James Glenn Waddell

Native Son~born on August 28, 1954 in Chapel Hill to Mr. & Mrs. William Joseph Waddell Sr. Endured a long nasty battle with MS.

Got his body back, original issue, on 4 January 1991.

From Andy Brown:

In 11th or 12th grade we had final exams. I think it was math with Mrs. (Gus) Grissom. I was with Jim and we had time to kill before the exam. I was horrible in math. We went to his house and we, no joke, drank champagne his mom had in the refrigerator. We both went back to the class, I was intoxicated, and took the exam. Had my best grade, probably made a C on the exam and passed for the year. I have no idea how Jim did.

We used to get together with the guys and play tackle football for fun.

He would crush you when he tackled.

I think he worked aboard freight carrying ships on the Great Lakes.

Jim Waddell with his cub scout troop:

L- R: C.B. Everts, Jimmy Lasley, Frank French, Jim Waddell, Bill Waddell (behind Jim), Stacv Wynn, David Kirkman~the younger, David Herring

From Goose Waters:

TRUSTWORTHY, LOYAL, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous ( to most),

Kind ( see Courteous), Obedient ( are you kidding me ??),

Cheerful, Thrifty, BRAVE, Clean ( enough), Reverent (depends how you mean it )

Though I was blessed with so many great friends, Jim was, for several years growing up, my single very best friend.

Physically STRONGEST WHITE MAN I ever saw until he became ill.

Took different paths after high school but always stayed in touch until his passing, a heartbreaker.

RIP "Grod"

From Rebel Umphlett:

We lived in the same neighborhood and hung around quite a bit together.

As we all know, Jim was unique and perhaps a bit "insane".

One perhaps obscure memory is he could sing just like James Taylor.

We used to hang at his house and he would sing some James Taylor tunes and the women would just swoon!

Another obscure memory and more to his true nature:

Does anyone else remember Atlanta, GA and the volcano of cheese?

From Michael Esau:

Skip Via's house was at the top of the hill on Clayton Road and they had a great basketball court set up in their driveway. Weather permitting, there was a game there everyday after school from the time we were in 5th grade through 9th grade; Waddell, Jeff and Rebel Umphlett, Goose Waters with his 'fade awa-a-a-y-y from the corner', Burton Floyd, Mark and Bob Powell, Bob Esau and me and a slew of others coming and going. Larry Lindahl would join us after he got home from Durham Academy which always brought on a break since Carol Lindahl got home at the same time. Man-oh-man! I'm still not sure what was sweeter, Larry's 'nothing but net' shot from downtown or Carol.

I digress.

Back to Jim. He was double jointed everywhere and could dribble forever. However, we called him the 'blackhole'. Once the ball went in to Jim it seldom came out again. He'd dribble until everyone got tired of swatting at the ball, go for a layup and MISS!!! Then he would clean the boards, like literally grab the ball off the middle of the backboard. He had legs loaded with 100 lb. springs. But the man could not make a basket, not even a layup from right under the goal. I don't know how many times we watched him grab a rebound~put it back~miss, grab the rebound~put it back~miss; five or six times until he would finally lose it out of bounds. Too bad the "Worm" wasn't around yet to mentor him.