The Story County orphan who went from professional baseball to become America's most famous evangelist.
William Ashley “Billy” Sunday was born on November 19, 1862, near Ames, in Story County, Iowa, and spent part of his childhood in an orphanage. A fast runner, he played professional baseball in the 1880s.
After a religious conversion he left the game to preach, and by the 1900s and 1910s he was the most famous revivalist in the United States, drawing enormous crowds with his athletic, plain-spoken style.
Sunday's revivals reached millions in the years around World War I, and his blend of showmanship and religion influenced American evangelism for decades. He rose from an Iowa orphanage to national fame.
He remains one of the best-known figures ever produced by central Iowa.
The Story County orphan who went from professional baseball to become America's most famous evangelist.
Billy Sunday was from Ames, Iowa.
1862–1935.
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Portrait: Wikimedia Commons (public domain or freely licensed).