Jim Mccarthy

Jim McCarthy, a splendid athlete as a boy and an even better son, brother, uncle and friend as a man, has passed away. He went to bed in his Salt Lake County apartment on Jan. 18 and never woke up, the victim of an apparent heart attack. Given his passion for golf, it seems only fitting that a golfing buddy who stopped by with breakfast the next morning found him. James Strike McCarthy was born to boxing manager Jack McCarthy and his wife, Bev, on Sept. 6, 1945 at LDS Hospital. The source of his middle name was an uncle born in the midst of a St. Louis streetcar conductors' strike.

By the time he was 12, Jim cast a towering figure in youth baseball, hitting nine home runs right-handed and one left-handed, a feat that moved one Salt Lake newspaper to call him "the Mickey Mantle of Little League." He went on to star in baseball and football at East High and to play freshman baseball at the University of Utah. After joining the Kappa Sigma fraternity, he abandoned college life and joined the Marine Corps Reserve. When he became a civilian again and could grow his hair to his shoulders, a rough-hewn old contractor took one look at him and said, "Well, hello, princess." But Jim soon won over the contractor with hard work and the same wit and charm that earned him a place in the hearts of golf pros, bartenders and pretty girls. He would go on to hold a succession of jobs in and out of the building trades, all of them incidental to his abiding passion as an adult -- golf. He won a City Parks championship, played to a 4 handicap and became a familiar figure at public courses throughout Salt Lake. His home course was Bonneville, where he was at the heart of a long-running daily game with a cast of characters who became some of his best friends. When congenital back problems robbed him of the joy of playing, Jim stayed in touch with golf by mowing the greens at Bonneville seven months a year for most of the last decade of his life. He anointed himself "the old twister" on the riding mower. The only role the lifelong bachelor enjoyed more was being "the fun uncle" to the nieces and nephews he adored.

Preceding him in death were his parents, his youngest brother, Terry, and his half-brothers, Jack and Joe, and Joe's wife, Sue. Jim's survivors include another brother, Tim (Erika); a sister, Margie, known to Jim as "Gret"; his nieces, Megan, Mary and Kate (Kevin); his nephews, Sam (Allison), Patrick and Christopher; his great-niece, Arlo; his cousins, Carolyn and Karen; his aunts, Carol and Judy, and his sister-in-law, Patricia. At his request, Jim will be cremated and no funeral service will be held.

Anyone wishing to extend condolences to Jim's family is invited to post messages at: www.HolbrookMortuary.com

Come spring, on a date yet to be determined, there will be a memorial gathering for family and friends to toast his memory and remember the guy who left them laughing until the day he died.