Palmer students long enjoyed baseball, with team photographs appearing in school bulletins as early as 1916. The field originally placed home plate and a wooden backstop at the corner of Palmer Farm Road and the highway. In 1997, Whitsett resident Boyd Toben donated funds to restore the baseball diamond for community youth teams, relocating home plate and adding fencing and bleachers for baseball and softball. The field was named for Charles W. Bundrige, a Palmer coach, teacher, and fourth president. Born in 1921, Bundrige joined Palmer’s faculty in 1952 after graduating from North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University and serving in the 183rd Engineer Combat Army Battalion during World War II. Hired by Dr. Charlotte Hawkins Brown while attending graduate school at Duquesne University in Pennsylvania, he taught history and physical education, coached all the boys’ sports, later became the school’s business manager, and served as president until the school closed in 1971. His commitment to Palmer Memorial Institute continued afterward through helping establish the campus as a North Carolina State Historic Site and serving as vice-president of the Charlotte Hawkins Brown Historical Foundation, the site’s private, non-profit support group.