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Note: Jim Bob always seemed a little preoccupied when I was around him. Fantastic fisherman and top of the line person when it came to Little League Baseball. My father said Jim Bob could throw a baseball further than anyone he ever knew. Story told to me was that a major league team was conducting try outs at the LaGrave field. Every contestant was given three throws from center field to home plate. Jim Bob threw the first two all the way to home plate, the third he threw over home plate an into the stands behind home plate. Jim Bob was signed to a major league contract, but because he fell out of a pecan tree and broke his hip that same year, his career was over before it ever started. Jim Bob Nation, 77, volunteer coach, athlete: Newspaper Obituary and Death Notice Fort Worth Star-Telegram (TX) - January 3, 1996 Deceased Name: Jim Bob Nation, 77, volunteer coach, athlete AZLE - Jim Bob Nation, remembered for his volunteerism on the town's ball fields and in its community halls, died Monday. He was 77.
Mr. Nation, an Azle native, owned Jim Bob Nation Insurance Co. with his wife, Beryl.
He established a Little League baseball program in his hometown and a ballpark is named in his honor. Many men remember Mr. Nation coaching them, according to family members.
"He was the kind of man every little boy wants to be when he grows up and the kind of man every old man wishes he had been," said daughter Nancy Nation Jay of Austin. "That's what a lot of the men who played with him as boys said."
Mr. Nation was named Volunteer of the Year in 1992 and once during the 1960s, his daughter said.
He was volunteer fire marshal for 13 years during the 1960s and was a volunteer firefighter before then.
He was a member of the Azle Lions Club, the Optimist Club and Ash Creek Baptist Church. He was a football announcer for the Azle schools for 41 years. He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps.
Mr. Nation, who earned an associate degree from Compton Community College in Compton, Calif., was contracted by the New York Yankees Farm Club in 1940 and played minor league ball for three seasons.
His baseball career was cut short after he fell from a tree and hurt his leg, Jay said. He walked with a limp for many years, but that did not stop him from working with Little League and other projects, Jay added.
Joan Hobbs, underwriter at his insurance firm, remembered Mr. Nation as a wonderful boss.
"He was always telling jokes," she said. "He was fun to work for."
Mr. Nation's sense of humor also surfaced in occasional letters published in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. In April 1995, he sent some of his quips: "Usually by the time a person says, 'To make a long story short,' it's too late," he wrote. He added that he knew he was in trouble on one occasion because most doctors say "scalpel," "suture" and "gauze." But his doctor called for "pocket knife and trotline cord," he said.
The funeral is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. today at the Ash Creek Baptist Church. Burial will be in Ash Creek Cemetery. Visitation will be from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. today at White's Azle Funeral Home.
Mr. Nation is survived by his wife of 54 years, Beryl; sister, Louise Wood of Arlington; daughters, Norma Nation Tucker of Azle and Nancy Nation Jay of Austin; son, Charles Nation of Southlake, and nine grandchildrener
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