As Slim Hite reflects on his career, he feels like he did what he was intended to do — help others
STAUNTON — Meeting in the morning was easier for Slim Hite, so he sat down with me at 8:30 a.m on a recent Monday. It's when he has the most energy. He's always been active so not having energy is something new for him. Actually, his active lifestyle may be why the cancer wasn't found sooner. Being active masked some of the signs that there was a problem.
The longtime sports official tires easily these days since being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in late April. The cancer, which has spread, is terminal. Doctors won't try to treat it. That would be too hard on his 82-year-old body. His wife, Sandy, said it was about quality not quantity of life now. Hospice will visit occasionally, once a week, Hite said.
There's a guest book on the dining room table. When people visit — and, oh, do people visit — they're asked to sign the book, maybe give a memory or two of Hite. A week ago, the book was already filling up quickly.
"It was so impressive," Hite said of the number of visitors who have stopped by since hearing about the diagnosis. "Number one that they'd come and visit. Then they started writing things in that book that I've forgotten all about. It just touched my heart."
Hite began officiating while he was in high school, calling youth games. He's been at it ever since, a member of the Virginia High School League officials since 1962. He's been commissioner of associations in four different sports — boys and girls basketball, baseball and softball — and has worked state playoff games in all of those sports.
He may have missed a game or two because of my dad. Slim's real name is John Wayne Hite. My dad is Wayne Hite. They are very distant cousins.
As a kid, I remember quite often coming home at night to a message on our answering machine from someone desperate for an official that night. The caller had opened the phonebook and called the wrong Wayne Hite. If we got home soon enough, my dad would call them back and give them the correct number. If we got home late, I assume a basketball game somewhere in the Shenandoah Valley was one official short.
It went both ways. My dad had a side job for a few years installing satellite television dishes. Slim said he got a call one time from someone wanting to pay him for his work. He started laughing, telling the story, saying he told the person on the other end he accepted cash only.
Hite to be honored Tuesday
Bill Johnson has known Hite for more than 30 years. He got to know him as an official and eventually helped Hite with baseball umpire finances when Hite became the league commissioner.
“He has been a well-known fixture in local prep sports at all levels dating back to the late 1960s," Johnson said. "That kind of longevity is quite rare in officiating nowadays."
Tuesday night Hite will be recognized at a junior varsity softball game at Wilson Memorial. Hite has not been on the field at all this spring because of health issues. Umpire Russell Heinrich said the goal is to have Hite be part of the meeting at the plate before the game and then call as much of an inning as he can.
"Whatever he feels comfortable with," Heinrich said. "I'm hoping he gets to make at least one call out on the bases."
After that, the game will be stopped and Hite will be recognized. The admission fee to the game will be given to the Staunton-Augusta YMCA, where Hite once served as executive director. The hope is as many officials who know Hite show up to honor him.
"For people like myself who have been into it for a long time, he's been a mentor," Heinrich said. "He has been a wellspring of knowledge. He has mentored so many."
Bringing integration to the YMCA
It may seem reasonable to only know Hite as a sports official. He's officiated basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball, football, soccer, track and swimming.
Yet, he's had an impact on area youth, and the community as a whole, beyond his officiating. In 1975, Hite was named executive director of the Staunton YMCA, following several years of working at the Y, including being the physical director. Hite was just 34 at the time he got the top spot and remained in the position for nine years, introducing t-ball and soccer programs to the Y.
One of the most important things he contributed to was something he said shouldn't have been a big deal. It was just the right thing. Hite helped start integration at the YMCA. Hite didn't think he did anything especially praiseworthy, saying that a boys club met at the Y on Fridays to swim, play basketball and table tennis. Two Black youth were pretty good swimmers, so Hite invited them to be part of the club.
He doesn't even remember the year that happened, saying not a lot was made of it. He also doesn't remember any backlash from the white community.
"It was just new to them," he said.
Hite had convinced the board of directors that they needed to make scholarships available for Black youth in the community in an effort to bring along integration.
Former Virginia state delegate Dickie Bell was the youth director and program director at the YMCA during that time. He recently talked about that time for a story that appeared in the February edition of the Staunton-Augusta Family YMCA newsletter.
“It was pretty seamless,” Bell said in the story. “I have to give Slim Hite credit for getting that ball rolling, and Kenneth Jones at the funeral home was instrumental in making sure Black kids didn’t get turned away because they couldn’t afford it. Slim created a scholarship program.”
Hite said it was just time to do something.
"My biggest thing is my mom and dad both taught me that everybody's the same, treat everybody equally," Hite told me during the interview. "So that's what I've tried to do all my life."
Helping others
After the YMCA, Hite worked in real estate appraising and, for 20 years, taught a course in real estate at Blue Ridge Community College.
In 2001, he was named athletic director at the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind in Staunton. He was there for 12 years, starting a track program for the students who were blind. He also revived goalball at the school.
Hite coordinated with Paul Hatcher, the basketball coach at what is now Staunton High School, to conduct basketball clinics at VSDB. Hite thought maybe some of Hatcher's successful ways would rub off on the VSDB program. Lee and VSDB also played one another in basketball, with Hite believing it would help prepare his team for national competition.
Hite and Hatcher were longtime friends. Their families used to vacation together. Once, when the two were at Hatcher's home watching football, Handley's Jimmy Omps stopped by, game tape in hand to exchange with Hatcher. When Omps saw Hatcher and Hite walk out together, he said, "No wonder we never win in Staunton. Hite and Hatcher live in the same house."
He continued to officiate after he left VSDB. It's something he found difficult to give up, but with his recent health problems he has had to stay on the sidelines.
"What a legacy you have been to this area," retired Fort Defiance volleyball coach Sue Leonard wrote in Hite's book. "And what a tremendous influence you have had to so many kids. You have also made an impact in officiating and have been inspirational to us all.
Hite enjoys seeing those messages. As tired as he gets these days, he's always up for a visit. His wife, Sandy, said Slim wanted to hold an open house recently for some of the officials he worked with to stop by and talk. That was on a Friday. He told Sandy he wanted to do another one the next day for those who couldn't make it Friday.
Hite realizes that Tuesday night will most likely be the final time he steps on a field. He just hopes he has made a difference in people's lives with the work he's done.
"I felt like I had accomplished what I wanted to," Hite said. "To give (youth) an opportunity to play the sport or learn the sport, and remember good sportsmanship is the key to anything. I feel like I did what I was probably intended to do all my life, help others."
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— Patrick Hite is The News Leader's education reporter. Story ideas and tips always welcome. Contact Patrick (he/him/his) at phite@newsleader.com and follow him on Twitter @Patrick_Hite. Subscribe to us at newsleader.com.
This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Longtime official Slim Hite reflects on his life as he faces cancer diagnosis
