Page 2A
The Kings Mountain Herald | www.kmherald.net'
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
‘Home is where you hang your
DAVE BLANTON
dave.kmhérald@gmail.com
Don’t ask how many, because
Dub Blalock lost count a long time
ago.
They come from minor league
baseball teams and paving compa-
nies, the Amish Country and fa-
mous bars, tourist shops in South
Africa and car dealerships three
counties over.
Hats, hats and more hats.
Blalock’s cap collection has
grown so large that they cover the
walls of his large two-car garage
on Dixon School Rd. Plus, he
keeps a dozen or so more “signa-
ture” caps completely out of the
elements in a rec room upstairs.
In many ways, the retired brick
mason’s collection reflects his in-
terests. He loves NASCAR and
the late legend, Dale Earnhardt.
Correspondingly, he owns about
25 caps related to The Intimidator
and other racing icons like Larry
McReynolds and Sterling Martin.
The Kings Mountain native
and his wife Carolyn love taking
cruises, and he’s devoted a section
of one his garage walls to caps
from cruises they’ve taken to-
gether.
' “There’s a lot of stories up
there,” Blalock said, pointing
broadly to his garage walls.
He’s also a big sports fan in
general — he’s on the board of di-
rectors of the Kings Mountain
Sports Hall of Fame. He loves golf
and Kings Mountain and ACC
sports, especially the North Car-
olina Tar Heels.
They’re all categorized neatly
on his walls — rows and rows and
rows of caps from many U.S.
Opens and the handful of ACC
teams and pro baseball teams that
are his favorites.
Dub Blalock has so many hats they cover the walls of his two-car garage.
Blalock, 75, admits that many
of the items in his large collection
were given to him by friends, fam-
ily and business associates who
know he can’t say no to a cap ...
and will keep it forever.
He’s got hats emblazoned with
the Krispy Kreme logo, a Bass Pro
- Shops cap, one from the Reese’s
candy people, a green St. Patrick’s
Day-themed Clemson University
cap and one that appears to repre-
sent a French rugby team. One of
the hats on his wall is from the
minor league baseball team his
son played for the 1990s, the
mate, and most of all my
happy anniversary.
ever give anyone to you
I want to take some time to
wish my best friend, my soul-
beautiful wife Denise Cobb a
It will be four years on De-
cember 21st that I gave my
heart and all the love I could
HONORED
"FOR SERVICE -
City commissioner
Dean Spears, left,
is presented a
plaque and a
watch from the city
1 for long service on
A city council. Mayor
{ Rick Murphrey
| makes the
presentation.
Photo by ELLIS
| NOELL
Statesville Owls.
One day about 25 years ago
Blalock had a heart attack on the
golf course.
“The next thing I know I was in
a‘helicopter on my way to Char-
lotte,” he said, remembering the
day clearly.
It didn’t take long for the pilot
of that helicopter to deliver a
Charlotte Memorial Hospital cap
personally to Blalock’s door as he
was recovering.
~ That was in the early days of
his cap collecting, when he really
didn’t ‘know how big it would
SIOW.
“I worked in homebuilding —
that’s how it started,” he said.
“The people I did business with
would give me a cap and I’d hold
onto it.”
A cursory estimate brings the
number of caps Blalock owns to
more than 1,200. When he built a
new house about seven years ago,
the collection moved with him.
So what’s Blalock’s everyday
cap, the one he throws onto run an
errand or go fishing?
An emerald green Cheers cap,
from the popular TV show and fa-
hats
Photo by DAVE BLANTON
mous Boston bar, which he picked
up while on a detour to visit Coop-
erstown some years back. Of
course, he’s got a couple of hats
from the Baseball Hall of Fame,
too.
Both Blalocks have a flair for
collecting. They share a collection
of more than 100 nutcrackers of
different styles, and Carolyn keeps
a room filled with Teddy Bears.
As far as his cap collection
goes, Blalock says it continues to
grow all the time.
“I got five last week,” he said
recently with a laugh.
cC school board swears in members
Grover's Kathy Falls is joined by her husband and children during Monday night's swear-
ing-in ceremony for new ang returning school hoard members.
GEER EERIE EE EE EE EE RE ee EE A Se Ee HE]
Newly elected Cleveland County Schools
Board of Education members Donnie Thur-
man and Danny Blanton were sworn in
Monday night before a room packed with
supporters and school system employees.
Kathy Falls and Phillip Glover, who won
re-election in the November election, also
took their oaths in the ceremony.
The board also moved to re-elect Jack
Hamrick as chairman and Shearra Miller as
Photo by DAVE BLANTON
vice-chairwoman.
Thurman and Blanton replace George
Litton and Dale Oliver.
In regular business, the board was pre-
. sented with school calendars for 2014-2015
and 2015-2016 by the school system’s exec-
utive director of human resources Jennifer
Wampler. No action was taken on the calen-
dars, which will be reviewed by board mem-
bers, school personnel and the community.
EEE EEE EERE EE EE EERE EEE ER EE A EE EE PE ii}
Denise. But, after four of the
most amazing, greatest years |
have ever had with you, I re-
alize now that my heart and
love grows more and more for you each and every day.
I know we have had a very stressful year, but with our strength and
our faith in each other, and especially in our savior Jesus Christ, we
have and will overcome anything we face. Babe you are the most amaz-
ing woman I have ever known. I am so thankful and honored to be
your husband. I know no marriage is perfect, but ours is as close as it
gets. We know it’s that way because we are best friends first and would
rather spend time together than with anyone else, and also because we
put God in the center of our marriage.
Babe, I really love us praying together each night, I also like being in
our great church on Sundays together. These things are so special.
Thanks babe for loving me when I didn’t love myself. Denise, words
could never express how much I love you with all my heart. Babe you
could look in all the world and you could never find a love as true as
mine.
You are an amazing wife, a great mom, and a super na-na. You mean
so much to so many people. I look so forward to our future together, we
will be in our house at the lake in a few weeks. No matter what we face
in our future together, I have no'doubt that all our dreams and hopes
we have will come true. I will see to that.’
Our faith in Christ will see us through all things. I promise babe to
make our life together better day by day.
Denise you are my rock and, thank God, my wife. Thanks for the
most amazing four years of my life.
I Love you, Pete
We Wish You A
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