DeHart gains baseball honor

Salisbury’s Jim DeHart is a Hall of Famer, less than a year after he retired from coaching.

DeHart, Rowan County’s American Legion baseball coach the past 11 years, was inducted into the North Carolina American Legion Baseball Hall of Fame here last weekend.

“It’s not something I thought I would be getting. You have to have an awful lot of help to get that. You have to have good assistant coaches, and you have to have good players to work with,” said the popular, 64-year-old coach.

One of his former assistants, Jim Gant, has been selected to replace DeHart as head coach.

DeHart was inducted at the Salisbury Civic Center along with James Lippard of Lexington, Art Shumaker of Gastonia and Dee Glover of Goldsboro.

One of his star players from the past four years, Brian Hatley, was also honored as the Area III player of the year.

DeHart took over the Rowan County coaching duties in 1990, following the retirement of another Legion Hall of Famer, Joe Ferebee, who had put Salisbury on the baseball map with a third-place national finish in 1955.

Ferebee’s teams won state championships in 1955, 1969, 1971 and 1984 and consistently won the Southern Division of Area III championship.

“I had no idea what to expect,” said DeHart of that first season. “The only thing I knew about American Legion ball is that I played it and watched some games when Ferebee was coaching.”

DeHart played some Legion ball in Wilmington in 1954 before the second baseman’s career was cut short as a teen-ager by a rheumatic disease of the spine, ankylosing spondylitis. He was hospitalized six months and had to have his neck fused.

He later coached Little Leaguers in Wilmington and Tampa, Fla., before moving to Salisbury in 1972 as area manager for Live of Virginia.

DeHart coached the Milford Hills Baptist Church team in the West Rowan Little League three years, then progressed with most of the same players to Babe Ruth and Pony League.

He became involved in the Rowan Little League as vice-president in charge of player personnel, handling the league’s draft and player assignments.

DeHart eventually served as an assistant four years at Salisbury High School, then took the Catawba College head job in 1984, where the Indians went 77-54 in his four seasons and won the school’s first Carolinas Conference championship in 40 years.

Then came Legion ball.

“I knew that it was what most kids in this town wanted to play. I knew they were the same kind of kids I coached at Salisbury and the same kind of kids that eventually wound up at Catawba. I didn’t know what to expect out of a team put together from several different schools,” he recalled.

His first Rowan County team went 21-11 and finished in a tie for fourth place in the regular season. His next 10 teams finished first (seven times) or second. All 10 won the divisional title in the playoffs. DeHart’s teams posted a magnificent record of 368-120-1, an average of 33.5 wins per season.

Keith Knight, a star pitcher-third baseman who played four Legion seasons under DeHart, was delighted that his former coach was inducted into the Hall of Fame.

“He’s probably one of the best baseball minds that I’ve been around as far as being able to handle all aspects of the game, from pitching, which is his strong suit, and situational playing,” said Knight.

“He taught me a lot about the game and a lot about aspects of life as well. A true battler, he liked hard-nosed players,” Knight added.

Knight starred on the 1993 team that won the state championship, the fourth in the history of the program.

“The state championship team only had 16 players, but they were 16 players he felt could propel the team to where it was. Every player contributed to the state championship from 1 to 16,” said Knight.

“When I found out he was going into the Hall of Fame, it really made me feel good. I just thought there couldn’t be anything any better for such a good person. He’s been there for a lot of kids, Legion and Little League,” he added.

DeHart says, “I like all the facets of the coaching. I think the most enjoyable thing was watching the kids get better and go on and have college careers. Some of them went even further than that.

“One of the most enjoyable things was watching the people support this team. It didn’t go unnoticed by the kids, either. They were real proud of the way they were supported. They could tell you who was in the stands and who wasn’t.”

When DeHart started putting together teams, he wanted players with character.

“You are going to have talent. We are going to take character over talent any day when there’s two kids about equal. You’ve got to jell 18 kids together, every one of them starting in high school,” he said.

DeHart pointed out that he usually went with eight pitchers, more than some other Legion teams carried, plus an extra outfielder and extra infielder and extra catcher.

He wanted players who could hit, but emphasized pitching and defense.

“Hitting will take care of itself. These kids have been taught to hit the ball. We are going to take people that hit the ball, but pitching and defense is what wins games in tournaments and playoffs,” said DeHart.

He has no regrets about his years of Legion coaching.

“I would do it tomorrow. That was 11 good years I enjoyed more than anything I’ve ever enjoyed. I made a lot of good friends in the coaching field and other teams’ players and the fans,” he exclaimed.

The daily grind during the summer and late hours had a lot to do with his decision to retire.

“I felt like, at the time, I wanted to be off for awhile. I haven’t had a break or summer vacation in I don’t know how many years,” he said.

Has his retirement ended his coaching career?

“It doesn’t mean I won’t go back some day,” he said, leaving open the possibility of returning to baseball.

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Senior sports writer Ed Dupree covers Legion baseball for the Post.