James Alger "Hack" Hackendale

James A. Hackendale, aka “Hack” to his close friends and enemies, said goodbye to the loves of his life, his wife Maggie and his daughter Haley, on January 27, 2024–and stepped on the elevator to the Owner’s Box, where he has reserved seats for himself and his son Hal, who passed away in 2019.

Jim has been a lifelong sports fan thanks to his dad, who introduced him to professional sports when he was a young boy growing up in Michigan. Jim was born on April 15, 1945, to Robert F. Hackendale and Virginia E. Valerius Hackendale in Detroit, Michigan–where he lived until the age of 12, when he moved to Jacksonville, Florida, to live with his grandparents.

Jim began playing midget baseball and continued playing–his lifelong passion–through high school and college. Jim started his schooling north of Detroit at a one-room, white country schoolhouse called the Lowell School and went there through the 4th grade. He was an excellent student and loved having so many friends at school, playing baseball and basketball every day at recess.

Jim’s life changed when he moved to Jacksonville and started attending Paxon Junior High School in the 7th grade. There he discovered team sports, and with the mentoring of several excellent coaches, he played baseball, basketball, and football – all of which he continued in high school. He made lifelong friends playing for the Paxon Golden Eagles and competing against Jacksonville’s 12 big schools in the Gateway Conference.

Baseball was his passion – he earned All-City honors as a shortstop when he was a senior in 1963. But he also excelled off the field, as a member of the National Honor Society and Student Council. He was even voted “Most Attractive” in his senior class and appeared as Mr. February in the school calendar!

After graduation, several of his baseball and basketball teammates all went together to Gulf Coast Junior College in Panama City, Florida. There he played with and met a “band of brothers” they all referred to as the “Green Mansion Gang.” They were successful to the degree of winning the Florida State Junior College and Southeast Regional Championship in 1965. They earned the right to go to the National Junior College World Series in Grand Junction, Colorado, where they won several games and played in the finals–ultimately losing to Phoenix Junior College 9-6. The Gulf Coast Commodores wound up ranked #2 in the country.

20 years after they left junior college, that group of young men reconnected and began holding annual reunions, which they continued for almost three decades. They are bonded together by their experience and love and respect for one another. Jim said they are his true “brothers.”

Following junior college, they all scattered and played ball at different colleges. Jim and his close boyhood teammate Howard May went to Florida State University–where he joined the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. After the fall baseball season at FSU, Jim fractured his ankle in a freak accident–at a keg party, chasing a cat he had inherited from his grandmother the summer before.

Jim eventually graduated from Florida State University in 1968 with a B.A. in Advertising Design–the foundation of his working (and volunteering) in sales for years to come. He veered off that course temporarily, accepted into the Air Force during the draft in 1968–but deferred as his son Hal was born in April of the same year. He was married to Hal’s mother, Angela Caporali, for 2 years.

He lived in Jacksonville for the next 12 years, holding a variety of jobs–always in sales and/or sports–at CSX Transportation, a small advertising agency, and in sporting equipment sales. He also did a stint as the Assistant General Manager for the Jacksonville Suns & Montreal Expos for a year in 1970.

In 1980, his position in sales at Motorola took him to St. Simons Island, Georgia where he worked for Hasty’s Communications. He was an active volunteer for the American Cancer Society, but even more involved in the Brunswick-Golden Isles Chamber of Commerce. The latter brought his “bachelor life” to an end when he met his future wife Maggie Dutton under the big tree at Blanche’s Courtyard (now Mellow Mushroom) at a “Business After Hours” event.

Jim and Maggie married in 1985, and welcomed their daughter Haley into the world in 1986. Jim stepped into the role of “Mr. Mom” to allow Maggie to pursue her career at State Farm, a successful insurance agent for 42 years and counting. He served as the “VP Executive Gofor” at her agency, also managing to fit time in his schedule to keep up his golf game as a member at Sea Island Golf Club, where he was a regular in the locker room and on the course.

Jim schlepped Haley (and her friends and teammates) everywhere, from preschool at Christ Church Nursery School to Frederica Academy. He attended every soccer, softball, and basketball game of hers from 6th grade on–a fixture on the field and in the gym, always sneaking into the dugout and offering colorful commentary from the bleachers.

After Haley graduated in 2005 and moved to Los Angeles to attend the University of Southern California, Jim stayed involved at Frederica. It was there that he found his second (or third or fourth) calling. He began volunteering as the PA announcer for the baseball team in 2009, and his never-ending fundraising efforts helped the school to build batting cages and a press box.

After 12 years at Frederica, Jim followed their baseball coach Greg Roberts when he moved to Brunswick High School in 2020. From that year forward, Jim became an honorary BHS Pirate, an icon for and pivotal part of the baseball program for the rest of his life. He volunteered as the announcer for the baseball games and was an avid fundraiser for the program. Over the years he drove community efforts to raise over $200,000 for the baseball program. His relentless sales of fence signs, raffle tickets, and more allowed BHS to build a new Dugout Club and a state-of-the-art hitting and pitching facility.

More importantly though, this last phase of his life was the one in which he cemented his real legacy. He impacted the lives of hundreds of young men over 15 those years, serving as a mentor, friend, and coach on everything from their swings to their studies. He stayed in close contact with them as they progressed through college and after, ensuring they stayed on the “right track.”

Jim touched the lives of countless people over a full 78 years on this planet, and his legend will be remembered by all.

In lieu of a service, his wish was to have a big party in his honor upon his passing. All are invited to join in celebrating his life on March 10th. Visit www.hackslastround.com for more details on the festivities, along with how to donate to the organization nearest and dearest to his heart. Hope to see y’all there!