PROGRAM PIONEER: Local legend, longtime teacher and administrator coached first Gaston College baseball team

When Gaston College started a baseball program in 1968, the college chose as its first coach a man who was already a local legend in American Legion baseball.

It was in the magical summer of 1953 that Hugh "Buzz" Peeler led Cherryville Post 100 to its first state title, then to regional and sectional crowns, and ultimately to the American Legion World Series in Miami, Fla.

From a historical standpoint, Peeler was the first star of tradition-rich Cherryville. Prior to 1953, Post 100 had won just two playoff series and did not own a single postseason win against nearby rivals Gastonia Post 23 and Shelby Post 82.

That all changed as Peeler drove a fourth-place regular season team to extraordinary heights in the summer of '53. A lanky lefthanded pitcher with a wicked curve ball, Peeler compiled a 19-5 pitching record for a club that went 31-16 overall. On the mound, he got 12 of Cherryville's last 14 wins including winning all four games of the best-of-seven N.C. championship series victory over Wilmington.

What's more, the Lincoln County native batted .347 and delivered key hits throughout Post 100's run to the American Legion World Series.

When fate brought Peeler and Gaston College together, Peeler had already compiled a solid resume in coaching. After graduating from Lenoir-Rhyne, where he helped the Bears win a title, Peeler coached at old North Brook High School in Lincoln County, Fred T. Foard High School in Catawba County, Hunter Huss and Bessemer City high schools in Gaston County, along with stints at various junior high schools.

Peeler seemed to be at the forefront of history throughout his athletic and coaching career. He was head coach at Gastonia Post 23 in 1964 when that program broke the color line for Legion baseball in North Carolina, starting two players from Highland High, Willie Gillispie and Elmore Hill, in the outfield.

As it turned out, Gillespie also played under Peeler in the first year of Gaston College baseball. He remembers Peeler as "a very laid-back dude who liked to chew tobacco. He was a strategy man, and I learned a lot of baseball from him."

The team went 5-7 in Peeler's only season at the helm. The schedule was a mishmash of games against junior college teams, junior varsity squads from four-year schools, and even high school teams.

Gaston College played on a rudimentary field that was carved out of the south end of the Dallas campus.

"The infield wasn't bad, but the outfield didn't have a fence. It was just an open field," Gillispie said.

Gillispie said he enjoyed reuniting with his American Legion coach that season, but he has one memory that is bittersweet.

"I lost my high school ring there, and I never did find it," Gillispie said.

The 1968 season also evokes memories for Lincolnton native Bobby Smith.

"I can only remember that (Peeler) was a good person and a good coach, and I felt like I learned from him," said Bobby Smith, whose older brother is retired Lincolnton High head football coach and athletic director Richard Smith, who played Major League Baseball for the old Washington Senators.

Bobby Smith recalls the time Gaston College played Lincolnton, his alma mater. Perry Brown was head coach of the Wolves.

"I will never forget playing LHS that year," Bobby Smith said. "Even though I never pitched in high school, Buzz put me on the mound, and I pitched a no-hitter against my alma mater. Perry Brown was so upset, he wouldn't speak to me after the game."

Most of the people who came into Peeler's orbit, either as a teammate or a player, focus on his cerebral approach to the game.

Jerry Gates, who was Peeler's battery mate in American Legion baseball and his next-door neighbor in the Gardner Park neighborhood of Gastonia for 45 years, said Peeler "was always thinking about what the best play was and how execute it. He was very clever when it came to the game and showed confidence and know-how."

Greg Paysour, the only Cherryville High School alum on the first GC roster, was well-steeped in the lore of 1953 when he came under Peeler's tutelage at Gaston College.

"He was one of the best American Legion pitchers in 1953 and a legend in American Legion baseball in Cherryville," Paysour said.

During the season in which Peeler coached at Gaston College, he was the school's director of adult education. A year later, Gaston College joined the N.C. Community College Conference and won four straight titles under the guidance of Dean Burroughs.

After retirement from a career in education and also private industry, Peeler turned his attention to a passion other than baseball. An avid golfer, Peeler joined his former Legion baseball battery mate for outings at local courses.

"Buzz was a pretty good golfer, and we had a lot of good times playing together," Gates said. "He was a great friend of mine for many years, and we were always partners."

One notable success Peeler and Gates had on the links was a tournament victory at the old Lakewood Golf Course in Cramerton. They defeated former pro baseball player and manager Red Mincey and his partner, Vernon Reece, in sudden death.

In 1988 Peeler was named to the North Carolina American Legion Baseball Hall of Fame. He died on Oct. 28, 2012. Many members of the legendary 1953 team attended Peeler's funeral at Reeps Grove Methodist Church in Vale, and they later staged a mini-reunion in Cherryville.