ORLANDO, Fla. — A bronze sculpture, recognizing the first integrated Little League game in the Deep South, now sits by Lake Lorna Doone Park. 

In 1955, Orlando hosted Pensacola, an all-Black team, for the Little League state tournament. 

One of the players Stewart Hall, who was just 12-years-old at the time, returned for the unveiling of the statue.

He said now, in his 70s, seeing the statue means so much. And he hopes others feel inspired by their story. 

"I think there is where the message is — how people can come together as we did. Talk things over and become good friends," Hall expressed. 

The game gave way to a documentary called Long Time Coming as players first reunited. It's an effort to make sure Central Florida marks a moment in time — one that many history books have missed. 

Thursday, city leaders, community organizers, and students gathered to see the unveiling of the historic statue showing two players, amid racial segregation in the 1950s, putting difference aside — to simply just play the game. 

"We looked at the past to learn for the future. And I'm so happy we're putting this monument in the ground as a marker to say this is what we believe in, this is what we want to be about," Ted Haddock, with the Edward E. Haddock Jr. Family Foundation, expressed. 

The $100,000 sculpture was paid for by Florida Citrus Sports.