Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 8, 1993 TAG: 9301080056
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
NEW SUPERVISOR CHAIRMAN CAN TEST HIS COACHING SKILLS
Don't expect H.O. "Fuzzy" Minnix to get worked up over the fact that he is the new chairman of the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors.After all, Minnix won the job this week by default.
"That should tell you something," he laughs.
Republicans Lee Eddy and Ed Kohinke took their names out of consideration, leaving Minnix as the only member of the board's GOP majority willing to take the assignment.
Still, Minnix may be the perfect choice to lead the often-fractious board for the next year.
Minnix, a first-term supervisor from the Cave Spring District, steered clear of partisan sniping and public name-calling that preoccupied the other four supervisors at various times during 1992.
He kept a low profile and didn't stray from his constituents, winning high marks for his sincerity and his people skills.
"He's a decent fellow. I can work with anybody who cares about the people," said Hollins District Supervisor Bob Johnson, who often clashed with outgoing Chairman Lee Eddy.
Minnix, 58, never set out to be a politician.
He moved to suburban Southwest Roanoke County in the 1960s, worked as an air-traffic controller, coached youth sports and, with his wife, Janet, reared two sons in a brick ranch home in Penn Forest.
His first love is coaching. A former semi-pro baseball player, Minnix was head football coach at Hidden Valley Junior High and still coaches the Cave Spring High School girls' softball team.
"To me, being called coach is like being called doctor or reverend. It's an honor."
In 1990, Minnix found himself with extra time on his hands after retiring from his air-traffic controller job. He was raking leaves one afternoon, thinking about the county government, when he decided to get involved.
"When I came in and told my wife I was going to run for the Board of Supervisors, she laughed."
His candidacy was no joke. Minnix knew hundreds of Cave Spring residents through his years as a coach. His opponent, incumbent Dick Robers, was vulnerable because of his support for consolidation with the city of Roanoke.
The 1991 campaign was cordial, with Minnix and Robers trading compliments even when they disagreed.
Minnix's nice-guy demeanor masked an aggressiveness that showed itself in door-to-door campaigning that helped him win by 101 votes.
"He's a great competitor, but his competitiveness is not overbearing," said Jerry Little, a former head football coach at Cave Spring High School.
Minnix likes football for its "mobile and hostile" action, which he sees as a metaphor for life. A Civil War buff, Minnix says he would like to have been one of Gen. Stonewall Jackson's lieutenants.
"He's my kind of guy. I would have been right there with him."
For now, Minnix is saddled with a leadership role - presiding over the Board of Supervisors - with far less glory and much more frustration.
His substitute for the cavalry is a Yahama motorcycle. Occasionally, he shows up at the county offices in a leather jacket and helmet.
Whatever happens during his tenure, the Board of Supervisors can boast that its chairman has one unusual nickname.
Minnix earned the name following a four-year hitch in the Navy, when he came home to the Roanoke Valley after spending some time on California. He regaled his friends with the hip California lingo, including the term "fuzz" to refer to the police.
"They never heard of that on the East Coast. They thought it was so funny that they started calling me Fuzz. It wasn't far from that to Fuzzy."
Memo: Correction