Category: Biographical

“BILLY” SUNDAY FLIES IN AIRSHIP, 1911

“BILLY” SUNDAY FLIES IN AIRSHIP

EVANGELIST TAKES TWO-MILE RIDE OVER WINONA LAKE WITH CURTIS

Warsaw, Ind., July 14.-“Billy” Sunday and Glen H. Curtiss, two of the world’s greatest sky pflots, few tagether in the Curtiss hydro-aero. plane on Winona lake today. The evangelist, who is spending, a few days at his Winona home, accepted the aviator’s invitation at the last moment. ” He didn’t flinch as the big air craft sped over the lake a distance of at least two miles. More than 15,000 people saw the three successful flights that were – made by Curtiss.

Billy himself defends his free-will offerings he was given, 1909

The Canton Press-News. Fri, Aug 13, 1909 ·Page 1

Billy Sunday’s Defense.

The one evangelist who has shaken half a dozen lowa cities more than any other is popularly called Sunday, for that is his name, ‘Billy’ Sunday. He is often scored severely for bis antics on the stage and for the way be rounded up the money on leaving the town he has excited to a high pitch. In his latest interview Sunday makes a defense of his style of getting the currency. He points to Jeffries, Bat Nelsons and the other fighters, and says: “But these fellows can get the money and nobody accuses them of graft. But let a preacher get together a few dollars and he is immediately called a grafter.”

He is not a quitter and announces the fact this way: “I expect to stay in the game as long as 1 have the physical and mental strength.

I have amassed a few dollars but it all came from free-will offerings.

I gave up ball playing and turned down offer of $12,000 a year to take up Y. M. C. A. work. Why during July and August of this year I could have made $20,000 on the chautauqua platform from the offer I have had, but I turned them down. I did it for the reason that I need all my strength for preaching. I don’t know no more about theology than a jackrabbit know about ping pong, but I preach as hard as I can.”

Mr. Sunday is booked for years ahead. -[Davenport Times.]

The Canton Press-News

Billy Sunday family c. 1902

This image was likely take around 1902 because the oldest boy, George was born in 1892. He looks around 8-9 years old here. The other child must be Billy, Jr., born in 1901. The older woman is Helen’s mother. I colorized the image.

“Striking Out” Satan (February 18, 1889) Chicago Tribune.

“STRIKING OUT” SATAN.

BILLY SUNDAY, THE NOTED BALL TOSSER, TURNS EVANGELIST.

The Famous Centre-Fielder Addresses a Large Crowd at Farwell Hall – He Didn’t Even Allow the “Father of Sin” to Reach First Base – Advising His Hearers to Watch Their “Error Columns” – Forty-eight Converts Made.

Centre Fielder Billy Sunday made a three-base hit at Farwell Hall last night. There is no other way of expressing the success that accompanied his first appearance in Chicago as an evangelist.

Young men who dodged the boys distributing pamphlets at the door of the hall were confronted with these words blazing in scarlet letters on the big bulletin board:

“William A. Sunday, the base-ball player.”

And about 500 of them who didn’t know much about Billy’s talents as an evangelist, but could remember him galloping to second base with his cap in his hand, went inside. They heard a rattling fifteen minutes’ talk.

Mr. Sunday, who has grown a red mustache since his marriage, appeared in a becoming black suit and looked a little shy. It was his first public appearance here as an evangelist. In private he had often tried to do quiet work among the ball players, but, after dulling his weapons on the adamantine surface of “Silver” Flint’s moral character, he gave up the task, and for several winters has been preparing for a public trial of his skill in saving souls.

His talk last night was the most successful of the year. He aimed straight at the young men in front of him, giving them the truth in plain, earnest language, and when he finished forty-eight youths raised their hands to show that they had been converted. Sunday looked as pleased as a man who has stolen third.

AT THE BAT.

His talk was from the text: “Is the Young Man Safe?”

“Is he safe?” said Mr. Sunday. “Do you think he is safe, boys – do you think he is safe? I answer no. This is a big city. It is full of temptations. No young man is safe in it without Christ. With Him there is security. Without Him – O! think of the pitfalls and iniquity that drag young men down to sin and death.”

The little ball player walked across the stage with the springing gait of an athlete, and turned suddenly on his audience: “There are a great many questions of vast importance to us as individuals and as a Nation—questions that call for men of keen intellect and for thought—such questions as the tariff and labor. Vast and important as these are, they sink to oblivion when compared to the question of your soul’s future home. Ah! my boy, that is the big question. Christ calls across a chasm of 1,800 years: ‘Son, give me thine heart.’ Today the seat of war is confined to no one nation or battlefield. It rages all over this earth, on the Hudson, on the Mississippi, on the Nile, on the Danube. It is the battle against sin. Ever since Cain slew Abel in the Garden of Eden that battle has been raging, and it will rage so long as the earth stands. What side are you on?

“Think of the thousands that fall in the battle of life, no hope, no home, no heaven. Look at it right, boys. Satan doesn’t want to get a young man who after a while may dispute with him the realm of everlasting meanness. You bet he doesn’t. It is the generous young man, the warm-hearted young man, the ardent young man, the sociable young man who is in danger, my friends. He’s the fellow that Satan behind the bat wants to catch napping. He’s the chap that the Devil in the box wants to pull on with a snake curve. Hold your base. Wait for your ball.”

“WATCH THE ERROR COLUMN.”

Sunday was in earnest. He grew eloquent. “Say to yourself, O my friends, God helping me, I will take my Bible, light for all darkness, balm for all wounds, grand, glorious, the best book you ever owned. If you haven’t got a Bible now, my lads, get one. It will show you the paths of safety and warn you of the danger of the paths of sin: ‘Whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.’

“Is there a voice within you saying: ‘What did you do that for? Why did you go there? What did you mean by that?’ Is there a memory in your soul that makes you tremble—is there such a memory, fellows? God only knows all our hearts. He is familiar with the catalogues of our sins. How many hits have you made and where do you stand in the error column?”

Mr. Sunday then led the audience in singing the hymn:

Safe in the arms of Jesus,

Safe from corroding care,

Safe from the world’s temptation,

Sin cannot harm me there.

Forty-eight persons acknowledged the effect of Mr. Sunday’s manly and earnest talk—the best showing made at a Farwell Hall Sunday night service in a year. After the regular meeting an experience meeting was held in the rear of the hall, where Mr. Sunday led in prayer and shook hands with the converts.

“I wish Anson were here,” he said. “What an evangelist the old man would make. No, I’m glad I didn’t take the long trip. I can do more good here bringing souls to Christ. I will play in Pittsburg next summer.”

“Say, how he did line old Satan’s delivery out of the lot,” said a young man at the door. “He hit the ball on the nose every time.”

A Human Dynamo

The Evening Review (East Liverpool, Ohio) · Mon, Sep 16, 1912 · Page 4

A Human Dynamo.

That is Billy Sunday in action—a human dynamo working for the cause of religion. No one could listen to the evangelist, yesterday, without absorbing some of his wonderful energy as he sent it out in great dynamic waves through the huge tabernacle. The air of the big structure was saturated with it.

Billy Sunday literally pumps religious enthusiasm into people. And no matter how much of it he pours out, the supply seems inexhaustible. It is almost incredible that one man could have such a lot of vim and vinegar stored up in his one little body and his brain.

Billy Sunday believes in a Christianity that does things, that is carried out into the lives of people, that accomplishes results, that “delivers the goods.” This is the core of his evangelism. This is why he is so vitriolic in his denunciation of the Christian who sits back and is satisfied with announcing that he believes in the Lord but does nothing for the Lord.

Nothing in oratory could be more impressive or effective than the evangelist’s word painting of histrionic scenes, especially those of the battlefield, and the application of some striking incident to the life and work of the soldier in the Christian army. It is the very essence and soul of eloquence.

The audiences that met yesterday to hear Sunday’s first three sermons, would have been most encouragingly large on the pleasantest of days. On a rainy day such as it was, they may well be regarded as remarkable, and as most auspicious.

A contemporary account of Billy Sunday (c 1921)?

The following account (excerpted) is in the Morgan Library Billy Sunday Archives.

“Life and Labors of William A. Sunday”

[Billy’s own view of his first sermon.]

“I diagnosed the sins and difficulties of people as existing in the gray matter. I figured I had to show people. You ought to have heard my [first] sermon. It was a hummer. I had stacks of books all around me. There were words that would make the jaws of a Greek professor squeak for a week. When I sprung it, it went off like a firecracker and busted in the middle. I figured that I was going to the old sinful world to its knees and yet nothing happened. Then I loaded my old muzzle loading gun with ipecac , buttermilk, rough on rats, rock salt and whatever else came handy and the gang has been ducking and the feathers flying ever since. I was wrong. It was the heart and not the gray matter that was wrong.

“In 1891 Sunday left baseball to become secretary of religious work at the Chicago Y.M.C.A. After three years he became advance man for J.Wilbur Chapman, also holding meetings in connection with the campaigns. About Jan.1,1896 Chapman returned to the pastorate and simultaneously Sunday received his first call [editor: this is not correct] as an evangelist. This meeting was held at Garner, Iowa and dates the beginning of this mans remarkable career.”

[Billy as a man of prayer.]

In regard to the personality of the man I would say first that he is fundamentally a man of prayer. Let the mistaken critic of Sunday rid himself at once of the notion that his meetings are merely big displays of the powers of advertising and organized enthusiasm and the product of a man who is called “a great salesman”. The life of the man and the activities of a campaign are shot through and through with prayer. In every place where he holds a meeting he chooses a secluded spot from whence he storms heaven. This place becomes a Bethel to him. In prayer he is natural. His prayers are not long but to the point and usually open with “and now Jesus” from whence he proceeds in his peculiar manner to pray for all the matters pertaining to the success of the meetings. Without prayer he believes he would be as Samson shorn of his strength. He makes no decision or takes no step without first taking the matter to the Lord.

[Billy’s passion for souls?”

He has an intense passion for souls. Here is a man who carries the people of a community upon his heart and is ready to give his very life and strength and energy in order to see them saved. He will continue day after day, preaching twice and three times only to see men turn to God.

[Billy’s power of perception?]

Mr. Sunday is endowed with a remarkable power of perception. Passing through a building he sees things that readily lend themselves for sermon stuff. His remarkable memory is brought into evidence in his sermons as he pours forth anecdote, history, statistics and quotations from literature with remarkable rapidity. He is equipped with a clear eye that takes in the entire tabernacle into its scope and gives him a remarkable advantage over his audience.

[Billy’s executive ability?]

We must here mention the executive ability of the man. He has the happy faculty of surrounding himself with co-workers who are very efficient and it is to the credit of Mr. Sunday that the personnel of his staff is the same today that it was in 1916 with the possible exception of the tabernacle building as my memory fails me on this point. Space will not permit us to discuss the form of organization in a campaign except the fact that towns from 5 to 20 miles from the seat of activity are touched through the organized spirit of prayer that emanates from the campaign.

[Billy’s imagination?]

His imagination enables him to make the commonplace radiant with beauty. He uses no Greek or Latin but the plainest and most expressive language. He calls things by their right name and often his words burn and blister. It is doubtful if there is any living preacher who can pour out such a stream of red-hot and sizzling adjectives to show his scorn and contempt for sin. There are moments when he makes you think of the way Jesus denounced the scribes and Pharisees.

[Billy’s use of slang?]

We must give a little space to the matter of slang. It is futile to attempt to apologize in behalf of Mr. Sunday as he would not welcome such an apology. It is his point of contact. He calls it, “corn bread and potatoes”. Asked to tone down his preaching in this regard he replied to a committee of ministers that, “If I preached like you do I would have about as many people to preach to as you do.” Slang is defined as language in the making and unconventional speech. Study carefully the Bible characters whom God has used. How many are there of the stereotyped kind? It was the rams horn rather than the silver trumpet that led Joshua’s army to victory. Samson thinned the army of the alien with the jaw-bone of an ass. David used a sling and Shamgar an ox goad and we are also reminded that the Master himself “taught not as the scribes”.

[Billy’s use of illustrations?]

. . . his style is direct and expressive. His sermons teem with illustrations that illustrate. He combs the ends of the earth for material for his sermons and his ready references to science, history, literature and other branches both delight and stagger the hearer. Sentiment, pathos, logic, word pictures, impersonation etc are all used to drive home truth.

Evangelist Billy Sunday compared to others in the itinerant class

The following information* was addressed to the Wilkes-Barre Editor in 1913, probably just before the February revival. It was likely drafted by Billy himself or someone else close to him from his campaign team. The revival at Wilkes-Barre took place February 22 (23), thru April 13th, 1913.

Image made by J. Inbody, Elkhart, Indiana. Author’s collection. From a 1915 postmarked postcard.

“He [Billy] has skimmed the literature of the English race for information and illustrations, and has a slang vocabulary that is simply astounding. He uses his knowledge with such telling effect that those who come to scoff remain to pray. His earnestness, his transparent honesty, carries his hearers with him, and his slang is all forgotten in his clarion call for repentance; his denunciation of all that is bad, vile and wicked, and in his praise of God, home and country.

“The old school of evangelists were of the itinerant class, moving rapidly through the country, their evangelism seemed sudden in its effects, and I am afraid somewhat evanescent in its results. It is just here that Sunday’s campaign gives promise of more lasting good. His coming has been carefully prepared for, and his meeting place is undenominational and unconventional in character. His is a movement conducted with great business acumen and sound common sense. He trains the ministers and church workers in such a way as to make them capable of caring for the harvest when it comes. Like a good farmer, he prunes the fruit trees with vigor, cuts out all the dead wood and sprays well to get rid of moths, beetles, and such like, so that when the new fruit shall ripen it will be sound and good. Mr. Sunday is a man with a great faith. He prays for the blessing, he prepares for the blessing, and he is sure of getting it. It is therefore no surprise to him when it comes.”

*Original artifact is in the Billy Sunday Archives at the Morgan Library, Grace College.

Billy Sunday, and wife Helen, lead a procession of around 20,000 people in a
Sunday School parade at Wilkes-Barre. Colorized by the author.

Who came to dinner at the home of Billy Sunday in Winona Lake?

During the height of his ministry-career (1905-1920) Billy Sunday was more popular than Mark Twain or William Jennings Bryan. He even turned down an offer for $1,000,000 for a contract with “moving pictures.” He was a friend to multiple U.S. Presidents and dignitaries. One can only imagine whom he and Helen entertained in their living room below.

The Bill Sunday Home, Winona Lake.

Billy knows his Bible – says a fellow minister, c. 1913

“Dr. Sunday (Westminster College had just conferred an honorary doctorate upon Sunday) knows his Bible which is the true body of divinity in theological lore. Mr. Sunday has devoted his life to the supreme task of world evangelization for which the Bible is the great charter.

He is, therefore, both in scholarship and practical effort entitled to the degree. Just as a Doctor of Medicine is supposed to know the Science of Medicine and practice the art of healing, so a Doctor of Divinity who know the truth about God and practices the art of saving 1s entitled to the degree. In many institutions it is customary to bestow the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity upon those who are men noted for their knowledge of “the traditions of the scribes and pharisees” than for knowledge and practical use of the Bible itself.”

Sincerely yours,

R.M. Russell to T.T. Frankenberg (Columbus, Ohio)
August 30, 1913

Artifact credit: Morgan Library, Grace College

The recipient of this letter, Theodore Thomas Frankenberg, was no casual correspondent. A Columbus-based journalist and author, Frankenberg was in the midst of gathering materials for what would become the first popular biography of the evangelist, Billy Sunday: The Man and His Message (published in 1914). Letters like Russell’s provided him with both anecdotal color and institutional validation—evidence that Sunday was not just a charismatic revivalist but a figure respected by the academic establishment.

This exchange captures an important cultural moment. Westminster’s degree signaled a rare bridging of worlds: a Presbyterian college recognizing a frontier-style evangelist whose power lay not in polished scholarship but in the raw urgency of his preaching. To Sunday’s critics, the degree may have looked like a concession to populism. To his supporters, it was overdue acknowledgment that the man who knew his Bible best and preached it most widely deserved the honor more than those “scribes and Pharisees” who merely debated it in lecture halls.

In the end, Frankenberg’s biography helped cement Sunday’s reputation, weaving together stories, letters, and testimonies like this one. And tucked inside that narrative is the 1913 moment when Westminster College draped Billy Sunday in academic robes, placing him—at least symbolically—among the doctors of divinity.

Billy Sunday was mentored by J. Wilbur Chapman

The following (1917) signed picture of J. Wilbur Chapman, in the Billy Sunday home in Winona Lake, attests to the massive influence Chapman had on Sunday.

When the Apprentice Met the Evangelist: How J. Wilbur Chapman Shaped Billy Sunday’s Early Ministry

Before the tabernacles were packed, before the crowds surged forward by the thousands, before the name “Billy Sunday” echoed across the country like a revivalist’s thunderclap—he was simply a former ballplayer, freshly converted, and hungry to make his life count for Christ.

That’s when J. Wilbur Chapman stepped into the picture.

It was 1893. Chapman, already an established evangelist with a Presbyterian pedigree and a knack for drawing the spiritually curious, needed an assistant—someone to handle logistics, rally local churches, and stir up enthusiasm before his campaigns. Billy Sunday had the energy and the zeal. Chapman had the method and the message.

For two critical years—1893 to 1895—Sunday shadowed Chapman like a student to his rabbi. He wasn’t yet preaching, but he was watching. Learning. Absorbing. Chapman’s campaigns weren’t just events—they were carefully orchestrated spiritual operations. Inquiry rooms. Personal follow-ups. Gospel invitations that were both clear and convicting. Sunday took it all in.

But it wasn’t just technique that Chapman passed on—it was a vision. A way of doing evangelism that held fast to the truth of Scripture while reaching real people in real places. Sunday saw in Chapman a man who carried both conviction and compassion. And though their styles couldn’t have been more different—Chapman, the dignified clergyman; Sunday, the kinetic whirlwind—it worked. Like iron sharpening iron.

In 1895, Chapman surprised many by stepping back from itinerant preaching to take a pastorate in New York. The pulpit reclaimed him. But for Billy Sunday, it was a release—a gentle push from the nest. With his mentor’s example still fresh, Sunday stepped onto his own stage. He started small—tiny Iowa towns, rough-hewn tabernacles, handfuls of seekers. But something was forming. Something bold.

It’s hard to overstate what those two years meant. Without Chapman, Sunday might’ve remained a sideshow curiosity—a saved athlete giving testimonies. But with Chapman’s imprint, he became an evangelist. A revivalist. A force.

And though their paths diverged, Sunday never forgot the man who shaped his earliest steps. He took Chapman’s gospel framework, set it ablaze with his own personality, and carried it farther than either man probably imagined.

Chapman taught him how to build the fire. Sunday learned how to preach like it mattered.