Class of 2008
George Fincher
Once upon a time, every starry-eyed boy in Mount Holly wanted to be George Fincher when he grew up.
This exceptional natural athlete played basketball and baseball for Mount Holly High in the early 1940s. Bu the sport that truly made this quiet, modest man a local legend and hero was football.
Nicknamed "Toots" because of his fondness for Tootsie Rolls, George is considered by, any who still remember his name and accomplishments to be Mount Holly's greatest football player, period.
As a member of the Mount Holly Hawks high school varsity football team, coached in turn by Seaton Holt and Dick Thompson, George was selected in 1942 to play in the Shrine Bowl. He is the only player ever selected for this honor.
He shared the position of tailback with Asheville's legendary Charlie "Choo Choo" Justice at the game and legend has it that an audible grumbling could be heard throughout the press box that day. The sports reporters (and the Mount Holly fans) felt that the Shrine Bowl coach, Asheville's Ralph James, was using George's skills to get the ball to a point where "Choo Choo" could just take over for the flory shot, sparing Asheville's star player from injury. After all, James' Asheville team had a big game coming up the following Saturday. When asked by the press after the victory about how he felt about being used in such a manner, George answered in typical George Fincher fashion, that James was a smart coach and, "Well, we won, that's all that counts."
Fincher was so popular among his peers in high school that when several of his players (including Mount Holly war hero Charles Black) dropped out of high school to enlist to join the war effort, they tried to get their respective branches of the military to delay their entrance a few days so they could see George play in the Shrine Bowl, a request that was denied, much to the young men's dismay.
George himself enlisted after graduation and served in the Army where he won several honors for participating in the Battle of the Bulge.
George's modesty was well known and he was not a man prone to tooting his own horn. He never talked about football or his war service very much, says his daughter Lisa Fincher Branch.
"The most he ever said about football was that the reason he had to have his hip replaced was that Coach Dick Thompson made him keep kicking the ball long after everyone else was gone," says Branch with a laugh.
George kept in shape throughout his life, usually running everywhere to keep in shape and working out when he was older. He grew up in the Duke Power Village at Mountain Island and in his football glory days, for a good workout he would repeatedly run up and down the old Mountain Island Dam on the grassy side, which is now covered with rip rap. His speed not only served him well as an athlete, says Branch, but also probably saved his life during World War II. His commanding officers basically sent him on a suicide mission to help blow up a bridge, because he was the fastest runner. The only thing that saved him was his speed and the fact that the Germans went the other way. He wandered for four days alone in the wilderness and was hallucinating when friendly forces finally found him.
Fincher later signed a football scholarship at the University of North Carolina and briefly played at Georgia Tech. He distinguished himself as a star player at both schools but eventually left school and the game to return home to Mount Holly to care for his ailing father.
George's dad, Sidney Garland Fincher, was truly his greatest fan. When George played, his father was on the sidelines of every game. He would run up and down the side of the field, following as the game progressed, never taking his eyes off his son.
Neb Hollis
Neb Hollis does not remember when he learned to play baseball. He just knows that he has played the game all of his life, as far back as he can remember.
Born in 1928 in Mount Holly, North Carolina, Neb was the youngest of Mr. and Mrs. W. T. Hollis’ seven children. And learning to play ball in Mount Holly was never an issue, says Neb, because a pickup game was always available in Mill Hill Village.
“Mount Holly was a good sports town - it was alive with baseball, especially girls’ softball, in that time,” says Neb.
But football was the big thing in Mount Holly during the 1940s and this natural athlete did his duty for the Mount Holly High School Hawks, playing football, basketball, and baseball for the school. But baseball was Neb’s specialty, and the outfielder was always in demand, from junior high school, where he played for Mr. Ward and Mr. Church, to Mount Holly High School, where he was coached by Dick Thompson.
After Neb’s 1945 graduation, he enrolled in the Belmont Abbey Junior College, where he played for the Belmont Abbey Crusaders under the watchful eye of the school’s baseball coach, Big Humpy Wheeler. As if that was not enough, Neb also played American Legion baseball at Cherryville beginning in 1945 and played on and off for the textile team American Yarn and Processing through the years.
“In Cherryville playing for the American Legion was the place I got my very first pair of brand new baseball shoes,” Neb says. “I thought that was something special.”
During Neb’s sophomore year at Belmont Abbey, he was spotted by a professional scout who watched him play for Belmont and the American Legion. He signed with the Cleveland Indians to one of its minor league teams. He first played in Batavia, New York, then played in the Kinston North Carolina Coastal Plain League for the Kingston Eagles and finally for the Stanley Talon Zippers.
After three years as a minor league ballplayer, Neb entered the military in 1950 and trained to be an army paratrooper.
Bu the siren call of baseball would not leave Neb alone. When stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, Neb - a raw recruit at the time - found a note on the bulletin board announcing tryouts for the regimental team. He had just come in from training that morning.
“It was really hot out,” he says with a laugh. “I told my sergeant that I wanted to go try out for the team that afternoon. He told me that I would be training with him that afternoon and every afternoon afterward.”
That evening, Neb went to ask about the captain who coached the team. A young lieutenant was on night duty and Neb commented that he wanted to go out for the team, so the officer took his name and company. Neb asked if the lieutenant was a West Point Graduate, then asked if he knew Charlie Gabriel (who had played ball with Neb at Cherryville and later became a general).
“He lit up and say yes! He’s from Cherryville!” says Neb. “I said that I had played ball with him and the next day, the sergeant told me that I needed to be at baseball practice that afternoon.”
And so Neb added playing baseball for the 503rd Airborne Infantry Regiment and 11th Airborne Division to his list of teams.
After Neb returned from his time in the military, he completed his degree at Belmont Abbey and later added a master’s degree and educational specialist degree from Appalachian State University to his resume.
Neb, who spent six years in the standby reserves, began his teaching career in 1955 in Dallas, North Carolina, where he taught a self-contained seventh-grade classroom.
He married Louise Skidmore Hollis in 1953. The couple had one child, Tim, and three grandchildren - Timothy, Alexa, and Colton.
After he began teaching, Neb continued to play ball for the textile leagues, then started coaching for the American Legion and worked as assistant football coach at Dallas. He then when to Stanley High School, where he coached baseball, junior varsity basketball and worked as an assistant football coach.
Later he became the principal at Stanley. When the Stanley and Mount Holly high schools were consolidated, Neb was appointed principal of East Gaston but no longer coached. He was known affectionately at East Gaston when he was the principal as the “Big Chief”.
Retired from his duties at East Gaston High School since 1990, Neb has not been forgotten by a long shot. He was awarded North Carolina’s highest civilian honor, the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, in 2004, in recognition of his dedication and service to his students as a principal who not only led by empowered.
And who played a bit of baseball once upon a time.
Arthur "Crash" Davis
The oldest of the Davis Brothers, Arthur "Crash" Davis was the only member of the boxing Davis family to become a professional boxer.
Arthur was born in 1926 in Mount Holly, the eldest son of John L. Davis and Maggie Arrowood Davis. He began boxing with the Mount Holly Boxing Team at age 13, refining his technique first under the guidance of Coach Dick Thompson.
Before his career could take off, World War II intervened and Arthur enlisted in the Navy at the age of 17, lying about his age to get in. He served on active sea duty with the 21st Destroyer Division in the Philippines and was honorably discharged in 1945.
His son, Rick Davis, wrote in tribute to his father: "Never did he boast of his accomplishments in the boxing ring. He was not only a gentleman; he was a genuinely a gentle man. Not is so strong as gentleness; nothing is so gentle as real strength."
As a college athlete, Arthur continued his upward spiral. He was voted captain of the University of Miami boxing team by his peers and in 1948, he competed in the Olympic Trials and won the right to represent the Southern States by winning the Southern Championship in Birmingham. At the Olympic finals in Boston, Arthur suffered his only Olympic trials defeat through a narrow decision to Horace Herring, who later became the U.S. Olympic champion.
Arthur got the opportunity to compete against some of the best fighters of the era: Chico Vejar, Chuck Davey, Ray Clark, and Joe Lassiter. In 1952 he fought Chico Vejar for the Southern Welterweight championship in Miami, with Vejar gaining the title on a split decision.
In 1949, Arthur became a National Intercollegiate Boxing Champion and received an invitation to compete in the 1949 NCAA tournament in East Lansing, Michigan. He graduated from college with degrees in English and psychology and a collegiate boxing career that had only three losses, all of which came in national competition or the Olympic Trials.
Arthur became a professional boxer that same year under the management of Chris Dundee while working as an English and math teacher for the Dade County School system in Miami. His professional career, which spawned the nickname "Crash", began with a record of 24 wins and no losses and he was quickly dubbed "the prospect of the month" by Ring Magazine.
Arthur first began to shine when he won the North Carolinas Golden Gloves Featherweight Division title in 1943.
After his service ended, Arthur enrolled at North Carolina State and went back to Golden Gloves competition, competing in the welterweight division. Within two years, he garnered championships in Dunn, Greensboro, and Raleigh. He also met and fell in love with his future wife, Edna Tyson in 1947. Soon after, Arthur received a boxing scholarship to the University of Miami. He ended his Golden Gloves career with 61 wins and 6 defeats.
Arthur retired from professional boxing in 1953 with a record of 40 wins, 9 defeats, and 5 draws.
Bearl Davis
In 1954, legendary Charlotte Observer sportswriter Neale Patrick wrote about the then 20-year-old Bearl Davis: "Red-headed Bearl Davis is one of the greatest competitors I have seen in a few years of rambling around the sports beat in quest of something to write.
In case you haven't heard, Bearl is a youngster from Mount Holly who turns up in the Gastonia Golden Gloves boxing tournament every winter, and usually winds up as a champion...but Bearl is more than just a champion in the ring. He has the big heart of a real champion, otherwise, he wouldn't be in the ring in the first place."
The third of four brothers who comprised the Davis family boxing dynasty, Bearl won so many boxing trophies during his career that he had to get rid of them in later years because they took up so much room in his Mount Holly home.
Bearl won multiple amateur titles - his record was approximately 250 wins and 20 losses - winning the Charleston Golden Gloves titles in 1954 and the Outstanding Open Division Boxer trophy at the same event as well as winning the Outstanding non-champion open fighter trophy at the 24th Carolinas Golden Gloves at the age of 20. However, he got beat in the grand finales, much to his disgust at the time.
He also fought in New York for the NC Golden Gloves Boxing Team in 1955 where his brother Max went to the final. He fought middleweight most of his life.
His accomplishments in the boxing ring and as a football player with Mount Holly High School's legendary teams of the early 1950s are truly inspirational; taking into consideration that Bearl overcame the after-effects of a childhood bout with polio to become a champion.
Born in Mount Holly in 1935, John and Maggie Davis' third son has lived and worked in the city his entire life.
He got into boxing the same way his brothers did, in the Mount Holly school system, initially coached by Dick Thompson and Bud Mullis before moving up to become a pupil of T.L. McManus.
Fun Fact: He weighed 75 pounds during his first fight in 1945. Bearl was about 10 years old at the time.
Why boxing?
"Because both of my older brothers boxed," says Bearl with a grin. "I followed right with them and Max followed right after me. It kept us all together."
Max Davis
The youngest member of the Davis Brothers boxing dynasty, Max Davis was born in 1937 in Mount Holly, North Carolina. He began boxing at the age of nine while in the third grade at Mount Holly Elementary. He weighed all of 69 pounds.
He chose boxing because his older brothers had been boxers - and like his brother Bearl - he learned the ropes under the tutelage of Coach T.L. McManus of the Mount Holly's Golden Gloves Hollies team. Arthur "Crash" Davis also had a particularly strong influence on Max after a summer spent in Florida with Arthur when Max was 11 years old.
Max, who sportswriters nicknamed "Maxie", had a distinguished amateur boxing career, with a total 169 fights and 161 wins.
The young boxer traveled to New York City, the first time he had ever traveled on his own, to represent the Carolinas in the Eastern Tournament of Champions. At the tender age of 17, e was the youngest boxer to ever represent the Carolinas at this event. Like his brothers, Max kept up a grueling practice schedule, attending school or working full time while practicing five days a week.
"Or six or seven," Max said with a laugh. "It depended on our weight."
Max considers his greatest triumph as being selected AAU Runner-Up Athlete of the Year for 1958. But his greatest heartbreaks were usually at the finals in New York, the location of the majority of his losses. A bantamweight, Max lost to Jacksonville's Don Morrison and Don Daniels of Lejeune within two years in the quarterfinals of the Eastern Tournament of Champions.
He swore to quit fighting several times. The headline of the Observer once read "Mount Holly Ace Heartsick". But "Maxie", considered one of the best boxers in the Carolinas in his heyday, always came back.
Max also distinguished himself on the football field, playing halfback and middle linebacker for Mount Holly High School. He was part of the 1956 League Championship team.
He retired from boxing in 1961, refusing to become a professional boxer in spite of the many offers he received from boxing promoters.
"I didn't want to make a living like that," says Max.
After high school graduation in 1957, Max attended the North Carolina Vocational Textile School in Belmont, North Carolina, and served five years in the United States Marine Corps Reserves.
He married Patsy Ruth Gowan in 1956, and the couple had two daughters and one son.
Wilbern Davis
Wilbern Davis, the second eldest of the Davis brothers, awed boxing fans and officials at a 1950s Carolinas Golden Gloves when he almost missed one of the most important boxing matches of his career.
The Monday night finals were about to begin when officials discovered that Wilbern was nowhere to be found. They called his hotel and discovered that the youngster had overslept. Wilbern started out for the Armory but could not find a bus or taxi, so he sprinted full tilt from Selwyn Avenue in Charlotte to the Armory, a mile-long run.
At the event, Wilbern quickly dressed and hopped into the ring, where he calmly bested Belmont's Edwin Beatty for the novice bantam title. One newspaper reported that the cocky fighter just grinned at his handlers, Bozo Headon and Tubby Hanks, when the pair suggested that he might be too winded to fight.
His brother Bearl, grins when he tells the story. "That was Wilbern."
Wilbern Davis, the second of the Davis brothers, began boxing at a young age for the same reason as the other younger members of the Davis clan...Arthur did it. His nickname was "Fish" because of his fondness for fishing but it should have possibly been something more in line with the sport he excelled at. Bearl, who notes that the record-keeping for amateur boxing in that era was somewhat sketchy, is pretty sure that Wilbern was undefeated as a boxer, winning 100 fights.
"He decided to not go professional," says Bearl. "He was concerned about injuries."
Wilbern boxed throughout high school and then entered the US Navy upon graduating, where he continued to box. After he was discharged, he received a boxing scholarship to the University of Miami where he obtained a degree in mechanical engineering and, went to work at Honeywell in Massachusetts, then moved to Austin, Texas were he worked for Data Engineering. He officially. He officially retired from competition after college.
The Mount Holly native was born in 1931 and died in 2006. He and wife Dottie had three children.
Bertha "Fireball" Johnson Dunn
Softball has seen some amazing pitchers in the last century, but the sport has only seen one Bertha "Fireball" Johnson Dunn.
This fastpitch softball phenomenon, renowned for both her athletic prowess and ladylike demeanor, received the Teague Award for Outstanding Female Athlete in the Carolinas in 1945, once itched three straight shutouts in the regional playoffs - setting an American Softball Association record - and pitched an 11 inning no-hitter in the 1945 championship game against the New Orleans women's team.
She was voted the number two pitcher in the nation in 1945 and 1946. In her heydey, Bertha was considered one of the best pitchers in the world, routinely pitching against men's softball teams and testing the limits of the male batters' skill.
Bertha Johnson Dunn was born in Raleigh on April 10, 1924, one of Maggie and Wiley Johnson's seven children. She was taught to pitch by her older brother, Josh Johnson, an accomplished athlete in his own right. Josh used his younger sister as a practice partner and bought her a pair of spikes and a glove. Their mother, who did not believe that young ladies should play sports, looked on disapprovingly as her son and daughter practiced in the backyard and Berth began to develop into a world-class pitcher.
Although she played a bit for her high school's girl's team at Hugh Morrison High in Raleigh, her big moment came at a tournament in Mount Holly, when the pitcher for the Raleigh girl's team her brother helped to coach turned her ankle on the way to the bathroom. Eighteen-year-old Bertha, who was just along for the ride that night, was drafted to pitch.
"Josh told me that I had to do it," says Bertha. "I told him that Mother would kill us both!"
Local team owner Charles Lowe saw the young lady play that night and aggressively recruited her for Mount Holly's amateur women's softball team, the Rex-Hanover Miles Girls team, visiting her family in Raliegh three times to speak with her parents. Maggie Johnson kept saying no to the persistent fan until the last visit when Bertha went to her father and told him that she was going to go.
"He looked at me and said that if he was going to let anyone go, it would be me, he trusted me more than the boys," says Bertha with a laugh.
The teen moved into a boarding house in Mount Holly with several other young ladies on the team, rode the P&N train to attend classes at King's College in Charlotte, and perfected her pitch.
A right-handed figure-eight pitcher, Bertha earned her nicknames "Fireball", "Fastballer" and "Bombshell" through diligent practice and taking instruction from one of the toughest coaches around - Bill Alligood.
Alligood, who had coached several men's teams to championships, was brought in from his home in Roanoke Rapids to coaching the Mount Holly girls' team by Lowe. He taught Bertha her legendary style of pitching, making the teenager practice all winter, every day except weekends, rain or snow, in the gym or outdoors. By the time the season rolled around, Bertha knew how to pitch and pitch well. It was observed by one sportswriter that her control of the ball was such that she could pitch into a coffee can behind home plate and not hit the edges of the can.
"He [Alligood] taught me to never look at a batter over their shoulders," says Bertha. "I could not tell you what a girl looked like after a game because I never looked at their faces...that was only a distraction. He taught me the figure-eight pitch and he was good. Now all you see is that windmill pitch."
Bertha also met her future husband, Mount Holly native James "Bus" Dunn, at a ball game. Dunn initially had met his wife while visiting her brother Josh in Raleigh, when Bertha was still in pigtails and, in her words, not very noticeable. When Dunn spotted his future wife at a Mount Holly ball game a few years later, he could not help but notice the beautiful pitcher, who in later years was crowned "Miss Softball".
The pair got married in 1944, after the wedding was put off twice because of softball games that ran into overtime.
Bertha retired from softball in 1957 and kept herself involved in athletic competition by becoming one of the state's most formidable women golfers.
The woman who blazed a trail for pre-Title IX women athletes everywhere had a simple philosophy that led her through a stellar career in an age where her looks were usually mentioned in newspaper articles before her flaming fastball:
"I was taught that you have to believe that you can do what you're supposed to do...and I believed," says Bertha. "You have to believe that you can do it or there is no point in going."
