Science Hill High School

Jim Cloyd

Jim Cloyd 1953

Long before Jim Cloyd was a pitcher-outfielder at Tennessee and a pitcher in the Detroit Tigers organization, he was a three-sport starter at Science Hill.

Cloyd was a running back, a defensive back who hit like a linebacker and a 6-foot-3 left-handed pitcher who could swing the bat. He also frequently led the Hilltoppers in scoring in basketball.

But baseball was his meal ticket. Cloyd lost a heartbreaker to Memphis

Central in the state baseball semifinals in 1952. He pitched a one-hitter, but the Hilltoppers lost 2-1 when Central squeeze-bunted home the winning run in the last inning.

Dobyns-Bennett then beat Central to win the state championship. The

Indians went 23-1 that year. Their only loss came when Cloyd one-hit them in front of a crowd of 1,200 in Kingsport.  Cloyd was effectively wild against D-B, striking out 15, walking six and hitting three batters in the anticipated regular season finale.

"Jim was wild as a buck," said Science Hill teammate Bob Evans. "When he was throwing batting practice, nobody wanted to go up there. Jim was liable to stick one in your ribs. But when he was right, you couldn't hit him."

Along with being two-time all-conference in baseball, Cloyd helped Mule Brown's football team to a 7-1-2 record in 1952 while playing with the likes of Bo Austin and Bob Taylor. Cloyd scored two TDs in a 26-13 defeat of Morristown, one from 27 yards out and the other from 55.

He scored a 50-yard TD the following week to tie the score in the

Hilltoppers' 21-6 win against Bristol.

The lanky lefty was D-B's nemesis during the winter too. In what the AP called "one of the biggest upsets of the season," Cloyd scored a game-high 17 points as Science Hill dropped the Indians to 22-2 on the season with a 64-57 win in Kingsport.

Cloyd went on to get a $4,000 bonus when he signed with Detroit.

"Jim Cloyd was overpowering," said Science Hill teammate Ferrell Bowman, who played in the 1962 World Series with the San Francisco Giants. "You always hear about people throwing hard. Jim could really throw 90 (mph).

Jim was a little wild, but just wild enough."