Buddy Gettys, former mayor of Spencer, provided this photograph of the Buck Steam Station’s baseball team from the 1950s. Gettys grew up in Dukeville, the village associated with the steam plant. He wrote in a recent guest column that the Buck men’s team played Landis, China Grove, Cooleemee and mill teams in Salisbury as part of a local industrial league. It also played other power plants, including Dan River, Cliffside, Riverbend and Allen. ‘Baseball was a big deal for Duke Power Co.,’ Gettys said. ‘Being a star could weigh more on a job application than other qualifications.’ Gettys (first row, far left) was the youngest player in this photograph. Emil Sparger (first row, far right), Jim Sharpe (second row, second from right) and Craig Bennett (second row, third from left) were among three former professional players on the team. The players were, front row, left to right: Gettys, Cary Grant, Douglas Truesdale, Jim Everson, Ted Stroupe and Sparger; second row, left to right (standing): Kenneth Queen, Day McCoy, Bennett, Taft McCoy, Gary West, Talmadge Broughton, Sharpe and John Leonard. Gettys worked at Buck Steam Station in the summers while going to school.