Jim Rice

South Carolina · born or raisedBorn 1953

American baseball player

Born in Anderson
Lived in Anderson
Studied at Westside High School
Studied at T.L. Hanna High School

Quotations with a citation

I am a husband called Rice. I am a father called Dad. I am a brother called Ed. I am an uncle called Uncle Ed. I am a grandfather called Papa. I am a friend that doesn’t call, some of my friends know that, and sometimes best not called at all. Finally, and I do mean finally, I am Jim Rice called a baseball Hall of Famer.

You find your life-long partner, that one true love. You have your first child and you spend hours wondering at the perfection of tiny little fingers and toes. You rejoice and cry through pre-elementary, middle and high school and, if you’re lucky, college graduation. You marvel at how sanity endures. Right when you thought it couldn’t get any better, you have grandchildren and a new astonishing love blossoms.

In 1970, my senior year, integration finally came to town. I went to pick up my schedule at Westside High School. I was looking forward to graduating with my Westside class in 1971. Imagine how I felt when I was told that I had to go to T. L. Hanna High School, which had the majority of non-blacks. Integration had come to town and the lines were drawn in such a way that kept the schools as segregated as possible.

What could have been worse? I had to leave everything that I knew, my future wife, my friends, my coaches, my everything. I showed up at Hanna to get my schedule and it was like a walk in the park. I was received with open arms, and so were my fellow Westside High transplants.

I was a quiet leader, not a follower. I played through the pain and I suffered. No regrets.