THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 1, 1996 TAG: 9607310147
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 18 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 64 lines
Editor's note: This story ran in the July 28 issue of The Sun with an incorrect photo.
HE DOESN'T HIT, pitch or coach the team, but Warren Spivey often impacts the Nansemond River baseball program just as much as those who do.
The $70,000 lighting system that went up at Nansemond River's field last spring? Spivey kicked in a good deal of the money that made it possible.
The 51-head irrigation system? Spivey spent three days helping put it in. The state-of-the-art scoreboard that's the envy of virtually every other high school? Erected by Spivey Rentals.
Need a coach for Suffolk's first American Legion team in 25 years? Spivey's the man, even if it means having to juggle his schedule around his coaching duties with the Bennetts Creek Colt team.
Ever notice how nice the Nansemond River field's grass - tended to by Spivey personally - looks on game days? Lucille Spivey has.
``I've told him he should build me a house on the third base line,'' Warren's wife said with a laugh. ``The lawn at Nansemond River is in a lot better shape than the lawn at our house.''
Even if it's just showing up with a bagful of burgers for hungry Warriors to munch on between a fall-league doubleheader, if it concerns Nansemond River baseball, Spivey's largesse is almost certain to surface.
Recognition and credit? Spivey would rather go clothes shopping during a twinbill than accept much of that.
``I love baseball and I'm just trying to help the kids,'' Spivey said.
But those connected with the program can't help but lavish praise upon one of Suffolk baseball's leading benefactors.
``I've always wanted to make the program something more than the usual small community stuff,'' said Nansemond River athletic director Phil Braswell, who estimates Spivey has been the prime benefactor in the approximately $90,000 that has been poured into the Warriors' field the past three years. ``I just happened to get lucky enough to find a person who feels the same way I do.''
Although he satisfies his baseball passion off the field these days, Spivey was actually a pretty fair pitcher years ago. He made it as far as the Class A Tidewater Tides in 1963 before turning down a pre-season contract offer.
``Dave Rosenfield offered me $95 a week, but I was making $145 as a dispatcher for the Old Dominion Freight Line,'' Spivey said. ``I hurt my arm, too. And it was a very hard job, playing for that team. I mean, I'd played baseball all my life, from sunup to sundown. But that manager, Al Jones, he could take one hour and make eight hours of hard work out of it.''
Now 55, Spivey still carries the solid frame of an athlete, packing 220 pounds neatly on his 6-4 frame. But considering the success he's had in the business world - Spivey Rentals rents traffic-control devices and portable toilets and sells safety equipment, among other things - it appears his decision to give up playing was the right choice. Spivey also seems to have chosen wisely when he married Lucille, a woman cut from similar baseball-crazy cloth. In June, the two celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary.
``We're just hoping our son, Evan, a rising junior at Nansemond River, can play baseball at a college near us so we can go see him,'' said Lucille, a fixture at all Warriors-related games. ``I just love baseball. We're wondering if there's life after baseball.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by PAUL WHITE
Warren Spivey was a pretty fair pitcher, making it to the Class A
Tidewater Tides in 1963. by CNB