Cecil Upshaw

Made His Mark In Two Sports

In 1969 as a member of the Atlanta Braves baseball team, Cecil Upshaw was elected National League Relief Pitcher of the Year, Fulfilling promise shown early in his two-sports career.

Upshaw, who earned his living for nine seasons as a pitcher in the Major Leagues 1967-1975), was a stand our in basketball and baseball at Bossier High School and later Centenary college before signing with the Braves following his college graduation.

He lead Bossier High to the 1960 state basketball championship, earning All State honors and setting a school one-season scoring record along the way. But earlier he had given notice of his multitude of talents when he helped a Bossier City team win the VFW Teener League national championship in Philadelphia. In one tournament fame he pitched the entirety of a 1-0 16-inning win, striking out 27 batters.

His best campaigns in the Major Leagues came in 1968, 1969, and 1971 with Atlanta, where he spent seven of his nine seasons in the “Big Show.” In those three seasons, he had a 25-17 win-loss record, recording 57 saves. In 1968, he was 8-7 with a career best 2.47 Earned Run Average and career high 74 strikeouts. He recorded 13 saves, In 1969, he appeared in 62 games and posted a6-4 record and solid 2.91 ERA with 27 saves. He won 11 games and posted a3.51 ERA with 17 saves in 1971.

Upshaw, who also played briefly with the Houston Astros, Cleveland Indians, New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox, posted 86 saves and had a 34-36 career record and 3.13 career ERA. He appeared in 348 games in the Majors.

As a basketball player at Centenary College, he had a career average of 12.7 points a game. He averaged 5.9 rebounds a game. On the diamond for the Gents, he set a single-season strikeout record with95 in 22 games with the 1963 team.

Upshaw was inducted into the Centenary college Hall of Fame in 1989. He died February 7, 1995 in Lawrenceville, GA. at the age of 53.

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