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Page 6-The Perquimans Weekly,
BY BOB HELLER
Staff Spam Wrltar
: HERTFORD Down- in East
ern North Carolina, the land of
soybeans, peanuts, single lane
roads ana "Eat Maola Ice
Cream" signs, Indian Summer
was still simmering just a few
days ago.
Big Bill Fowler was working
in his shed, the perspiration
dripping down the sides of his
face and ringing his collar.
- Mayor Bill Cox was pumping
gas at his "Union One Stop Ser
vice" on the corner of Church
and Grubb Streets, just as he
has since 1939. Instead of worry
ing about the antifreeze short
age, he was boasting of the
. town's "beautiful waterfront."
' Charles Woodard's pharmacy
- was doing a land office business
(it was the first of the month,
"right after-social security and
welfare checks," explained the
owner)... a place where
"grill cheese" is still 30 cents
and a small drink a thin dime.
' And about three or four miles
from the center of town septua-
genarian Abbott Hunter was out
in the fields, supervising the
whirling soybean-picking mach-.
ine, which was clearing Jhe last
of the area before the harder
. weather set in.
JUST ABOUT everyone in
Hertford (county seat and popu
lation 2,023 according to the
chamber of commerce) knows
r everybody else. None of the
above would come as any sur
prise. There's one other person in
town these days. He was born
and raised here, but he has
spent three-quarters of the last
, decade outside Perquimans
, County.
. His name is Jimmy Hunter.
To those unfamiliar with
down-home country life, that's
Catfish Hunter . . . the same
Catfish Hunter who has helped
the Oakland A's win three
straight World Series; the same
Catfish Hunter who easily won
the American League Cy Young
award this season; the same
Catfish Hunter who no one re
peat, no one-calls Catfish in
these parts.
IT WAS early Sunday after
noon and Jimmy and Helen
Hunter were coming home from'
church. Before the former could
shed his knit suit, he signed au
tographs and obligingly posed
for pictures with a family which
had driven the hour-and-a-half
drive from Norfolk, Va and
was waiting in the driveway.
Then, after telling a disap
pointed five-year-old son Todd
that the weekly ball game would
have to wait a while, he jumped
into casual country-cowboy
clothes, hopped into his grey
Ford pickup truck and headed
down the road a half-mile to the
horse show.
"I've never been to one of
these before, and I really don't
care about 'em," he confided.
But he said he'd be there, and
he was... ..
Charlie Fowler, son of former .
employer Bill, had talked Hun
More Than
A Country
Fast Ball
Hertford, N.C., Thursday, December
: r '
ter into handing out trophies
and ribbons at the Perquimans
County Horse and Pony Show.
The latter brought along a big
fistful of official "Jim 'Catfish'
Hunter" autographed post
cards.
"Hey, Jimmy. How things
goin', Jimmy?" A steady stream
of well-wishers and friends
beseiged Hunter.
A pat on the back here, a
friendly elbow to the side and
wink of the eye there.
One man approached liim and
held out his hand. Jimmy Hun
ter started to shake it.
"Hell no." he laughed. "I
don't want your hand, give me
a chew."
Hunter reached into his pouch
of Red Man and handed over a
chaw.
And so it went for a couple
hours.
Hunter, trying his best to cori-.
ceal his boredom, excused him
self about two hours later,'
shortly after the Ladies Open
Pleasure English & Western
event, No. 6 on a card of 24.
HELEN HUNTER, Jimmy's
high school sweetheart, had
been waiting inside the less-than-year-old
but unpretentious
brick house. .
Above the mantle are twin
deer trophies.' On a living room
wall is a glass-enclosed case full
of shotguns.
Baseball awards, plaques and
memorabila are confined to a
paneled garage.
Jim and Helen were married
shortly after the 1966 baseball
season, "Because we wanted to
wait until after I graduated
from high school," according to
Helen.
She was a cheerleader for
three years et Perquimans'
County High, "where Jimmy
played baseball, football and
track."
.. . .
THE LIFESTYLE has
changed somewhat, since Kin- ,
sas City and Oakland are more
, than a few miles from Hertford.
"AU my kinfolk (she Is from
a family of 13) and all Jimmy's -
(a family of 11) are still around
13
iff a
II "f fK
At 28 years of age, Jim Hunter has '
reached the pinnacle of athletic success. He '
is a member of the select class in his sport, :
baseball. -::x-'. '"'VVV '"
North Carolina has a strong tradition of
supplying the major leagues with outstand
ing talent, but barring injuries or a drastic
change of heart, Hertford's Jimmy Hunter
could wen be Nb. 1.
Though a terror under the tutelage of
Coaches Bobby Carter at Perquimans High '
and Al Vaughn of the Ahoskte Legion team.
Hunter struggled through his first five ma
jor league seasons (though 1968 was high- "
lighted by a- sub-three ERA and a perfect
game against the Twins). .
' . ' r " -' '..
But since then, the $75.0t0 "bonus baby."
who hjd his career started wi'Ji a C. :' 1
Finley-pr.d visit to the Mayo CHl.'c, til
known c. ;.-g tut succ- j. ,
5, 1974
(PHOTOS and TEXT COURTESY OF THE GREENSBORO DAILY
RealBowm-HoMej
here. We wouldn't want to live
anywhere else. ;
"Before I married Jimmy, I
hadn't been outside of the Caro
lines, Virginia and Maryland.
But California is all right, I
guess. We don't or I don't
think we could-live in the city.
We live in a little town called
Walnut Creek, which is about 30
minutes from the ball park.
"Sure, the lifestyle is differ
ent. We made good friends with
people put there, both in and
out of baseball. But one of the
bad things about the sport is
you may have good friends who
are traded . . , and you may
never see them again.
"That's what happened with
(Mike) Hegan. He was traded
to the Yankees and then to Mil
waukee. We haven't teen
The Mall Of Famers
On Dec. 2 in Greensboro, five men will
be inducted into the North Carolina Sports
Hall of Fame. To be honored at the annual
banquet are Jim (Catfish) Hunter, Cy
Young-award winning pitcher of the World
Champion Oakland A's from Hertford;
Earle Edwards, former North Carolina
State football coach; Art Weiner, former
Carolina AU-American football player from
Greensboro; Buck Leonard, former star of
the Negro professional baseball league from .
Rocky Mount; and the late Clayton Heaf
ner, an outstanding amateur and later pro
fessional golfer.
him since he left Oakland,
though I saw his wife for a few
minutes in Chicago once. But
that's just the way it is. You get
tired of it sometimes and I real
ly haven't decided what to do
when the children get up in
school (Todd is in first-year kin
dergarten and Kimberly Ann is
just 15-months).
THE HUNTERS are, without
a doubt, genuinely down-home,
and at-home in Perquimans
County.
Charles Finley and the Great
Public Relations Game are as
far removed as the planet Pluto.
Jimmy was out hunting when
the Cy Young news came in and
he didn't find out about it till he
returned home, around S o'
clock. : , T '
"He couldn't believe it at
first, he thought I was kidding,"
recalled Helen. "But even after
I had him convinced, he was
more concerned about finding
the two hunting dogs he had
lost." , ;.-;,'.,'
Jimmy is somewhat philo
sophical about his off-season
life. He knows the unwanted at
tention is a price he must pay
for nis fame and money.
. "We've got about 113 acres of
land," said Ms. Hunter. "Jimmy
: likes to do lot of work around
- here, but to often he'll be out-
side and people will stop by to
meet him, or just to talk. He
, In 1970, he pitched in 40 games and won
18; in 1971, Hunter posted a 21-11 record
and 2.98 ERA; in 1972, it was 21-7 and a
glittering 2.04 ERA; in 73, 21-5 (in spite of
a midseason Injury) and this season, a 25-12
mark, a 2.49 ERA and tlx shutout!.- ;
The past three seasons, he has been an
all-star selection and has been Instrumental
in the Oakland A'l winning. consecutive
World Championship! and of course this '
year he has been voted American Leesue
pltcher-of-the-year by tfct payers and the
coveted Cy Young awnl by the Easetall
Writers' Association of Ar ..'.a. , e.
-1. In W major Inpnmsst, Ilunter hold'
a 161-113 record. . k
Next wertX k ki e "v"- J in fct"
North Ci;.. i f --"J I I t? I It is
: only a ma" t. cf - .3 1. : kjj' .s n
even more t :;t 1 i:i C :
N.Y.
a.nm
. doesn't turn them away and
then he can't get much done."
Says Jimmy: "When people
stop by, I guess I don't mind
talking baseball. At times,
though, I wish I'd built this
home back in the woods some
place, so people wouldn't know.
.
THAT REALLY would not be
like Jimmy Hunter, though.
His phone is listed in the di
rectory as "Jim (Catfish) Hun
ter." Only thow who don't
know him would be interested
in the parenthetical Informa
tion. When Hunter attends the
North Carolina Hall of Fame
banquet in Greensboro Dec. 2,
it will be one of his very few
dinner or speaking engagements.
This is the second in a series of Sports
Cavalcades in which the Dajly News spot
lights these five new Hall of Famers.
Staff writer Bob Heller, who also handled
the photography on this assignment, spent
several days in eastern North Carolina gath
ering material for today's Jimmy Hunter
story.
' : Next week, associate sports editor David
Lamm tells the Clayton Heafner story and
staff writer Bodie McDowell talks with
Buck Leonard. :
From October to February
he's-in Hertford. When a Hall of
Fame official attempted to con
tact Hunter in Oakland less than
48 hours after the World Series
had ended, he found the phone
had already been disconnected.
He was out hunting in the
county, as he will be every
available Monday, Wednesday
and Saturday until spring train
ing beckons him to Arizona.
"I'm still a country boy, and
I'll always' be a country boy,"
said Hunter. "During the season
I don't care if sportswriterr talk
to me or not.. 1
"When the season's over,
though, I like to hunt, fish and
just work around the barn."
-;
5 . :,".'.
JIMMY HUNTER was not
- trying to make the visitor feel
uncomfortable. He was simply .
relating his true, stralght-from-the-heart,
feelings.
"Publicity really doesn't
mean anything to me," said
Hunter. "As long as I get paid
what my contract calls for, I'
just.don t care. My first year at
Kansas City I got mad at a local
story headlined, 'Should They
Throw the Catfish Back?' Mo
Drabowsky saw me in the club
house that day and could te.ll
just by looking at me that I had
read it From what he told me,
I've learned to read what's said
NEWS - NOV. 17)
n it
Br? a i ".. fm 1 a i i ii " n
n
to
l!
The Hunters: Todd, Helen, Kimberly
about others, and almost Ignore -what's
said about me.''
When you are currently one of
the National Pastime's handful
of legitimate superstars, that is
sometimes difficult. - -
"Sometimes, I don't mind
talking about baseball," he said.
"I think, though, if you do not '
eat and sleep baseball 12
months a year, then when'
spring training comes around
you're ready for it. Otherwise,
I don't think I would be.
"Right now, though, I feel
like I don't even want to touch a
baseball. If you're a carpenter
and every minute you're talking
about your job, wherever you go
you're asked, 'how do you fix
thisor how do you fix that,'
you're going to get pretty tired
.oUt
munter.
"But as long as they pay me
and as long as I think I'm doing
the job, I'll play baseball Peo
ple may say I play for mon
ey . . . sure, I do. But I do like
the game." v
ACTUALLY, THE entire . .
Hunter family likes the game.
If there is one thing Jimmy's
mother remembers about rais- '
ing the family it was, "The yard
was always full of people play
ing baseball" , .
The consensus among the :
family, townfolk and even, a few
' major league scouts, is that Jim
my 'r brother Marvin, 14 years
his senior, could have made the
big leagues as an infielder.
; "He could have had a scholar
ship had he not gone into the
army," recalled Jimmy. "I hon-'
estly feel he could've made the
. major leagues.
Brother Pete, 32 years old to
Jimmy's 28, has pediapl been.'
the closest. He is also the sub
ject of the famous hunting acci
dent story, embellished so many
timet by Curt Gowdy.
v .
Pete, too, was a pitcher. Now
the baseball coach at Perqui-.
mans (and jayvee bi-kctball
coich ari f 1s' " r""on In-'
"'itructx), Ftta, "Ij Jnmy,"
he remembers, pitched a per
fect game his junior year in
scl.ool. -
17
Tinr.Ti; are any ccr'-x
1; '.Is or s:.i: s' ' stit'l
about Jimmy Iljrtir, Pete
nr;;ht know. , -
r trr-
1.
I
Ann, Jimmy And Chief
Even though Pete is remem
bered for .shooting off Jimmy'! .
toe in that Thanksgiving Day ac-
cident some 11 years ago, the
two still go hunting' together on
a regular basis. (Note this is a
true story, compared to the to-
, tally.ficUUous "how Catfish got
t his name" tale.) I : . t
They are both members of the
Bear Swamp Hunting Club, ,
! where on citizen band radio
' Jimmy is known as Silver Bui- ..
let, Pete as Fuzzy Lip (he has
:' a red mustache) and Marvin
(the county clerk) as Office One.
1 Pete'! memories of growing '
" up are highlighted by his broth
er Jimmy and his father Abbott. ,
"Ever since we were little i r,
' hunted together, going back Jo
' the BB guns," laid Pete.
"We've always' been close. Jim.
my and I would work together,
, sleep together and like all broth
ers growing up, fight tPS2ther
., (In an unpublicized incident
- In pre-adolescence, Pete broke
. one of Jimmy's fingers . . . on
his pitching hand.) tj .
i, . v. ' '. t : "
..:...,
OF GROWING up as one,
' large tenant-farming family,
Pete recalls, "It was tou-h to
make ends meet. I don't w t :
to over-dramati?e the s't i
tion . : . but at that time v s
thought the clothes we w a
were i ocent Now I d.n't rc y
know if they were or tDt .
"'Cur faf-r v 3
lct-rjlnt.ev
were no cor 'r
har3 wo;ktoi,jd.
knew it.
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