NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — Hank Foiles is 94 years old, an age few of us will ever see, and if we do, we expect to be frail and perhaps confined to a wheelchair.
But when you shake his hand, your fingers ache under the weight of his vise-like grip. And when you ask him to flex his muscle, you realize his biceps are stronger than yours.
His voice is still strong, and his memory is still sharp. Occasionally, he repeats the same story in the two hours while you are with him, but you are amazed at the details he recalls from his childhood in the 1930s.
Perhaps that was to be expected of one of the greatest athletes ever to grace the football and baseball fields of Hampton Roads.
His father, Henry Lee Foiles Sr., was a long-time New York Yankees fan and a former minor league player and coach who wanted his son to follow in his footsteps. If you play football, you'll likely end up getting hurt. Same for wrestling.
With baseball, you can have a long career. And he indeed had a long career. He signed out of high school with the Yankees and bounced around the minors for six years before beginning an 11-year career in Major League Baseball that took him to nine different teams.
Hank, whose full name is Henry Lee Foiles Jr., was a National League All-Star in 1957 with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was a consummate defensive catcher who called every pitch in every game he caught and had a .986 fielding average. He may be the only player ever to throw Jackie Robinson out stealing twice in one game.
"God gave me a cannon right here," he said, clutching his right arm.
He retired in 1964 with a career .243 batting average, 46 home runs, 166 RBIs and a .321 on-base percentage. And he likely still had some good baseball left to play.
Hank Foiles with sons Hank (left) and Marc when he played for Cincinnati Reds
"But my mother got sick and he came home to take care of her," said Hank Foiles III, his oldest son.
He met his wife, Joyce Zoby Foiles, when he was 15. They were married when they were 19, and he was steadfastly loyal to her until her death in 2012.
Foiles played pro baseball at a time when a second job was necessary to make ends meet. He worked part-time at WVEC-TV, selling ads, writing scripts and doing on-air appearances. After baseball, he sold life insurance.
Foiles now lives at the Mennowood Retirement Community, and although he still walks pretty well, he needs a rollator to walk around safely. His children, including son, Marc, and daughters-in-law, Karen Foiles and Martha Foiles, moved him into Mennowood after he suffered a few falls in his Norfolk home.
Foiles is in the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame, Hampton Roads Sports Hall of Fame and the Granby High School Hall of Fame. After hanging up his glove and cleats, he was feted for years at banquets, reunions and autograph sessions all over the country.
Things have slowed down in the last decade, but on Saturday, he will be feted again in what Hank Jr. says "may be his last hurrah" prior to the 73rd annual Oyster Bowl.
Hank Foiles, now 94, holds up game program from first Oyster Bowl.
Foiles played in the first Oyster Bowl game on Dec. 7, 1946, at old Foreman Field. Played five years to the day after Pearl Harbor was bombed, it was an emotional event as the nation was only a year removed from World War II.
It was one of the first games ever to sell out the old stadium, with an announced crowd of 21,000. Granby defeated Clifton High School of New Jersey 6-0 in a game matching two of the best teams in America.
One of only a handful of those from that 1946 team still around, Foiles is to take part in the coin toss Saturday night when Old Dominion meets Appalachian State in the Oyster Bowl.
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