Editing Pleasantville, New Jersey (section)

==Sports==
In 1945, the [[Boston Red Sox]] held their [[spring training]] at Ansley Field in Pleasantville, rather than in Florida, due to travel restrictions related to World War II. The [[New York Yankees]] were based at Bader Field in [[Atlantic City, New Jersey|Atlantic City]] and the two clubs played a series of eight exhibition games against each other with wartime restrictions in intercity travel in place.<ref>{{cite book|title=The ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia|year=2007|publisher=Sterling Publishing|isbn=978-1-4027-4771-7|pages=1789}}</ref><ref>LeConey, Bill. [https://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/currents_gazettes/sports_atlantic/war-games-when-the-yankees-red-sox-trained-in-ac/article_24e75567-807a-58e4-8a49-2418eac7c25c.html "War games: When the Yankees, Red Sox trained in AC, Pleasantville"], ''[[The Press of Atlantic City]]'', March 23, 2017. Accessed November 19, 2019. "A year later, he worked out with both the Yankees and the Boston Red Sox, who held spring training just down the road at Ansley Field in Pleasantville, next to the high school.... The two bitter rivals, brought so close together by the war, saw a lot of each other in the spring of 1945.... The Red Sox had settled on Pleasantville partly through the efforts of Larned, who was chairman of the property committee in charge of renovations at Ansley Field."</ref>

Laoma Byrd's Gym, formally known as the South Jersey Athletic Club, operated professionally from the mid-1940s to 1960s. This gym, which was located on West Wright Street, became a tourist destination after it was adapted as a boxing gym by top amateurs and pro fighters. Many noted boxers had trained there, including [[Ezzard Charles]], [[Jersey Joe Walcott]], [[Sonny Liston]], [[Johnny Bratton]], [[Johnny Saxton]], [[Ike Williams]], [[Ernie Terrell]], and numerous professional fighters from the local area.<ref>Weinberg, David. [https://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/features/blackhistorymonth/a-pleasantville-woman-ran-one-of-the-top-boxing-gyms/article_732eee28-61e3-58bc-9007-e400b43d83e8.html "A Pleasantville woman ran one of the top boxing gyms on the East Coast"], ''[[The Press of Atlantic City]]'', March 18, 2019. Accessed November 19, 2019. "Byrd, who died at 98 in 2002, hosted some of the best boxers in the world while running the gym, officially called the South Jersey Athletic Club, on Wright Street in Pleasantville from the 1940s to the '60s. International Boxing Hall of Fame members Ezzard Charles, Joe Frazier, Joe Louis, Bob Montgomery and Jersey Joe Walcott trained there, along with other top fighters such as Wesley Mouzon, Ernie Terrell and Gil Turner."</ref>