Charles M. Hammersley
Charlie Hammersley grew up hanging around Salem Municipal Field and the old recreation department office on Florida Street near his home. He loved sports and usually had a football, baseball, or basketball in his hands. He became a valued member of both sandlot football and little league baseball teams and, in his spare time, could be found playing pickup basketball on a one-hoop court near the recreation office.
He graduated from Andrew Lewis High School in 1970 but not without moments of both glory and pain. As a halfback in 1966, he was the first sophomore ever named to a state Groups I-A football team and, in his junior year, made the team again. In 1968, he joined a group of other relatively unknowns in high school basketball and won the State Group 1-A championship. It was also in ’68 that he was named all city-county in baseball. Unfortunately, later that year, Charlie was in a bad auto accident and, at one point, was in danger of losing a leg. However, after missing a year of school, he recovered sufficiently to return for his senior year and, in sports, proved that he still possessed most of the old moves.
He entered Hargrave Military Academy in 1970 and then, in 1971, enrolled at Ferrum Junior College where he played both football and baseball, receiving the “Big Green Award” for hustle and desire. His junior year was spent at Mars Hill College where he also played football. However, with Ferrum converting to a 4-year school, he returned there for his senior year graduating with a B.S. degree in recreation.
After college, he worked with a recreation program in Roanoke. Then, in 1977, he started working with the youth sports in Salem and, only two year later, was named the city’s director of parks and recreation. Under his leadership, the department has witnessed extensive development in programs, year-around activities, recreational facilities, and participation. An initial step was to move the director’s office to better and more centrally located quarters in the T.C. Williams Center on South Broad Street.
Among Charlie’s notable achievements has been the innovations Moyer Sports complex where football, baseball, softball, and soccer are played. In continuous use, the complex has played host for national amateur and NCAA softball tournaments. In 1995 it was named “National Complex of the Year” by the U.S. Softball Association. He also helped to establish the Chance Crawford Fund and a related benefit soft pitch tournament, now the largest of its kind in the nation, generating $20,000 in 1996 that went to scholarships and community programs. Working with the City of Salem’s engineering department, he helped obtain grant money for the renovation of Lake Spring Park where the annual Pig Robertson Trout Fishing Rodeos are held.
The list of other accomplishments this dedicated man has made in behalf of recreational opportunities for the citizens of Salem is extensive and certainly beyond the scope of this treatise. The same is true for the accolades, awards, and plaques he has received both for his skills as an athlete as well as for the many contributions made to recreation in his hometown.
Charlie did take time out to marry his high school sweetheart, Diane Lane Hammersley (AL ’69.) They have two children, Lesley Hammersley Owen and Charles M. Hammersley, Jr.
In further recognition of his outstanding career achievements, Charles M. Hammersley was among charter members inducted into the Salem Alumni Hall of Fame established by the Salem Educational Foundation and Alumni Association in 1996.
