From the Sports Desk

with Carey Phillips: 04/25/02

When the organization was formed, names too numerous to mention were tossed about as we looked at the county's entire athletic history. Many of those have been enshrined while others have not for one reason or another.

One name mentioned almost from the beginning was Johnny Oates. A former Major League Baseball player, Oates was managing the Baltimore Orioles when the Hall of Fame was founded.

As a native of Jackson County, Oates was eligible for induction. However, the banquet is generally held in May right in the middle of baseball season which would have kept him from attending.

Shortly after his stint ended with the Orioles, he became manager of Texas and led the Rangers to three division titles.

Oates resigned as manager of the Rangers last year just before the banquet was to be held. The inductees had already been selected so it was too late to consider Oates.

His name went right to the top of the potential list for 2001 inductees. We knew there was a chance he would get another job in baseball and be unable to come, but if that didn't happen this was the time to give Oates the local recognition he deserved.

In November, our hopes took a hit when we heard the terrible news that Oates had been diagnosed with a severe form of brain cancer and would undergo surgery.

Still, we held out hope that we could pull off his induction for 2001. We decided even if he couldn't come Oates could perhaps send a representative.

Before going further, let me explain a few things about Oates' connection to Jackson County. He was born in 1946 at the old C.J. Harris Hospital, now Court Hill Apartments, on Ridgeway Street in Sylva. Until age 8, he lived in the Glenville area with his parents, Clint Oates, who was from South Carolina, and Madie Franks Oates, a Glenville native.

The family left Glenville and eventually wound up in Virginia where Oates was a star high school athlete and went on to play baseball at Virginia Tech before making it in the big leagues. He has not been to Jackson County since 1963.

Some people who have not been here in 39 years might not be interested in the Jackson County Athletic Hall of Fame, but that wasn't the case with Oates. We got word to him in a roundabout way, and he made the phone call indicating his appreciation.

We learned he was doing rather well health-wise although like anyone in his situation he has to take things one day at a time. He immediately said he planned to be here if inducted.

He was the same gracious man I talked to on the phone in 1991 shortly after he was named manager at Baltimore. He gave a small town reporter the same courtesy he would have a daily beat writer covering his team.

He told me in that interview one of the few people he remembered from Jackson County was Ed Sutton. As a child in the early 1950s, Oates watched Sutton play basketball for Cullowhee in games against Glenville. As fate would have it, Sutton, a charter member of the Hall of Fame, had already written saying he was coming from Fresno, Calif., for the banquet.

Other Oates stories have surfaced recently. Elise Monteith Terrell of Sylva said her father was responsible for Clint Oates coming from South Carolina to work in Glenville. She plans to be at the banquet. Oates recently said he had often heard his mother, who resides in the Wilmington area, speak of the Monteiths.

Linda Collins of Atlanta, daughter of the late Glenn Hughes, long-time Jackson County Register of Deeds, plans to attend. She hopes to be able to show Oates a picture made in 1974 when Hughes presented Oates a copy of his birth certificate prior to a game in Atlanta Stadium while Oates was with the Braves. We're all praying that Oates will be able to be here. He certainly plans to as he recently wrote "See you soon."

It will be an honor to have such an outstanding person as Oates with us. He's a strong Christian and a friend of President Bush, with whom he dined this week. Make plans to attend. Tickets are $15 and may be purchased by calling 586-2512 or going by Sylva Insurance Agency on Main Street. Act quickly as a large crowd is expected with a sellout a strong possibility.

It promises to be an unforgettable evening as for the first time in 39 years "Johnny comes marching home" to his county of birth. Welcome back.

Back to Sports: 04/25/02.