The Christiansburg of my youth was a very small town, a classic southern hamlet of the era. We really had only one street that made up the business communitytwo groceries, three drug stores (four if you count Lawrence & Shelton, which had no pharmacist), two hardware stores, several clothing stores, a couple of small department stores, an appliance store, two banks and an office supply. One funeral home. But you could pretty much get everything you needed to get by without leaving that three or four block area. To prove our ‘bonafides’ as stereotypical small-town America, we had only one stoplight in my early days and our movie theatre closed because there were more rats than patrons by the time I was a teenager.
Another thing we did not have an abundance of was professional athletes. I thought it might be fun to recount those few that I remember.
First, I will mention a name that most if not all current Christiansburgers will not recall- Gail Harris. Gail was not a born and raised C’burger. He was not a Blue Demon. He was born and raised in Abingdon, a graduate of long-gone William King High School. He lived in town for only a few years, in the early 1960’s. I believe he was in the insurance business. But Gail had touched greatness, the holy land of most boys raised in the late 50’s and early 60’s. He had played baseball in the Major Leagues! The Show as they later called it! And thus, his greatness touched us. We were in its presence.
Gail played for the New York Giants (yes, the Giants played in NYC until they moved to San Francisco in 1958 – Gail has the distinction of having hit the last home run for the New York version of the Giants) and the Detroit Tigers, from 1955-1960. Gail’s best season was 1958 for the Tigers, when he hit 20 homers and had 82 RBIs. He also had the distinction of being replaced at his first base position on each of his teams by legendary players – Bill White with the Giants (Bill went on to star on great Cardinal championship teams of the 60’s and to become president of the National League) and Norm Cash who starred with the Tigers and won a World Series during the same era.
I only remember Gail because he coached a team of kids from the Huff-Acres neighborhood of town against our Cherry Lane/Second Street team. I don’t remember how the game or games were put together or who won, but I vividly remember our “coach” was the lovely and vivacious Libby Ridinger (wife of Nelson and mother of three great daughters – Linda, Jane, and Anne), who lived a few doors up the street from my family and passed way too soon. Libby drove our entire team out to Huff-Acres in the back of the Ridinger family pickup. We truly looked like the kids in the movie Sandlot.
My dad told me before the game that Gail had played in the majors, and I remember Gail showed us the left-handed first baseman’s mitt he had used. To me that baseball glove was an artifact – perhaps the greatest “thing” my nine or 10-year-old eyes had ever seen.
Gail didn’t stay in Christiansburg long, but the memory of meeting him lingered. And I found his 1958 Tigers card on eBay a few years ago and still have it.
Probably the most famous professional athletes ever to come out of Christiansburg were NASCAR drivers, the father and son team of Jabe and Ronnie Thomas. I
lived about 3/4 of a mile from Jabe’s Gulf Station where his racing car sat and was worked on between races from the mid 1960’s to the late 70’s, when his son took on driving responsibilities for the next 15 years or so. In fact, Ronnie won 1978 NASCAR Rookie of the Year honors and probably had a better racing career than his dad, perhaps because of the many years he had learned from his father. And likely better sponsors. Plus, I recall that Ronnie could not be caught by any of the constables around when he was driving the backroads of Montgomery County in high school.
Jabe was active in the “golden age” of NASCAR – truly “stock” cars, legendary drivers like Richard Petty and Junior Johnson and so many more, old tracks in western Virginia and North and South Carolina. I recall checking the Roanoke Times Monday editions to see how Jabe and his Plymouth had run the day before. It seems he often finished 36 out of 37 but not for a lack of effort or courage. (I refer you to a great YouTube clip called “NASCAR’s Most Southern Interview – Done Blowed an Engine”). In doing a little research for this piece, I found a classic picture of Jabe’s No. 25 car. On the driver’s side door “Stone’s Cafeteria,” a 40 year or so town tradition, is shown as his “corporate sponsor.” You don’t get any more Christiansburg than that.
I’ll conclude with one more professional athlete from my hometown, one much closer to home for me. Tim Collins. Tim was six or seven years older than me, a CHS classmate and close friend of my cousin Bobby, and grew up a few streets over from me. Playing at the now sadly gone Round Meadow Country Club, Tim became a legendary high school golfer in southwest Virginia. He was the first golfer to receive a “full ride” to Virginia Tech, a two-time All-American, and the first golfer to be inducted into the Tech Hall of Fame. His younger brother Terry was an almost equally good golfer and their father Clyde, postmaster in town during those days, was an avid player and taught his boys to love the game. I was lucky enough to be coached by Clyde in little league basketball in fifth, sixth, and seventh grades, with Tim as his dedicated assistant while he was whiling away the winter months at Tech.
Tim went on to a short professional career in the early 1970’s, playing in 38 PGA events and 61 pro events in all. He played particularly well at the Greater Greensboro Open, where a lot of his old Round Meadow friends and supporters could follow him. Probably his shining moment was the 1972 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach where he shot a 71 on the 2nd day and made the cut. The tournament was won that year by a fellow named Jack Nicklaus. Tim finished in a tie for 55th and won $890, compared to Jack’s $30,000.
Tim went on to a long and successful career as a club pro in the Carolinas, sadly dying too young in 2012.
Perhaps not the greatest known group of “pros” but they were ours and may their stories live on.
