2020 Fannin County Sports Hall of Fame inductee Clifton Birdell Hunt (better known as ‘Shag’) was born in Tate, Georgia on January 12, 1913. Shag was born in an America where baseball was truly the country’s National Pastime. For most of Shag’s first 45 years or so, the game was one of the most important parts of his life.
In 1926, Grover Hunt, Shag’s father, was killed in an accident when he fell from a building on which he was working. Shag was only 13 years old at the time. He was the oldest of the three Hunt children and he dropped out of school around the 8th grade to help support the family. In 1929, Shag’s mother remarried and moved to Detroit with the two younger children. Shag stayed in North Georgia and took up residence with his Uncle Gus in Loving, Georgia. When not working on the farm, he spent hours playing baseball on the fields at Epworth and Copperhill. Around this time, he acquired the nickname ‘Shag’ for the many hours that he devoted to shagging fly balls in the outfield. It was also about that time that he met Paul Kimsey, a young man from Epworth who played on several local baseball teams with Shag. The two would remain friends for the remainder of their lives.
Economic times were hard during the Depression years of the early 1930s and newly elected President Franklin D. Roosevelt, after taking office in January, 1933, began introducing a number of programs designed to alleviate the hardships of many Americans. One of the Roosevelt programs was the Civilian Conservation Corps, the CCC, established in the spring of 1933. The stated goal of this program was to conserve the country’s natural resources while providing jobs for young men. The program proved to be very popular and, by 1935, over 2650 CCC camps had been established in all states employing more than 600,000 young men.
Shag Hunt, along with Paul Kimsey, enlisted in the CCC and, by the spring of 1935, the two young men found themselves assigned to CCC Camp 485, called the Sandy Creek Camp, near Athens, Georgia. Camp 485 fielded a strong semi-pro baseball team that competed in the Georgia Piedmont League against top-flight amateur teams in Northeast Georgia. Shag immediately became the mainstay of the camp pitching staff with Paul Kimsey behind the plate catching most of Shag’s offerings.
Shag was the pitching ace of the Athens team for two seasons, posting a record of 10-3 in 1936, pitching 116 innings and giving up 96 hits. He was also one of the most popular young men in the camp and discovered that he had a flair for writing poetry. He became the ‘Literature’ Editor of the camp newsletter, called the ‘Cracker’, and wrote a poem for each issue. Shag’s poems did not contain any complex imagery or esoteric references, but were straightforward thoughts about nature, life, love, friends and family and, naturally, baseball. His poems were characterized by humor, pathos and a comman man’s view of living. Following is a tongue-in-cheek poem about the camp baseball team that Shag composed in 1936.
Our catcher started out this year
As lively as a singer
He tried to catch a foul tip
And cracked up his finger
Our pitcher had a fast one
And threw a curve not using his thumb
He was a pretty good pitcher
But my goodness he sure was dumb
Our first sacker was a honey
He was tall enough and slim
He couldn’t get a grounder
He couldn’t bend over, not him
Our second baseman was a little guy
He wasn’t so awful hot
But one thing about him
He was Johnny on the spot
We had a guy on third base
Who was as lazy as could be
How he ever managed to hit
Is a mystery to me
You should see our shortstop
He could get around like a deer
Until he went after a hit
And landed on his rear
Our left fielder was a genius
He sure could cover ground
But when the ball got in the sun
He could only go round and round
Our right and center fielders
Led the team in being spry
‘Til they bumped heads together
Trying to catch the same fly
The subs they don’t play much
They watch the opposing pitcher’s slants
They’ve sat on the bench so much
Now the seat is out of their pants
Our umpire had a crooked eye
He didn’t know a ball from a strike
The last game he tried to call
To get home he had to hitch hike
From the 1920s until the early 1950s, many industries in the United States sponsored company semi-pro baseball teams. This was particularly true among the textile plants that thrived in North Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina at the time. The arrangements varied but, generally, the company would seek out good baseball players, provide them with a not too complicated job at a reasonable wage and oftentimes company housing. In return the men would perform for the baseball team representing the company on weekends and sometimes during the week. Some of the rivalries that developed between small town teams rivaled that of the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox.
Following the 1936 baseball season, Shag Hunt was discharged from the CCC. In September he married Mary Susan Davenport in Loving, Georgia and signed on to play with the Sugar Hill team near Buford, Georgia. This team competed in the Northeast Georgia Textile League. The Sugar Hill team was affiliated with the legendary Bona Allen Company semi-pro teams but the precise nature of that relationship has not been determined. What has been determined is that Shag had an outstanding season at Sugar Hill in 1937, posting a record of 11-3. He pitched 98 innings and had 70 strikeouts. Shag’s first child was born in Buford in August of 1937.
Shag’s performance at Sugar Hill, earned him a spot with the Greensboro, Georgia team of Georgia Piedmont League. He played at Greensboro for two seasons, 1938 and 1939. He had a record of 17-9 in 1939 and pitched a no-hitter against Commerce on Saturday, May 28, 1938.
Shag moved on to Greenwood, South Carolina and pitched for a mill team in the Central Carolina League in 1940, 1941 and 1942. He was very popular among the fans and, in a 1940 fans’ poll, he finished as runner up as the most popular player in the league. His best record at Greenwood was likely 1942 when he appeared in 28 games and compiled a record of 16-9. He also managed the team at various times.
Shag, his wife Susie and young daughter Mary Sue returned to Fannin County following the 1942 baseball season at Greenwood. Shag was never called to serve in the military during World War II, probably due to his age, but Susie’s four younger brothers all served in the conflict. Shag took a hiatus from baseball during the war to help care for, financially and emotionally, Susie’s mother and father. Shag was a first-rate carpenter and his skills were in great demand in the community. The second Hunt daughter, Elizabeth Ann, was born in 1944.
Following the end of World War II, Shag began pitching for the Blue Ridge, Georgia and Murphy, North Carolina semi-pro teams. These teams played some of the strongest semi-pro teams in the area including the Buford Shoemakers, the Atomic Bombers of Oak Ridge, Fulton Bag of Atlanta, the Grant Park Aces of Atlanta and many others. In 1947 his record was likely 12-4, including four shutouts. Published game accounts also report that, after the game against the Marietta Veterans Administration in August, Shag had 141 strikeouts in 139 innings pitched.
In 1948, the Blue Ridge team record was 15-12. Hunt’s record in those contests appears to have been 13-10. His record in documented games in 1950 was 9-3. He retired from active competition in the early to mid-1950s. Although exact records are virtually impossible to reconstruct, Shag undoubtedly won more than 200 games during his pitching career.
After his retirement from baseball, Shag was a home builder supervising and participating in the construction of some of the finest homes in Fannin County. He was also very active in church work serving as a deacon in the New Hope Baptist Church. He and Susie had a third daughter, Rebecca Reid, in 1950. Becky, Mary Sue and Ann all have very fond memories of Shag. One of Becky’s favorite memories is of Shag’s lifelong friend, Paul Kimsey, calling her ‘Little Shag’. Shag died of a stroke at the age of 63 on November 22, 1976 and is buried in the New Hope Baptist Church Cemetery in the Loving Road section of Fannin County.
As is the case with many small-town athletes who competed in athletics in the time of Shag Hunt, details of his career are very elusive and unearthed only after extensive efforts. All accounts, in the media an from first-hand interviews, however, are that Shag Hunt was a very talented pitcher and was highly respected by his family, peers and fans.
