March 2, 2004 Greensboro News & Record, Greensboro, NC 27401

By Bob Burchette Staff Writer



HIGH POINT — Rip Hethcox was every amateur golfer’s Walter Mitty — the little guy with a big imagination. Only Hethcox’s dreams became realities as he played golf for 65 years on famous courses across the United States and on many foreign fairways.



Yet, some of his most cherished moments were on the links of Blair Park and Oak Hollow golf courses in High Point where he played regularly for many years. He had holes-in-one on each of those courses. His love for the game also led him to being president of the High Point Senior Golfers’ Association.



Rip, aka Herman Allen Hethcox, died Feb. 21 at High Point Regional Hospital at age 87. A graveside service with military honors was held Feb. 24 at Guilford Memorial Park Cemetery. Hethcox was laid to rest in his burgundy golfing sweater and matching pants. His favorite putter, with a sheepskin cover, lay by his side.



Unlike author James Thurber’s Mitty character, Hethcox never let his imagination run wild. He was too busy living real adventures. His job as regional sales manager for Mansfield Tire and Rubber Co., provided opportunities to travel across the United States and to many foreign countries — most of which had golf courses.



It was on golf courses that Hethcox conducted much of his business with customers and friends who shared his passion for the game.



The game was always fun for him — like the time on a Tampa course when a bird picked up his golf ball and dropped it in the cup for him.



“He wasn’t one of those golfers who bragged about what he shot,’’ said son Scott Hethcox.

Neither did Hethcox offer stories about the worst experience of his life, 11 months as a prisoner of war after his Army Air Forces plane was shot down over Germany on Sept. 11, 1944.



The 6-1, 220-pounder weighed only 119 pounds by the time he and other captives were liberated on April 26, 1945.



The prisoners were transported by boxcar to Stalaf Luf 13 near the Baltic Sea. His final 96 days as a POW were spent on a forced march because the camp of about 1,000 prisoners and German troops was evacuated when Russians bombarded the camp. The Germans and their captives were cornered near the Elbe River across from where Allied troops were stationed. The Allies liberated Hethcox and the other POWs.



Back home in High Point after the war, the highly-decorated POW didn’t bask in his war adventures. He was still the same handsome, happy-go-lucky boy who graduated from Jamestown High School; the same Rip who loved spending his summers at Myrtle Beach; and the same ever-popular guy who headed for California to surf and party when he finished high school. His draft notice for World War II service cut his California adventures short.



Most of his friends then and in later years never knew his real name. His fellow Boy Scouts tagged him “Rip.’’



A month after being discharged from the Air Forces, Hethcox met Fran Holt, who was working in a jewelry store in High Point. She remembers that Nov. 17, 1945 well: “A friend of his brought him into the store to sort of check me out,’’ she said.



Hethcox liked her good looks and asked her out, and they were married nine months later, Sept. 14, 1946.



“The first day we dated we drove out to Sedgefield (Golf Course). I was a golf widow from the first day we were married,’’ said Fran Hethcox. It was a role she never minded; she often traveled with him on business and family trips.



Whether it was playing golf in Switzerland, Spain, Honolulu, St. Martin’s or Jamaica, Hethcox never bragged about his hobby or his business accomplishments.



“He started planning for retirement the first day he went to work,’’ said his wife. “He worked for 30 years and he had 30 years of retirement. We had some fabulous times these past 30 years.’’



Rip was gone most week days and home on weekends. Fran Hethcox learned to be independent and to take care of things around the house, she said. “For 45 years, Rip didn’t even know where the fuse box was in the house. And he didn’t know one end of a hammer from the other. But he loved his home.’’



And he supported his family in their activities, said Scott Hethcox. At the same time, “he taught us that there were other parts of the world besides High Point. My dad was comfortable with himself; he had total self-worth.”



Their life together was like a storybook, his wife said. “Rip, honey, it’s been a wild ride,’’ she told him recently.



“He just looked at me and smiled.’’



Before and after retirement, Hethcox’s time at home involved working in the yard, and going next door to play pool with his best friend, Doug Phagg.

“He was like Frank Sinatra — he lived life ‘his way,’ ” said Phagg.