“Classy, competitive and crafty” were the words Pat Feury, a long time Twilight League player and coach, used to describe Bob Curry, one of Western Maine’s top mounds-men of the ‘60s and ‘70s.
Curry attracted attention while pitching for Gene Davis (HoF ’91) at South Portland, 1964-66. The slender and stylish southpaw was voted All- Telegram League in 1966 and was the recipient of the Portland Press Herald’s award for the League's outstanding pitcher.
During the summers, Bob toed the mound for the Stewart P. Morrill Post American Legion nine. The ’66 team won the zone championship and played in the state tourney at Togus.
From 1967-70 the Curry name was prominent In stories of Jack Butterfield’s (HoF ‘80) Black Bears at the University of Maine in Orono.
In ’68 and ’70 Bob was selected to State Series All-Star teams. He was co-captain of the 1970 UMO team that finished with a stellar 14-3 record and a Yankee Conference co-championship.
But it was in the fast Portland Twilight League that Curry gained great acclaim. Hurling for the always-competitive Ametek (later, South Portland Merchants) teams assembled by Bernal Allen (HoF ‘79) and Bob Philbrick (HoF’88) Bob won nearly 100 games in 11 seasons. Always very popular as well as skillful, he was selected the twilight League's outstanding pitcher award in 196/7-68-69- 70-71-73!!!
From 1973 to ’79 Bob served as assistant varsity BB Coach under the wily HoFer, Phil Martin (‘89), at Scarborough.
Martin, a pitcher himself, recalls how often times a usually noisy team bus would become very silent, and it would become obvious that Scarborough Redskins were engrossed in listening to their mentors exchange “war-stories” .
Both Feury and Martin recalled how “cute” and frustrating Curry could be. “If you swung and missed” Feury said, you would return to the dugout cursing how you could ever miss a pitch like that”, and Martin said countless batters would take a called third strike and mutter “was !t on the black”. “Curry was a master at hitting the corners and changing speeds -and he was always in control.”
Bob and his wife, Peggy, reside in South Portland.
“Crafty is the word that stands out. He analyzed hitters and pitched to their weaknesses.”
