A standout first baseman in baseball, Herbert Usilton played for Washington College and Coach J. Thomas Kibler before and after World War I. A native of Kent County, he played a near flawless first base from 1913-16 and after hostilities were ended from 1921-22.
During the period he also performed in basketball, playing center for Kibler’s fine teams of that era.
His fine fielding and steady bat earned him a minor league contract with the New York Yankees. He reached the Newark, New Jersey, team, high in the New York system.
After leaving organized baseball he played for the Buick Motor Company team in Flint, Michigan, and later for independent baseball teams in the Eastern Shore towns of Salisbury, Easton and his hometown of Chestertown.
Upon returning to the Chestertown area, he umpired for “get-up teams,” ran a truck hauling business, operated Chestertown’s famous Voshell House hotel, worked for the Nears Food Company and Adkins Lumber Company, and was an insurance salesman until World War II. During the war and afterwards for 20 years he was coastal towers observer for Aberdeen Proving Grounds.
He also farmed for many years before retiring in the late 1960s.
