Homer – what a perfect name for a baseball player

Not every young man who grew up near Puddin’ Swamp playing baseball in his aunt’s pasture can say they played in a College World Series game against a future President of the United States with another future President in the stands asleep in his mother’s arms.

Well, Homer Coker can.

Coker is the middle boy in a family of five boys and a girl. Born on Valentine’s Day in 1924, he grew up on the banks of the Puddin’ Swamp working on his father’s farm.

Coker and his brothers worked hard, but they played hard too.

From Monday through Friday, the boys worked on the farm, but when 2 o’clock Saturday afternoon rolled around, it was baseball time. The boys would pack it up in the fields, grab what few baseballs they could find – four at the most and head over to Aunt Ressie’s pasture to play cornfield baseball.

“That was his introduction into sports,” said older brother Larry Coker of Turbeville, who is a little more than two years older than Homer. “We were partners in learning to live and partners in sports.”

Coker said he and his younger brother grew up playing baseball in the front yard of their home.

“We didn’t have any grass in the yard,” Larry Coker added. “I played the infield. Our brother Ray pitched and Homer got in a lot of practice batting.”

Larry said his younger brother was very successful in whatever sport he played, whether it was football, basketball or baseball.

Donald Coker, another of Homer’s younger brothers, said his brother was always ready to play any game.

“It could be ping pong or football. It didn’t matter. Homer was ready to play,” Donald said. “He was very competitive and was a gifted player too.”

Homer remembered playing against Manning in basketball when he was an athlete at Turbeville High School.

“I scored 55 points in the first half,” he said with a laugh. “The coach didn’t let me play in the second half. I averaged more than 30 points a game in high school.”

While he played football and basketball well, Coker was drawn to baseball.

“I never wanted to be anything other than a major league baseball player,” Homer said. “I love baseball.”

“When he was a high school player, he was voted as best high school athlete in the region,” Larry said. “He was a good player.”

After graduating from Turbeville High School in 1940, Coker headed to the upstate and Clemson.

Why Clemson?

“Our father thought the athletes at Carolina were rich and dressed too well,” Larry added with a laugh. “He said that all the athletes at Clemson were poor and all of them were wearing the same thing – overalls.”

During Coker’s first year at Clemson, he played football, basketball and baseball. The remainder of his college career the Puddin Swamp native played basketball and baseball.

Although he lettered in basketball during his career at Clemson, baseball was his true love.

While Frank Howard was legendary for his Clemson football teams, Howard coached Coker in baseball in 1943.

“All the other coaches were in the Army serving their country,” Coker said. “He was the only one left, so he coached me in baseball.”

The brothers played on the same Clemson baseball team in 1943. Larry, a senior, was the catcher and Homer, a sophomore, played centerfield.

“(Homer) cost me the first two weeks of the season,” Larry said. “The day before we opened against Duke, we played an inner squad game. I was catching and Homer was batting. He tipped the ball and it split the fingers of my right hand. I’ll never forget it.”

Homer hasn’t forgotten it either.

“I was so sorry about that,” he said Jan. 19. “I remember it too.”

Homer remembered a particular game in the fall of 1942 when Larry was catching and he was playing centerfield.

“I was hitting pretty well,” Homer remembered with a laugh. “Larry was struggling. He wasn’t hitting so well and I had three or four hits. We were going to supper at the college. He told me, ‘I know why you hit the ball so well. You think you can hit it.’ I told him, ‘I don’t think. I know I can hit it.’”

Donald remembered his brother as a “very fast” centerfielder.

“He didn’t let anything get past him,” Donald said. “He had the instinct to know where the ball was going to fall. Not very many major league players today can do that.”

During his sophomore and junior seasons at Clemson, Homer had the highest hitting average of .462. His senior season it dropped to a respectable .342.

Coker’s dream of becoming a major league baseball player ended with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The young man volunteered for the Navy. He went to officer’s school in New York before being assigned to the USS Menard as an Ensign.

The USS Menard served as a troop ship delivering Army and Marine personnel to the beaches in the Pacific Theater. Coker was the ship to shore landing craft commander whose responsibility was to make sure the personnel got from the ship to the beaches.

After more than three years in the Navy, Coker returned to Clemson, but hopes to become a major league baseball player had been dashed.

He was now married with a baby and he didn’t want to leave them behind.

“There wasn’t any question that before the war, Homer could have played major league baseball,” his brother Donald added. “The war wore him down.”

During his senior year, Clemson made it to the first College World Series where Coker met a future president – two future presidents really.

As the captain of the Clemson team, Coker got to meet the captain and first baseman of the Yale squad they’d be playing in the College World Series. That first baseman just happened to be George H. W. Bush, the county’s future 41^st President.

The two players got to talking and Bush pointed to his wife, Barbara, who was sitting in the bleachers holding his son, George W. Bush.

After leaving Clemson, Coker and his family moved to St. Stephen where he worked as a coach and principal and he taught two math classes for three years before becoming the superintendent of schools there for five years.

Then, he headed to Aiken where he completed his Ph.D. in education at the University of South Carolina and accepted a professorship at West Georgia College in Carrollton, Ga. He transferred to Georgia State University in Atlanta in 1980. He retired in 1988.

In the mid-70s, Coker said he was a die-hard Atlanta Braves fan with season tickets. He knew Hank Aaron from Aaron’s days playing in the old Southern League and wanted to visit with his old friend.

He headed to Atlanta and spent the afternoon reminiscing with his old buddy.

“I had a great time,” he said. “We spent the afternoon together talking baseball.”

Now retired and living in Carrollton, Ga., Coker said he still loves and follows baseball.

“I’m very honored to be inducted into the Clarendon County Athletic Hall of Fame,” he added. “I appreciate the folks thought enough of me to include me. It never occurred to me that I’d be so honored.”