Hosken Powell Led a Good Life After Baseball

 

Memories can be a funny thing. It is fascinating what our minds can retain decades after the fact. 

I've probably forgotten more about baseball than I know but certain names, dates, places remain firmly entrenched.

One such example is Hosken Powell, who was an outfielder for the Minnesota Twins and the Toronto Blue Jays between 1978 and 1983. 

The main reason for retaining this memory is that he is the only Hosken of whom I've ever heard.

It's hard to forget a name like Hosken.

I must admit that I haven't given him much thought to Hosken Powell since the end of his playing days unless I happen to be thinking of those Twins teams from the late 1970's and early 1980's which included the likes of Jerry Koosman, Mike Marshall, Butch Wynegar, Rob Wilfong and Bombo Rivera who once hit a game winning HR with my Dad leading chants of "Hey Bombo!!!" at Metropolitan Stadium in the second game of a doubleheader against the Blue Jays. But that's another story for another day. Although I probably saw Powell more with the Blue Jays when I would watch Tony Kubek and the late Don Chevrier cover Jays games during the 1983 season, I will always think of him as a Twin. 

So, I was saddened to learn that Hosken Powell had passed away on June 27th at the age of 70. However, after reading his obituary, I was comforted by the fact that he led a good life after baseball:

After scouting for the league, then retirement he delighted teaching and coaching young boys and girls as the Director of Athletics for the Boys and Girls Club of Escambia County. Many of them still visit, kept his spirits lifted and looked to him highly. He loved them as his own. He was Head Baseball Coach for the Pensacola High School Tigers and an assistant football coach during the (PHS) State Championship (2009) and wore his ring proudly. Saving time for fishing and hunting... his best friend said… “If he wasn’t fishing, he was hunting… If he wasn’t hunting, he was fishing… Then repeat.

Hosken loved his family. He was joined in marriage to Kimper Bradley in 1984 and they were happily married for 41 years. He enjoyed watching his nieces and nephews grow. He attended any event possible to support them. “Uncle B/Uncle Hos” (as he was lovingly known to them) was their joy.

While his family and those he mentored are undoubtedly sad that Hosken Powell (a.k.a. Uncle B/Uncle Hos) he is no longer with them; they can take some measure of comfort in the joy and goodness he left. That joy and goodness will always remain. R.I.P.