Former University of Richmond professor Wilbon Harrison Daniel dies at age 91

Dr. Wilbon Harrison Daniel, 91, who was a professor of history at University of Richmond from 1956 to 1992, passed away in his home Dec. 30, 2013.

Daniel had two great passions in life, baseball and history, and wrote extensively about them during his fruitful career. He published books on Civil War history, particularly on Southern Protestantism in the Confederacy, and was even an ordained Baptist minister. He also published books on his favorite baseball player, Jimmie Foxx, as well as the early baseball movement in Richmond, Va. By the time of his retirement, Daniel was the William Binford Vest Professor of History Emeritus.

As a child, Daniel studied at the New London Academy in Forest, Va., before attending Lynchburg College and Vanderbuilt University. He completed his Ph.D. at Duke University, writing his dissertation on Confederate army chaplains during the Civil War....