” … Now Main Street’s whitewashed windows and vacant stores;
“Seems like there ain’t nobody wants to come down here no more.
“They’re closing down the textile mill across the tracks;
“Foreman says these jobs are going, boys, and they ain’t coming back to your hometown … “
— Bruce Springsteen
Jerry Hager often is mistaken for Cubs manager Joe Maddon, but I was more interested in the fact that the Knightstown native spent a night on the town with former White Sox owner Bill Veeck.
Hager, 69, is a retired teacher who lives in Valparaiso with his wife, Renee.
***
“I’m from Knightstown,” Hager said. “Our gymnasium was one of the gyms used in the filming of the movie ‘Hoosiers.’ I scored two points in four years in that gym.”
Where is Knightstown?
“It’s 15 minutes east of Greenfield, right on Highway 40. It’s a town of about 2,500. It’s a farming and blue-collar town. It’s kind of a hard-hit town. There’s not much to do there. Knightstown has no place to eat anymore. With that said, you have to go to Knightstown. The old guys have done a great job with the Hoosier Gym. They’ve had movie stars and (basketball) players from all over the world visit that gym. You can go in and shoot (baskets). There’s no charge. It’s clean. They provide balls. You also can go down into the locker room and they’ll tell you the history of basketball in the area.”
How long have you lived in Northwest Indiana?
“Since 1974. But I still go back to my hometown to visit with my old buddies and remaining relatives. A couple of the guys in their 80s and 90s who live by the gym have Alzheimer’s (disease). Sometimes they’ll ask me, ‘Jerry, where have you been?’ Other times they’ll ask me, ‘Have you been here before?'”
Were you drafted?
“Yes, but I failed my physical because of a heart murmur. My childhood friend Mike also got drafted in ’67. Hard to believe it has been 50 years.”
First job after Knightstown High?
“I worked at Chrysler Corporation near New Castle for six years. That wasn’t me. When I was a senior in high school, my guidance counselor told me, ‘Jerry, you’re not too smart, you’re poor and you don’t have a dad. Your family members are all high school dropouts. I’ve got the perfect job for you after graduation. Chrysler pays a lot of money and you don’t have to do anything.’ To a 17-year old kid it was like, ‘Good Lord, yes!’ After one year, I hated it.
“That axle line at Chrysler about killed me because I couldn’t handle the weight. I watched guys get their fingers cut off. Some of the old-timers were good, but some of them wrote me threatening notes and called me names because I was going to college while working. One guy told me only hippies and commies went to college.”
How long did you teach?
“For 39 years. My first teaching position was at Winamac. The principal called me in and told me to get my hair cut. I taught at Valparaiso High School for 24 years. I ended up in the Michigan City school system for seven years as a consultant for kids who had physical disabilities.”
Bill Veeck?
“I was reading his book one night (‘Veeck as in Wreck’) and he mentioned, ‘If you call me, I’ll talk to you.’ So on a Sunday night, probably after a beer or two, I called him and he answered. I was 32 years old at the time. I asked him if he’d speak to the general public at Valparaiso High School. He told me he was booked for two years. But he said not to give up and to call him back. So I did. He was a man of his word.
“Veeck told me he would speak for free, but required transportation to and from Valparaiso. I picked him up at Comiskey Park. I had heard some mighty good things about him. While driving, I talked to him about Tom Yawkey and some of the other baseball club owners. I talked to him about the racial days because he hired the second African-American ballplayer in Major League Baseball.”
You refer to Larry Doby, who also was the second African-American to manage a major league ballclub.
“Veeck didn’t respond to me on any of the topics I brought up. I thought, ‘What a cold-hearted jerk.’ He eventually looked my way and asked me if I’d said something. He’d forgotten to turn his hearing aid on. We had a blast after that.”
Continue, please.
“We walked into the auditorium and there were only 300 people. I thought we’d have a full house. Bill put his arm around me because I was sulking, and said, ‘Man, don’t worry about it, I’ve spoken to groups as small as two and I’ll give ’em hell.’
“With his presentation complete, he started smoking while talking to the reporters. I told him he couldn’t do that on school grounds, so he put the cigarette out on his wooden leg.
“Then he asked me where the nearest White Sox bar was. He told me he felt like having some beers. The White Sox bar in Valpo at that time was the Franklin House. The Cubs bar was the North Side Tap. We had a huge crowd around us, so, as a wager, he took $100 bills and placed patties of butter on them betting that he could get them to stick to the ceiling. He was winning every bet. When we left, there were still three $100 bills stuck to the ceiling. He didn’t care.”
***
Much to my chagrin, Veeck’s wife, Mary Frances Veeck has been credited with the idea to have White Sox players dress in shorts in 1976. As a publicity stunt, while owner of the hapless St. Louis Browns in 1951, Bill Veeck used Eddie Gaedel as a pinch hitter. Gaedel stood 3-foot-7 and wore number 1/8. He walked on four pitches.
Jerry Hager, also a free spirit, hitchhiked to Washington, D.C., in 1976 in celebration of our country’s bicentennial, he said.
Jeff Manes is a freelance columnist for the Post-Tribune.
