Remembering Tap Dancer Clayton Bates (1907-1998)

A tribute and fan site for tap dancer Clayton "Peg Leg" Bates, who was most well-knowns for tap dancing on a peg leg after he lost his natural leg in a cotton gin accident.

NAME: Clayton "Peg Leg" Bates
HOW HE LOST HIS LEG: Cotton Mill accident at age 12
DATE OF BIRTH: October 10, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH: Fountain Inn, South Carolina
DATE OF DEATH: December 8, 1998 (age 91)
PLACE OF DEATH: Simpsonville, South Carolina
WIFE: Alice E. Bates (1909-1987)
DAUGHTER: Melodye Bates-Holden

Videos of Peg Leg Bates Dancing

Owned and Operated a Resort in the Catskills
Clayton Bates owned and operated the "Peg Leg Bates Country Club" from 1951 to `1971. The club was located in the Catskill Mountains town of Kerhonkson, New York. The resort began with 4 rooms and by 1985 it had been expanded to 110 rooms. He sold the resort in 1989, a couple of years after his wife died.

Legacy and Honors

Received the Flo-Bert Award in 1991 for being an outstanding figure in the field of tap dancing.

Inducted into Tap Dance Hall of Fame in 2005.

The city of Fountain Inn erected a Life-size statue of Peg Leg Bates in front of their city hall and the Robert Quillen's Library.
- About the Statue

Signs at the entrance of the city of Fountain Inn say "Peg Leg Bates Home Town".

U.S. Route 209 in Ulster County, New York has been named the "Clayton Peg Leg Bates Memorial Highway".

FINAL RESTING PLACE:
Palentown Cemetery
Rochester, Ulster County, New York, United Statesw
- Find a Grave "Peg leg Bates" Article

Resources

Wikipedia "Peg Leg Bates" Article

Valerie Thurston "Clayton Bates" Article