Tag: Elon University

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Hearn, Bunny

Primary Position: Starting pitcher
Birthplace: Chapel Hill

First, Middle Names:  Charles Bunn
Nickname: Bunny

Date of Birth:  May 21, 1891  Date and Place of Death: Oct. 19, 1959, Wilson, NC
Burial: Maplewood Cemetery, Wilson, NC

High School: Undetermined
Colleges: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC; Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS; Elon University, Elon, NC

Bats: L Throws: L        Height and Weight: 5-11, 190
Debut Year: 1910        Final Year: 1920          Years Played: 6
Teams and Years: St. Louis Cardinals, 1910-11; New York Giants, 1913; Pittsburgh Rebels, 1915; Boston Braves, 1918, 1920

Awards/Honors: N.C. Sports Hall of Fame, 1993

Career Summary
G           W        L            Sv       ERA        IP           SO       WAR
66        13        24        0          3.56       399.2  111      +1.3

For almost three decades, folks in the college town of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, knew spring was imminent when the big, black Cadillac pulled up in front of Woollen Gym. A portly, resplendent figure emerged. A passing student might yell a welcome, “Hey, Big Steam.” The Caddy’s occupant might wave an acknowledgement before disappearing into the building. Bunn Hearn was back in town for another Carolina baseball season.

He spent most his of his life in baseball. An accomplished pitcher in the minor leagues, he won more than 200 games over 19 seasons. The big-league portion of his career is scant by comparison, just 66 games scattered over six summers.

Hearn, however, is best remembered for his 26 years as a baseball coach at the University of North Carolina. He was head coach for about half that time, preaching the importance of fundamentals – “old timey, country baseball,” he called it – while leading his kids to more than 200 victories and six Southern Conference championships. Hearn understood young players, nurtured their talents, and gently corrected their failings, usually with a funny story. He was never known to be harsh or critical. “Hang in there, old fellow,” he would counsel. “We’ll get ‘em back.”[I]

In so doing, he became so beloved a figure that the governor thought it proper to proclaim a statewide day in his honor when Hearn retired. The North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame inducted him posthumously in 1993 for his coaching achievements.

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Abernathy, Tal

Position: Relief pitcher
Birthplace: Bynum

First, Middle Names: Talmadge Lafayette         Nicknames: Ted, Tal

Date of Birth:  Oct. 30, 1921  Date and Place of Death: Nov. 16, 2001, Charlotte
Burial:  Olney Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Gastonia, NC

High School: Mebane High School, Mebane, NC
College: Elon University, Elon, NC

Bats: R             Throws: L                    Height and Weight: 6-2, 210
Debut Year: 1942       Final Year: 1944          Years Played: 3
Team and Years: Philadelphia Athletics, 1942-44

Career Summary
G         W        L          Sv        ERA                 IP         SO       WAR
7          0          3          0       11.07               20.1     13        -1.2

Connie Mack was in a bind. The manager of the Philadelphia Athletics, Mack lost nine players to the armed services in 1942. To shore up his depleted pitching staff, he signed a 20-year-old lefthander with a stellar college career.

Talmadge Abernathy, who went variously by the names Ted or Tal, was born to a large family in Bynum, a cotton mill town on the banks of the Haw River in Chatham County. He did most of his growing up, though, in Mebane, North Carolina, in neighboring Alamance County where his father, John, worked in a hosiery mill.

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Clark, Cap

Primary Position: Catcher
Birthplace: Snow Camp

First, Middle Names: John Carrol           Nicknames: Cap

Date of Birth:  Sept. 19, 1906 Date and Place of Death: Feb. 16, 1957, Fayetteville
Burial: Lafayette Memorial Park, Fayetteville

High School: Undetermined  
College: Elon University, Elon

Bats: L             Throws: R        Height and Weight: 5-11, 180
Debut Year: 1938       Final Year: 1938          Years Played: 1
Team and Year: Philadelphia Phillies, 1938

Career Summary
G         AB       H         R          RBI      HR       BA.      OBP.    SLG.     WAR
52        74        19        11        4          0         .257     .337     .297     -0.2

Cap Clark was a high-school teacher and coach most of the time. In the summer when school was out, he played professional baseball. He kicked around the minors for six years before getting the call. Clark put in a respectable season as a backup catcher in the majors and then went back teaching and coaching. He added shop keeping when he opened a sporting goods store in Fayetteville that’s still in business eighty years later.

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