In a rare moment of quiet – no ballgames in progress, no buddies needing assistance, no errands to run – Scott Pope had time, one Monday in July, to absorb the peace of merely relaxing at home, watching his 1-year-old granddaughter sleep. Earlier that day, he finished his last radiation treatment for cancer. And the scare of open-heart surgery, two years prior, was gone. For one tranquil afternoon, the world revolved around babysitting little Ansley as she napped.

Pope, 64, is used to constant busyness. He grew up on a mill hill in Mount Holly, played two sports in high school, coached four sports starting at age 19, married his high school sweetheart, became a daddy to two sons, helped build local ballfields, announced play-by-play at games, joined the Optimist Club, became a church deacon, went on nine mission trips – including one to Haiti – ran fund-raisers, served as chairman of several groups at church, became a committee member of the Mount Holly Sports Hall of Fame in 2012 and is its acting president.

In 1996, he was Mount Holly Man of the Year.

And before Mecklenburg County began spilling over the banks of the Catawba into his city, he says, he seemed to know somebody just about anywhere he went.

“This is my hometown,” he says, “born and raised and everything. That’s a good thing.”

The Hall of Fame, in recognition of all he’s done, is rewarding Pope with its Community Spirit Award for 2019.

“My thoughts are, there are a lot of people who have been involved with youth sports over the years who have done the same things I’ve done,” he says. “It’s odd that I’m on the committee and they’ve asked me the last three years to accept this, and I’ve told them no. But two years ago, I had open-heart surgery, and it makes you think…should I do this, in case something comes down the line?”

Pope’s footprint on Mount Holly sports started at the old Mount Holly High School, where he played baseball and football. He played baseball four years and third base for the last two, when the team won its conference. In football, as a safety and backup wing back, he scored the last touchdown in MHHS history – a short run, he recalls, in a 34-0 win over visiting Roseman High. Like any young kid, he envisioned playing beyond high school. “I wanted to go on, but I was 130 pounds when I graduated,” he says. “Every person’s dream is to play more, but it wasn’t in the cards.”

So, he started giving back.

At 15, Pope became a prodigy of the Mount Holly Optimist Club. “The guys took me under their wing and had me announce football games,” he says. “We used to have the Holly Bowl and bring in teams and play football games all day, and they let me do the announcing. The pay was good – all they did was feed me. But the best part was all the connections from sports there. So I got involved in coaching everything from football to basketball to baseball.”

Guided and mentored by others destined for the local Hall of Fame, Pope landed his first head coaching role at 19, with youth baseball.

“The team’s players were 12 years old. There was a time when the umpire asked a kid, where’s the coach?” he says. “I just blended in with them. Other than I had a mustache.”

Coaching Pop Warner Midget football, he says, his youth and size helped. “We (coaches) even practiced with them a couple of time, and put on the gear. They could be up to 120 pounds themselves,” he says. “I did that a couple of times. It’s probably not advisable.”

On the fields, Pope coached youth league and Babe Ruth baseball from 1973 through 1980 and from 1985 through 1996. He coached Optimist football from 1973 through 1978 and again in 1982. Add in two years of basketball (“not my best sport,” he says) and four years of City Recreation Department soccer.

Off the fields, he co-chaired the 1995 Field of Dreams project, which re-did the field behind Rankin Elementary. “We had a vision of putting lights back on the field we had played on as athletes. We put lights on the field, a new concession stand, new goal posts, a new press box,” he says. “We wrote up what we needed to get a matching grant, but we needed $25,000. We started a light program where, for $100, someone could pay for a light, and have their name inscribed on a plaque displayed on the pole.” A few yard sales and one haunted house raised about $10,000. The city, county, local businesses and churches added financial support.

Behind the scenes, Pope had married Sheila, who he had dated since she was a high school junior and he was a recent graduate. He was 19; she was 16. He worked 31 years for Freightliner as a trainer, manager and supervisor. For 10 of those years, he drove back and forth to Cleveland, N.C., every day.

Drive, work, drive, coach, go home, eat, sleep, repeat.

Sheila went to nursing school and last year was named one of the Great 100 Nurses in N.C., nominated by her peers at CaroMont Regional Medical Center.

When their sons played baseball for East Gaston, Pope asked Coach Darrell Van Dyke if he needed an announcer. “I did the announcing, and my wife did the scoreboard. We did it for 20 years,” he says.

Away from sports, Pope has served as chairman of deacons, chairman of the personnel and policies committee, on the audio-visual team and on the mission board at Grace Baptist Church. He’s participated in mission trips to Kentucky, New Jersey, Alaska, West Virginia, South Carolina and Haiti, where his team helped support building an orphanage after an earthquake. A Grace Baptist connection led to his church helping a pastor in Haiti attend Bible school at Fruitland Baptist Bible College in Hendersonville.

Pope lists a lifelong support group of area coaches, Hall of Fame members and friends.

So, what does he count as his greatest accomplishment?

“I would have to say, besides being a Christian and having God guide me through my life, it’s marrying my wife, Sheila. Because you can say that God chooses your spouse, and He chose her for me,” he says. “She’s my right arm. And my left arm. Her nursing skills are why I’m still here.” His heart episode two years back was first diagnosed at home, by Sheila. “I didn’t have a heart attack,” he says. “I had the cords break from my heart valve and instead of it beating normal, it was like it was sucking air. The cords just snapped.

“My other greatest accomplishment would be my two sons, Jeremy and Justin, whom I am extremely proud of. I have two fine boys who have never given me an ounce of trouble.”

His transition from sports and work means more time, now, for church. And missions. Like that trip to Alaska, to build cabins for the Wounded Warrior program run by Samaritan’s Purse. Or the trip to New Jersey, with N.C. Baptist Men, to feed people after Hurricane Sandy.

So many things. So much to do.

He reflects on all that, sometimes. Like this Monday in July, when it’s quiet in the house, with a sleeping child.

But after an hour or so, the quiet ends, and Pope is a coach, of sorts, again.

Ansley is awake. And she wants to play with her ball.