billy Sunday’s Question Box” while he was in town. One reader posed the question about how much Sunday was paid to preach in any town. The answer was that the host church reimbursed all travel expenses and gave the collection on the last day to Rev. Sunday. The church retained all other revenue.
One questioner asked if Billy Sunday had his whisky after his daily bath. The answer was a simple NO. During one period of time the Billy Sunday Club met every Sunday morning at 10:00 A.M. at the Strand Theater in Fort Worth, whether Billy was in town or not. Once while in Fort Worth, Billy Sunday drew an audience of 400 for a noon Lions’ Club luncheon on a Tuesday.
While highly popular and sometimes controversial in his time, Billy Sunday drew crowds from all over Texas, even from Greenville. He certainly had a following here in Greenville and other parts of Hunt County.