Published June 25. 2005 6:01AM Gadsden
Times
Some folks call him a
`Slingblade'
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By
Jimmy Smothers
Times Sports Editor
His name is
Jerry Hines, but when he speaks he sounds like Billy Bob Thornton. He's in our
town this weekend competing in the annual Alabama State Left-Handed Golf
Tournament, getting more attention off the course than when he's playing golf.
"There's
a pretty neat story there," said Daryl Johnson, who is credited with
dubbing Hines with the catchy nickname - Slingblade.
"When
he played in his first left-handed tournament he was such a nice guy that everyone
was kind of drawn to him. When he talked, you'd think of Billy Bob, who played
Slingblade in the movie. So everyone just kind of adopted the name. But no one
called him that to his face."
Johnson
said he didn't think that was right.
"He
was such a nice guy I knew he wouldn't mind, so I went up to him and told him I
had nicknamed him something," Johnson said.
"Can
you say what it is in public?" he asked.
"Sure,
have you ever seen the movie Slingblade?"
"No."
"Well,
ask around, you sound exactly like the guy in the
movie."
Johnson
said he got him to look at the movie and he agreed.
"Everyone
calls him `Sling' or `Slingblade' now, he even introduces himself as
Slingblade," Johnson said. "He's a good guy, just a good ol' down to
earth boy who has made a lot of good friends among the left-handed
golfers."
Slingblade
said he is so country that when the place he grew up in became too crowded he moved north to
"I'm
back out in the country, living in Walter, which is
about halfway way between Holly Pond and Hanceville," he said. "My
place is about three miles from the monastery but I've never been there."
He is a
master plumber by trade, but makes his living today by remodeling houses. He
has done work in
He played
sports at
"When
I was 12 or 13 I helped my grandfather put plumbing in our house. My job was to
do all the crawling under the house. I said then I'd never be a plumber,"
he said. "But guess what happened?"
Slingblade
explained that he was working 12-hour days on the dairy farm and never got to
see his first son play sports. So when a second son was born seven years later,
he decided to change his career so he'd have more time to watch his young son
grow up.
"I got
in the plumbing business and still had to work 12-hours a day," he said.
"That son was later killed in the army after serving eight years."
Back in the
`70s Hines started playing golf, but he didn't have time to play regularly so
he gave it up after a few years. He only resumed playing when his wife died
four years ago.
"When
she was living we had six horses," he said. "For recreation we'd ride
horses a lot and would do some camping out, etc. But when she passed, I wasn't
interested in doing that anymore. So I started playing golf again. I really
love the game, but can't hit the ball very well."
He enjoys
the game so much that he competed in last year's state left-handers tournament
less than three months after suffering a heart attack. He finished third in the
B Flight of the Open division.
"I
could have been first but lost a ball, made a mistake and it cost me four
strokes," he said.
Despite his
love for the game, he doesn't have the years of experience a lot of the players
his age have.
"I'm
basically a bogey golfer," he said. "On my home course in
One of the
guys who played with him said he could have gotten the nickname from the way he
sometimes swings his golf club. Johnson said, "I'm not going to comment on
that, you better ask him."
Slingblade
just laughed, which he does a lot.
"When
I was growing up I had another nickname. People in high school called me mama.
I don't know why that came about either. Maybe it was because I wore my hair
long and combed back on each side, although it was short on top."
In addition
to the nicknames, Hines said he doesn't really understand why he plays golf
left-handed.
"It's
about the only thing I do left-handed," he said. "When I played
baseball and softball, I batted right-handed. But swinging the golf club left-handed
just seems natural. I'm kind of like, right-handed when I do things with one
hand and left-handed when I need two hands. Except for when I
batted in baseball."
Other than
his nickname, he draws attention by his "trucker's billfold" that is
chained to his belt.
"Everyone
kids me about it, asking if I have a lot of money in it," he said. "I
tell them they can have the billfold if they'll pay the bills I have in it.
I'll just keep what little money there is."
He said he
started carrying it when he went into the construction business to keep track
of his bills.
"I had
to turn in all the bills at the end of a job, so that was a means of keeping up
with everything. I know a lot of guys who keep their papers in little brief
cases, but they are always losing them or getting them stolen. I've never lost
this billfold or had it stolen," he said.
He pointed
out another thing.
"When
my grandchildren were babies they always cried when I'd get up close and talk
to them," he said. "I didn't know at the time that it was my hoarse
voice that scared them."
Now he
does. He also realizes why people call him Slingblade.
"He
just loves it," said Johnson.