The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1943-10-24

reation when the new skipper ar
rived. He saw the unused boxing
ring. He pointed to it. ''Unless we
have boxing program in that
ring next Friday night I will burn
it to the ground Commander
Campbell had been Fleet light
weight boxing champion for four
years. Boxing shows have b n
held regularly at Southport Sec
ton base.
i The Skipper is manager, coach
and trainer of the stations soft
ball team. 1t plays without regu-
lation uniforms. Yet it is unbeaten
against such championship teams
as the Wilmington Coast Guard,
the Laurinburg Maxton Army Air
Base, the Army Combat team, the
Raleigh city champs and the
Charleston Coast Guard.
The Skipper occupies the right
hand corner of the players bench.
He gives battling, bae-running and
fielding Instructions. He watches
the men for signs of poor condition
or lack of interest.
He bats the umpires, rides the
opposing batters and fielders and
. has a regular picnic with the base
line coaches. Most of all he rides
his own players.
''Keeps 'em on edge" he says.
''Most baseball lapses are caused
by lack of concentration. Keep 'em
scared and you keep 'em think
ing"
In his youth. Commander Camp
bell was captain and second base
man on the Fleet baseball team
as well as quarterback and field
general on the football team.
He applies his baseball mana
gerial tactics to station routine.
He keeps his officers and m n
scared to keep them thinking. They
retire wondering worriedly what
they did or did not do that day
that will cause the captain to haul
them on the carpet. They greet
reveille with the m worried
wonderment, fearful of doing
something that day which W il |
make them subject to the Skipper
sarcastic censure.
! But, as he points out, this keeps
them concentrating. He is firm
believer in the Old Navy doctrine
that the first "a hours belongs to
the Navy, the rest of the time is
yours"
Sure. the Southport Skipper is
hard-boiled. Sure, he is autocratic
and fault-finding, constantly on the
lookout for mistakes and omis-
sions. The boys say he is omnisi-
ent and omnipresent, only their
words are "The Skipper knows ev-
erything and seems to be every
where at once
But after the station received
the first 40 (excellent rating in
the Sixth district they got up
surprise 40 Party in the Skip
per's honor and the Commander
of the Inshore Patrol, to whom
Southport Section base had for
merly been a headache, drove 1865
miles with his wife to pay tribute
with the boys to the Southport
Skipper.
The amazing memory possessed
by their skipper enables h m to
call every man on the station by
his first name. When he sees an
enlisted man with his cap tilted
at an unmilitary angle or tossing
trash upon the grounds, or smok-
ing when the smoking lamp is out,
he makes a mental note.
Next morning he tells his aide
to have Tom Jenkins, Harry Smith
etc., to report to the bridge.
There they get dressing down
in idiomatic Irish they never for
get.
Commander George T. Campbell
USN, an old line Navy man for
A years, is having the best time
of his life. He has the biggest
bunch of kids to father he ever
4 had.
He is making Navy men on a
4 wholesale scale.
-V-
n lN:II. Ill D,.-.f