The LSU baseball program has seen 139 Major League draft picks, two National Coaches of the Year and some of the most gifted players to ever compete in the country.
Yet only one can claim his spot in LSU lore as the baseball stadium’s namesake. That luxury goes to Alex Box, a seemingly unknown World War II hero, who was struck down in North Africa at only 22 years old.
Box remains mostly anonymous to the current program. Freshman outfielder Chris Sciambra and sophomore outfielder JaCoby Jones both knew he served in World War II, but admitted they knew no other details about his life.
Born Simeon Alexander Box on Aug. 5, 1920, Box was raised in Quitman, Miss., until 1935 when he and his older brother moved to Laurel, Miss., so his father could work producing Masonite, a type of hardboard invented in Laurel in 1924.
Box excelled in football and baseball and was an all-state selection in track at Laurel High School.
“He had been recruited by the Cincinnati Reds out of high school,” said Bobby Box, Alex’s nephew. “He was also heavily recruited by Mississippi State.”
Ultimately, Alex chose to play football at LSU in 1938, citing the engineering program as his deciding factor. He would pursue an engineering degree as a part of the advanced ROTC program.
A dislocated shoulder derailed his football career, so he joined the baseball team. Box’s best friend, Red Evans, wrote in a letter to The Advocate in 1988 that Box would throw a ball from the outfield, his shoulder would dislocate, and his teammates from the infield would have to pop it into place.
Immediately following his graduation in 1942, Box commissioned as a second lieutenant, shipped off to London and joined the Big Red One, the First Infantry Division of the Army. From London, he was sent directly to North Africa.
“He wrote several letters back to his best friend Red Evans,” Bobby Box said. “He described everything that happened.”
His heroism was forever established Nov. 9, 1942, when he assisted in destroying six enemy machine guns and an artillery emplacement as a tank commander in Algeria. His heroics earned Box the Distinguished Service Cross, the second highest decoration given by the Army.
Only two months later, tragedy struck.
Bobby Box said his uncle was killed instantly after one of the mines he and his fellow troops were setting out exploded. Only 22 years old, Box left behind three brothers, his mother Mattie and father Sam.
To honor the fallen graduate, the LSU Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to rename “LSU Diamond” to “Alex Box Stadium” in May of 1943.
“He accomplished a lot for a young man in a short period of time during a tough period in the nation’s history,” Bobby Box said.
Now known as “The Box,” the stadium housed six national championship teams and moved locations to occupy 10,150 fans — a far cry from the 2,500 it sat in 1938, when Box began at LSU.
Bobby Box said his family is honored to be associated with the LSU baseball program, but he defers all credit to former coach and athletic director Skip Bertman and current head coach Paul Mainieri for truly building the program.
“My uncle was fortunate enough under bad circumstances to have the stadium after him,” Box said. “It was quite an honor to our family to have it named after him.”
While many don’t know the heroic story of Alex Box, his nephew is not discouraged. He said on occasion someone asks him about his uncle, and he’s happy to oblige, showing the scrapbook he has full of newspaper clippings and photos of his uncle.
Bobby Box does hope that one underlying message about his uncle is prevalent through the LSU baseball community and beyond.
“He was a fine, outstanding young man that really loved LSU,” Box said. “He would have quite possibly gone on to become a prominent person.”
 
 
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Contact Chandler Rome at [email protected]